Business
Thailand’s marine industry unites around single yacht show

The fourth Thailand Yacht Show & RendezVous has now wrapped up with many of the exhibitors praising the new format and noting the sales and contacts made during the four day marine exhibition. The exhibit was held between January 10-13 at the Royal Phuket Marina.
Leading international yacht dealers, brokerage houses, charter agencies and marine suppliers were there to showcase their brands, complemented by luxury property developers and a collective mix of lavish lifestyle products. With a decisive show of unity, the industry’s global players joined Thailand’s key marine tourism stakeholders – including a strong attendance of representatives from national and local government – who have all thrown their support behind TYS’s 4-year mission to open up Thai waters to foreign yacht tourism and grow the industry.
“The Thai Government remain unswerving in their determination to support and grow the yachting industry, and bring much-needed cash into local businesses, by changing regulations where necessary to enable foreign superyacht charter tourism. The private sector made it clear they wanted a single show in Phuket.
“The results speak for themselves, with confirmed yacht sales, lots of business transacted by exhibitors across all sectors, and good visitor numbers over the first three days,” said Andy Treadwell, CEO of show organisers Verventia.
Richard Allen, General Manager of Simpson Marine, said, “As ever, Simpson Marine had the biggest display of new yachts at the show, representing our brands Monte Carlo Yachts, Beneteau, Lagoon, Aquilla and Sanlorenzo.
“I am pleased to say we made some sales during the show itself and have a number of other negotiations to conclude.”
Speaking about the quality of visitors this year, Andrew de Bruin, GM of Multihull Solutions said, “Multihull Solutions were very pleased to again join the Thailand Yacht Show as an exhibitor with three yachts displayed in the marina.
“The quality of visitors was top rate and our vessels received great exposure. The joining together of all the shows is a definite winner for all involved and we look forward to booking space in next year’s event at the first opportunity.”
The Thailand Yacht Show has been a key industry and government focus for changing local regulations to attract more international superyachts to the country, and results are beginning to show. Bloomberg’s latest global superyacht tracker1 recorded movements of superyachts between November 2018 and January 2019, and Thailand placed fourth as a winter destination behind Sint Maarten, St. Barts, and Antigua, welcoming an influx of superyachts during the Christmas and New Year peak season.
“The single show concept has proved to be a huge success for the industry. We will continue to work closely with the Thai government and the private sector to hopefully get the changes to the tax regulations we need, and will build on this year’s success to make 2020 even bigger and deliver a strong ROI for all parties,” added Andy Treadwell.
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Business
Governments & old media versus social media – who will win? | VIDEO

We look at the recent changes made by the Australian and Indian governments to except control over the world’s biggest social media platforms. India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social. There is now an open battle between the rise of social media platforms and the governments and ‘old’ media that have been able to maintain a certain level of control over the ‘message’ for the last century. Who will win?
The rules require any social media company to create three roles within India… a “compliance officer” who ensures they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” who addresses complaints from Indian social media users; and a “contact person” who can actually be contacted by lawyers and other aggrieved Indian parties… 24/7.
The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told. The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.
At the root of all discussions will be the difference between what governments THINK social media is all about and the reality about how quickly the media landscape has changed. You’ll get to read about it first, on a social media platform… probably on the screen you’re watching this news story right now.
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Business
The social media giants in battle with ‘old’ media and world governments | VIDEO

“The rules signal greater willingness by countries around the world to rein in big tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter that the governments fear have become too powerful with little accountability.”
India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social.
The rules require any social media company to create three roles within India… a “compliance officer” who ensures they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” who addresses complaints from Indian social media users; and a “contact person” who can actually be contacted by lawyers and other aggrieved Indian parties… 24/7.
The companies are also being made to publish a compliance report each month with details about how many complaints they’ve received and the action they took.
They’ll also be required to remove ‘some’ types of content including “full or partial nudity,” any “sexual act” or “impersonations including morphed images”
The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told.
The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.
At the root of all discussions will be the difference between what governments THINK social media is all about and the reality about how quickly the media landscape has changed. You’ll get to read about it first, on a social media platform… probably on the screen you’re watching this news story right now.
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Business
Turbulence ahead for Thailand’s aviation industry | VIDEO

When the airlines, in particular, were asking the government to put their hands in their pockets for some relief funding in August last year, it was genuinely thought that international tourists would be coming back for the high season in December and January. At the very least local tourists and expats would head back to the skies over the traditional holiday break. And surely the Chinese would be back for Chinese New Year?
As we know now, none of that happened. A resurge in cases started just south of Bangkok on December 20 last year, just before Christmas, kicking off another round of restrictions, pretty much killing off any possibility of a high season ‘bump’ for the tourist industry. Airlines slashed flights from their schedule, and hotels, which had dusted off their reception desks for the surge of tourists, shut their doors again.
Domestically, the hotel business saw 6 million room nights in the government’s latest stimulus campaign fully redeemed. But the air ticket quota of 2 million seats still has over 1.3 million seats unused. Local tourists mostly skipped flights and opted for destinations within driving distance of their homes.
As for international tourism… well that still seems months or years away, even now.
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