Phuket

PM Yingluck pledges splurge on developing Phuket tourism

Published

8 years ago

17-09-2012

PM Yingluck pledges splurge on developing Phuket tourism | The Thaiger

PHUKET: Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Saturday named Patong Beach, Old Phuket Town and Promthep Cape as three Andaman tourist attractions to receive “emergency budget” support.

Also on the list to receive special attention were Phi Phi Island and Ao Nang, both in Krabi province, to make them more “tourist friendly” ahead of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) coming into effect in 2015.

“We have a plan to develop 29 top tourism destinations throughout Thailand. There are five such destinations in the Andaman region included in the plan: Patong Beach, Old Phuket Town, Promthep Cape, Phi Phi Island and Ao Nang Beach,” PM Yingluck told guests at a dinner talk organized by the Krabi Provincial Office and Matichon Group at the Sofitel Phokeethra Krabi Resort & Spa.

With about 14.3 million tourists having already visited the Kingdom this year, PM Yingluck expects the Thai tourism industry to be making about 2 trillion baht a year by the year 2015.

The jump in expected revenue relies heavily on the hopes that the AEC will bolster Thailand’s tourism industry. “We now have to develop an effective marketing strategy that will allow us to maintain our existing target markets, while also drawing in new markets.

“It will be necessary to target both the middle-class market and the luxury market,” PM Yingluck said.

“Another strategy would be encouraging longer stays,” she added.

In addition to developing tourist attractions, the government is proposing to build a high-speed rail system that will have both domestic and international lines.

“We have 2.2 trillion baht that will be used to develop a high-speed train network,” PM Yingluck said.

— Kritsada Mueanhawong

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News Categories:Phuket

Tourism

Phuket airport ready for tourists after finishing Covid screening labs

Published

48 mins ago

September 27, 2020

The Thaiger & The Nation

Phuket airport ready for tourists after finishing Covid screening labs | The Thaiger

Phuket Airport is officially ready for tourists as authorities say they have finished installing Covid screening labs in an effort to welcome international travellers. The 5T Model for Covid-19 is being used at the airport with the goal of screening large groups of people in a quick manner. The Phuket health chief says the 5T’s stand for Target, Testing, Treating, Trusting and Tracing.

The target category refers to the target groups of tourists while the tracing stands for software that will be used to monitor their movements. The testing category refers to Covid tests that will be implemented to travellers upon arrival along with the treatment and trust categories signifying the readiness of resources for medical treatment and confident communications between all parties respectively.

The Covid-19 lab container module has been set up at Phuket airport’s Terminal X and will be tested tomorrow with its operation to start on September 30. As large groups of tourists could arrive, the lab is reportedly capable of testing 96 people at a time with test results becoming available in 6 hours.

Such a readiness plan to welcome foreign tourists originally singled out Phuket due to its popularity with travellers and as a so-called guinea pig model to test in a controlled environment. Once dubbed the “Phuket Model”, authorities have proposed to rename the plan to “Special Tourist Visa” due to the confusion and opposition it reportedly caused. The scheme is reportedly now being proposed for all areas of Thailand but only allowing foreigners from specific countries.

SOURCE: Pattaya Mail

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Politics

Phuket’s Sri Panwa Resort’s land title deed to be investigated for legality by DSI

Published

21 hours ago

September 26, 2020

The Thaiger & The Nation

Phuket’s Sri Panwa Resort’s land title deed to be investigated for legality by DSI | The Thaiger

Back in the news again. Phuket’s Sri Panwa Resort’s land title deed is now to be investigated by the Department of Special Investigation after a petition was filed to determine whether the deed was procured legally. Veera Somkwamkid, the secretary-general of the People’s Network Against Corruption, filed the petition along with 167 pages of documents pertaining to his accusations that Thawatchai Anukun, a land fraud suspect, had unlawfully issued land title deeds to plots of land in Phuket before he mysteriously died in a detention room while in DSI custody in 2016.

He was allegedly being investigated for falsifying land deeds between the years of 1998 and 2001. Veera claims before the title deed was issued on the plot, the land was part of a forest known by locals as Pa Kae.

“Back then, 10 families that had occupied the plots for about 40 years had title deed requests rejected. The reason given was the land was part of a forest reserve used by the navy.”

However, Watchara Buathong, Phuket’s current land official, says the Sri Panwa resort had legally acquired its 56-rai, none of which was ever state land. Local resident Khwanjai Khumban, backed this claim, saying her father and cousins had sold most of the land to the resort, and she could produce documents to account for at least 12 rai of the disputed area.

Meanwhile, the Social Security Office, is also under fireas it is being asked to explain why it invested in the hotel’s trust fund. The department, which is under Thailand’s Ministry of Labour, in which its minister says he doesn’t know if the property has been legally built and points to the responsibility to the DSI to investigate. This was echoed by at least one opposition MP and anti-corruption activists.

The hotel, situated on Cape Panwa, in Phuket’s Muang district, has been under recent scrutiny due to its owner, Vorasit Issara, accusing Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, a co-leader of the anti-government United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration group, of offending the monarchy at last weekend’s protest at Sanam Luang.

Vorasit posted on Instagram that Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul should be jailed, further falsely claiming that she is not Thai when, in fact, Panusaya was found to have been born in Nonthaburi and is a Thai citizen.

“This bullshit has got to stop. She is not Thai. Who is she working for? This one needs to be in prison”.

Such a statement has received wide backlash from netizens with some taking to Trip Advisor and other websites to post bad reviews of the resort, prompting it to suspend advertising on such sites.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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Phuket

Female prisoner on the run after escaping from Phuket Hospital

Published

23 hours ago

September 26, 2020

The Thaiger

A female prisoner is on the run after escaping from Vachira Hospital in Phuket during a doctor’s appointment. 58 year old Siri Phodam allegedly escaped after asking her prison escort officer to use the toilet. But she took a long time to come back, and was found to have escaped. CCTV cameras caught her dressed in a blue hospital patient shirt and a sarong leaving the hospital quickly. A Phuket prison officer says the woman is 158 centimetres tall and has dark skin.

“Some of our own officers are searching for her, and we have also sent the prisoner’s description to all Phuket police stations. However, at this stage we have not found any clues.”