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More than four million guests stayed in an Airbnb on August 10, 2019
“Airbnb has created an opportunity to meet people from all around the world.” – Pim, an Airbnb Host in Thailand Exactly 11 years since Airbnb was founded, the home-sharing hospitality company and ‘accommodation disrupters’ celebrated its biggest night ever, with more than 4 million people spending the night in an Airbnb listing on August 10, 2019. To date, there has…
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Koh Phangan get a fully licensed International School opening next month
Si Ri Panya International School announced this week they have received their license from the Thai Ministry of Education and will open as the first official international school on Koh Phangan on September 4. In an important first for the Gulf island, a ferry ride from Koh Samui or the mainland, the school is now licensed to teach a full…
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Arrival projections for Thai tourism downgraded for 2019
Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn has downgraded the forecast for foreign arrivals this year to a range of 39-39.8 million. This is down from the upbeat projections at the start of the year that 40.2 million tourists would arrive in the Land of Smiles. Thai tourism for the first half of 2019 grew only 1.4%, less than expected, prompting…
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John Legend & Chrissy Teigen check out the tastes at a Korat Market
American music legend, John Legend, and his Thai-American wife Chrissy Teigen headed to a Nakhon Ratchasima food market only to be surrounded by locals trying to get a quick selfie. The army of fans surround the musician, his wife and daughter to follow them around the market in the 25 minute Facebook post. It was smiles all around but as…
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What did this Bangkok homeowner find on their couch?
PHOTOS: Kapook The owner of a Bangkok house has returned home to find this on their couch… a) a piece of left-over pizza? b) a thousand baht note behind one of the pillows” c) a 2 metre monitor lizard sleeping peacefully? The correct answer is ‘c’. The home-owner of a house in Suksawat 26 walked inside, turned on the light,…
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Hong Kong’s protests have been good for Bangkok’s luxury condo market
High end Hong Kong investment is turning away from the Chinese business hub and looking outside for new investment opportunities. Thailand’s high-end luxury condo market has been one of the beneficiaries. Keerin Chutumstid, from the Bangkok-based Magnolia Quality Development, says about 40% of the condos in a 52 storey Bangkok luxury tower development that opened last week have already been sold…
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Over 1,800 illegal foreign workers arrested in Thailand
On Wednesday, a government official confirmed that over 1,800 foreigners have been arrested for working illegally in the kingdom, in jobs that are legally reserved for Thais. Over 1,500 have now been deported. Over 9 million baht has been collected in fines from illegal workers, with fines ranging from a minimum of 5,000 baht to a maximum of 50,000 baht,…
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13 rescued dogs under the care of His Majesty the King
PHOTO: Chiang Rai Times Thai PBS World reports that 13 Great Danes were rescued from a house in Pathum Thani province, north of Bangkok, by the Department of Livestock Development (DLD). The rescue followed a phone call to their hotline by a concerned member of the public. The dogs were all suffering from severe malnutrition and given emergency treatment at…
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Thai coalition government may not last more than two years, experts caution
PHOTO: The Nation Economic concerns and doubts over the government’s legitimacy may mean it only maintains a grip on power for two years, according to academics. The situation is not helped by Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan being made chief strategist of the Phalang Pracharat party. According to Titipol Phakdeewanich, Dean of Ubon Ratchathani University’s Political Science faculty, this only…
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Some Mac Book Pros banned on Thai Airways flights to the EU
Thai Airways is telling passengers travelling on their fleet that some Apple MacBook Pro notebooks, distributed between 2015 to 2017, won’t be allowed on flights to and from EU countries. According to the Bangkok Post, the vice president of Thai Airways’ aviation safety department, Flt Lt Prathana Pattanasiri, claims the flag carrier is banning MacBook Pro 15-inch notebooks purchased between September…
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Thailand and South Korea partner on development of electric buses
Original story by Shin Ji-hye An all-electric bus sits on the campus at King Mongkut’s University of Technology in Thonburi, Bangkok. The electric bus is a joint project between Korea and Thailand, led mainly by Korean automaker Edison Motors, which currently provides public transport services with eco-friendly buses at Namsan in Seoul and on Jeju Island. The project involves 11 organisations from both…
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Central opens first luxury outlet at Suvarnabhumi on August 31
Central Village, “Thailand’s first international luxury outlet”, located near Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, will officially open on August 31. The Nation reports that the design of the 5 billion baht facility, owned by the Central Pattana group, will “highlight Thai architecture and cultural identities” and shoppers will find at least 130 well known international luxury and lifestyle brands. “More than half…
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Saving Thai Airways
PHOTO: The pleasant smile and wai won’t fill aircraft seats anymore Whilst it’s always a generally pleasant experience flying Thai Airways, the airline, in a business sense, is a basket case racking up nearly a decade of losses, first under the Yingluck Shinawatra Government and then the military government of the NCPO. Most people in aviation circles agree on the…
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Proposal to offer 15 day visa-free travel to Chinese and Indian visitors steam-rolled
The new Thai Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn’s proposal to provide 15 day visa-free travel to Chinese and Indian tourists, was steam-rolled yesterday by Cabinet. The cabinet resolved instead to extend the fee waiver on visas for visitors from China, India and other countries in the program. The program will now be extended beyond October 31 this year to…
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New Thai law means traffic police cannot confiscate driving licences
PHOTO: Pattaya Today From September 20, a driver stopped for a traffic violation under Thailand’s new Land Traffic Act can no longer be asked to surrender his or her licence to the police. However, the new law stipulates that drivers must carry a driving licence, a photocopy of the licence, or electronic information about the licence at all times and…
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65 year old tourist from Finland found dead in northern Thai resort
PHOTO: Tourist Police Division 2 กองบังคับการตำรวจท่องเที่ยว 2 A tourist from Finland has been found dead at a resort in Pai, Mae Hong Son, yesterday morning, north-west of Chiang Mai. The 65 year old, Kari Rajasolo, was found dead in his room by a caretaker at the small resort in tambon Mae Na Toeng about 8am. The resort is situated in…
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How to raise rats and other livestock: lessons from a north-eastern school
PHOTOS: The Nation A school in Surin province, north-east Thailand, is teaching students how to make a living raising small livestock such as wild rats and voles. Local farmers will often pay up to 1,000 baht for breeding rodents, with fully-grown ones sold for meat at 120 baht a kilo. Rodent meat remains a traditional food source in some parts…
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Singapore aims for paper-less border arrival by 2021
Singapore is extending its SG Arrival Card trial that will allow visitors to submit an electronic arrival card in advance to speed up processing at border checkpoints The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority has announced the beta trial of the SG Arrival Card project last week. The trial has been ongoing since last year and will phase out the paper arrivals card…
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Former finance minister says government shouldn’t bail out Thai Airways
Former Thai Finance Minister and current Democrat list MP Korn Chatikavanich is voicing his concerns over the financial crisis gripping Thai Airways and objects to any plan to use taxpayer money to rescue the ailing legacy airline. Korn says Thai Airways’ financial current troubles are similar to the situation in 2008, when the company struggled to find money to repay…
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TAT proposes 4am closing time at nightspots to promote tourism…ummmmm
The Thai government are coming up with new ideas to actually lure people to visit Thailand. Go figure!?! Now the Tourism Authority of Thailand is suggesting to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports to extend the closing hours of night entertainment establishments in Thailand’s party zones by another 2 hours, from 2am until 4am. Of course, in most of the…
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Scrap metal merchant arrested over stolen rail track pins causing train derailment
PHOTOS: Twitter@pr.railway A scrap metal shop owner has been arrested for stealing rail track ‘pins’ that were responsible for the derailment of a railway carriages heading south from Bangkok to Chumpon province yesterday. The derailment happened in the Phetchaburi province. The incident happened yesterday (Monday) just after midday and took the rest of the day and evening to lift the…
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Thai Government seeks public opinion on civil same-sex union bill
PHOTO: Chiang Rai Times The Thai justice minister is insisting that draft legislation for civil partnerships of same-sex couples won’t be rushed and that the department is waiting for public feedback on the proposal. Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin says the process will take time as it requires “careful deliberation to prevent any misunderstanding”. Somsak made the comments yesterday whilst chairing…
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Greater Pattaya hosts hotel and tourism forum
On Thursday, September 5 a hotel and tourism market update event covering Greater Pattaya will be held at the Holiday Inn Pattaya. Jointly organised by industry leaders STR, Horwath HTL, C9 Hotelworks and the AMCHAM Thailand, the event will feature key hospitality operating and performance metrics. A special panel on the emerging trend of hotel residences will include senior executives from…
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Deputy PM scoffs at demands from southern insurgency group
FILE PHOTO Southern peace talks continue to go nowhere as demands from either side prevent meaningful discourse in the two decade-long border scuffle. In the latest salvo, the Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwon has scoffed at a demand by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional, the most prominent of the southern insurgency groups, to release suspects in security cases before peace negotiations can…
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Executives at Thai Airways asked to take pay cut
PHOTO: Thai Airways and Thai PBS World “An unnamed source in the Transport Ministry says the airline’s financial predicament is very serious and puts it at risk of bankruptcy.” The country’s national flag carrier, Thai Airways, could be in deep financial trouble and may need to delay repaying its debt or seek new loans. Thai PBS World reports tat the…
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Growth of Thai economy lowest in nearly five years
PHOTO: Supply Chain Asia The Thai economy registered growth of just 2.3% in the second quarter of 2019, compared with 2.8% in the first quarter. This is the lowest rate of growth in 19 quarters, according to Tossaporn Sirisamphan, secretary-general of Thailand’s economic think-tank, the National Economic and Social Development Board. Tossaporn warns that although the situation is not yet…
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Thai Tourism Minister pushes ahead with visa-free entry for Indian, Chinese visitors
PHOTO: ThaiVisa Despite criticism from both the Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai and Deputy Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, the Tourism and Sports Minister says he will push on with plans for visa-free entry for Chinese and Indian tourists. Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn plans to put the proposal to Cabinet on August 20, despite the national security concerns of both ministers. “I…
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Train derails heading south from Bangkok
PHOTO: Chaiwat Satyaem Rail services between Bangkok and southern provinces were delayed yesterday after a passenger train jumped tracks in the Cha-am district of Phetchaburi province, about four hours south of the capital. There were no injuries reported. The incident happened around midday yesterday. The State Railway of Thailand reports that train 55 from Thonburi to Lang Suan station in Chumphon…
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Thailand’s Koh Chang by numbers, another island on the rise
by Bill Barnett of c9hotelworks.com Despite being one of the country’s biggest islands in the Gulf of Thailand, Koh Chang has remained somewhat off the mass tourism development footprint. C9 Hotelworks has taken a look into what makes the island tick in their newly released Koh Chang Tourism Market Review. Koh Chang is off the coast of Trat in far…
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‘One Night In Bangkok’. The song, 35 years later
PHOTO: Doi Kuro, Bangkok 1980 When ‘One Night In Bangkok’ was released in 1984 it was an unlikely hit- the opening song from a (at the time) little-known stage pop-opera called ‘Chess’. The song made Number 1 in South Africa, West Germany, Switzerland and Australia, and Number 3 in Canada and the United States. It has remained a staple of…
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