Travel

Khao Lak and Phang Nga tourism sector gains momentum with infrastructure and hospitality investment

phuket touriTourism in Khao Lak and the wider Phang Nga province is demonstrating robust post-pandemic growth, underpinned by rising international arrivals, increasing hotel performance metrics, and new project developments across the hospitality and infrastructure sectors. According to C9 Hotelworks’ Khao Lak and Phang Nga Hotel...

34 minutes ago

Hotels

Travel Videos

Travel

  • Japan tops Thailand as Chinese tourists’ top choice for Golden Week

    Japan tops Thailand as Chinese tourists’ top choice for Golden Week

    Watch out Thailand. Japan is stealing our tourists. Japan has now overtaken Thailand as Chinese vacationers’ top choice for the 2018 Chinese Golden Week holiday. This according to Ctrip.com, one of the biggest travel websites in China. This is the first time Thailand has lost its top destination status to Japan during the holiday season …

  • Three alternatives to Maya Bay

    Three alternatives to Maya Bay

    “Stop complaining and take tourists somewhere else – National Park officials.” National parks officials, looking after the Phi Phi islands, say there are plenty of other great locations to visit besides just Koh Phi Phi Ley’s Maya Bay. They were responding to complaints from both tourists and tour operators. Tour operators say that the move …

  • No vegetables are safe – Phuket Vegetarian Festival

    No vegetables are safe – Phuket Vegetarian Festival

    The most colourful and vibrant celebration of the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2018, is held from October 9-17. It also coincides with the Nine Emperor Gods Festival. In accordance with tradition, many religious devotees will strictly adhere to a vegetarian diet to ensure purification of the mind and …

  • You’re in the drivers seat, in your BKK hotel

    You’re in the drivers seat, in your BKK hotel

    The MeStyle Garage Hotel Bangkok, a new themed boutique hotel, is taking guests on an offbeat journey to experience a new dimension in design – ‘garage funky’ – inspired by its founder’s passion for cars. The hotel is the latest project from MeStyle Property Co, based in the Huay Kwang district of Bangkok. About 800 …

  • Maya Bay’s long road to recovery

    Maya Bay’s long road to recovery

    by Kornrawee Panyasuppakun and The Thaiger Phi Phi tour operators are crying foul and seeking assistance from authorities after the local tourist magnet, Maya Bay has been declared ‘closed indefinitely’ pending further rehabilitation of the corals around the bay. The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) is extending the closure of Maya Bay’s …

  • Whale watching season starts off Phetchaburi coast

    Whale watching season starts off Phetchaburi coast

    The Bryde’s whale has returned to the waters off Phetchaburi and reporters and tourists boarded boats on Monday for the official opening of the official whale-watching season, with about 10 of the huge animals obliging them on the first day. Boonyod Maklai, mayor of Tambon Haad Chao Samran in Muang Phetchaburi, led the outing on …

  • ‘Charm Offensive’ awaits at Don Mueang for Chinese passengers

    ‘Charm Offensive’ awaits at Don Mueang for Chinese passengers

    Knee-jerk reaction #48. The Tourist Police Bureau have dispatched a team of officers to attend to passengers, especially Chinese passengers, at Don Mueang International Airport. More Chinese tourist arrivals are expected to arrive for their Golden Week holiday starting today. The Deputy Commissioner of the Tourist Police Bureau, Pol. Maj. Gen. Surachete Hakparn, says additional …

  • Breakfast in Rome. Dinner in Bangkok.

    Breakfast in Rome. Dinner in Bangkok.

    Air Italy has touched down in Bangkok for the first time as it launches four weekly services into the Big Mango. The company intends to increase services to five weekly by the end of October. Bangkok is Air Italy’s third new international route launched this summer following launches in New York and Miami. It’s the airlines’ …

  • Airbnb partners with Thailand Boutique Accommodation Trade Association

    Airbnb partners with Thailand Boutique Accommodation Trade Association

    PHOTO: Mike Orgill, Airbnb Country Manager for Southeast Asia (left) and Suparerk Soorangura, President of TBAA and Advisor to the Thai Travel Agents Association (right) signing the MoU. Airbnb, the world’s leading community-driven hospitality company has announced its industry-first partnership with the Thailand Boutique Accommodation Trade Association (TBAA) to promote creative, people-powered Thai hospitality. Through the …

  • Police swarm into Koh Phangan for tonight’s Full Moon Party

    Police swarm into Koh Phangan for tonight’s Full Moon Party

    Authorities are out in force at tonight’s Full Moon Party on Hat Rin, the beach-home of the monthly Full Moon party on Koh Phangan. The Office of the Narcotics Control Board has arrived in the Surat Thani province to crack down on drugs in the popular archipelago of islands off the Surat Thani province coast. …

  • Natural alternative to elephant tourism in Prachuap Khiri Khan

    Natural alternative to elephant tourism in Prachuap Khiri Khan

    An elephant-tourism alternative has made headlines near Hua Hin. A Prachuap Khiri Khan hamlet where visitors can leisurely observe about 200 wild elephants has been selected as one of 50 Otop “Local Way of Life” tourism villages. Kui Buri district chief Chatree Chanweerachai says that Ban Ruam Thai, adjacent to Kui Buri National Park, had …

  • Bangkok’s gone to the dogs

    Bangkok’s gone to the dogs

    by Wong Chun Wai, The Star, Malaysia PHOTOS: TrueLove at Neverland The routine holiday to Bangkok, Thailand, for seasoned Malaysian tourists (like me) will probably include eating, massages and shopping. We have visited most of the tourist spots, and they are no longer appealing. Yes, we’ve been there, done that… you know the drill. It’s become …

  • Eating your way around Songkhla

    Eating your way around Songkhla

    by Pattarawadee Saengmanee – The Nation Weekend As we come in for landing at Hat Yai International Airport, I see clear sky reflected in the azure waters of the Gulf of Thailand. Despite the weather App warnings, the sun was out. Sightseeing is first on the agenda though and after a pleasant 40-minute drive from …

  • Hua Hin’s Centara Grand Beach Resort make it into list of best heritage hotels

    Hua Hin’s Centara Grand Beach Resort make it into list of best heritage hotels

    Creaky wooden floors, teak antiques, afternoon tea, marble staircases. There’s just something magical about a hotel with some history. From Yangon to Hong Kong, many of Asia’s most beautiful heritage hotels emerged during the 19th and early 20th centuries. And one of them is in Hua Hin. TTR Weekly reports that one of Thailand’s iconic and …

  • NokScoot adds Bangkok to Osaka flights

    NokScoot adds Bangkok to Osaka flights

    NokScoot is launching another service with a four-flights-a-week schedule between Bangkok and Osaka, Japan. The announcement follows the start of the airline’s Bangkok to Tokyo service which started in June. The low-cost international carrier is launching the service to Kansai Airport on October 28. Kansai Airport, closed until today following storms which damaged the land-bridge …

  • Begpacking – ‘How to’ guide for aspiring travelling beggars

    Begpacking – ‘How to’ guide for aspiring travelling beggars

    PHOTO: backslackers.com “Aren’t you technically homeless? Why shouldn’t YOU cash in too. Why shouldn’t other people pay for you to travel? Begpacking (or beg packing) is a way for backpackers like you to earn money while you travel by begging for money or busking around the world.” Thailand has its fair share of ‘beg packers’ each …

  • A Mandarin for Phuket

    A Mandarin for Phuket

    PHOTO: The Mandarin Hotel Sanya Island One of Asia, and the globes, leading luxury hotel brands, Mandarin Oriental has inked a deal for a Phuket property. Mandarin Oriental, Phuket will be located on one of the undeveloped beachfront sites still to be found on ‘Millionaire’s Mile’ on the west coast of Phuket island. It will occupy …

  • Record first seven months for tourist arrivals

    Record first seven months for tourist arrivals

    by Thammarat Thadaphrom The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced visitor arrivals of about 22.65 million from January to July 2018, up by 11% compared to the same period of 2017. Estimated visitor expenditure rose by over 14% to 1.18 trillion baht. The top ten source markets of visitors to Thailand during the first seven …

  • New ferry service between Prachuap Khiri Khan and Sattahip under discussion

    New ferry service between Prachuap Khiri Khan and Sattahip under discussion

    Prachuap Khiri Khan officials have met to discuss plans for a new ferry terminal just south of Hua Hin in Pak Nam Pran. Banmuang reports that the new terminal will accommodate a car ferry and link Prachuap Khiri Khan with Sattahip in Chonburi. Estimates discussed at the meeting say the journey would take around two hours, …

  • Thailand’s winners in the Conde Nast Traveller awards

    Thailand’s winners in the Conde Nast Traveller awards

    PHOTO: Conde Nast Thailand has been voted the world’s Best Country for People by readers of Conde Nast Traveller magazine in the 2018 Readers’ Travel Awards. Thailand was voted into third spot in the ‘Best Country’ category behind European winners Italy and Greece. But Thailand scored Number One in the ‘Best Country For People‘ category. But …

  • Thai pull direct Phuket to Hong Kong flights

    Thai pull direct Phuket to Hong Kong flights

    PHOTO: Planespotters.net Thai Airways are cancelling the popular direct Phuket to Hong Kong (HKT-HKG) flights from October 28. Any existing bookings beyond this date will be funneled through Bangkok (BKK) instead. Despite the tortured English in the advisory, the Thai national airline is informing all existing bookings of the cancellation of the direct flights and …

  • Direct flights, luxury hotel brands and wellness push Samui performance

    Direct flights, luxury hotel brands and wellness push Samui performance

    While most of Thailand’s resort markets struggle with an onslaught of mass tourism, Koh Samui has remained a ‘calm in the middle of a gathering storm’ in the numbers driven industry. While low-cost airlines have tapped into Asia’s soaring consumer class in most destinations, creating dizzying growth numbers, the island’s privately-owned airport has allowed for …

  • September Event round-up

    September Event round-up

    Boat enthusiasts rejoice! With several boating events celebrating Thailand’s rich sailing tradition, September is your month! The popular Thai-Laos long-boat racing takes place in Bueng Kan throughout September for HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s Cup, while the annual Pa Sak Boat Racing Festival in Saraburi province on September 29-30 has boats attending from all over …

  • Tourist arrivals up again – 11 percent rise year on year

    Tourist arrivals up again – 11 percent rise year on year

    Thailand welcomed 22,657,730 visitors over between January-July 2018, up by 11 percent over the same period in 2017, according to preliminary figures collected by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Estimated visitor expenditure also rose significantly, up 14.44 percent to 1.18 trillion baht. The top ten source markets of visitors to Thailand in January – …

  • Is the new Suvarnabhumi T2 design copied?

    Is the new Suvarnabhumi T2 design copied?

    by Phatarawadee Phataranawik The new Suvarnabhumi Airport, much-needed, T2 project has become embroiled in claims of plagiarism and dodgy tender processes. Renowned Thai architect Duangrit Bunnag’s winning “forest” design for Suvarnabhumi Airport’s new 35 billion baht passenger terminal is embroiled in a plagiarism controversy as well as added scepticism about the transparency of the design contest …

  • VietJet upgrades to larger planes for Chiang Mai sectors

    VietJet upgrades to larger planes for Chiang Mai sectors

    Vietjet, the Vietnamese-owned budget carrier, says it will add its newest Airbus A321 aircraft on some flights to Chiang Mai. Vietjet is the first airline to assign the 230-seat aircraft to a domestic route in Thailand replacing the smaller 180-seat A320 on two flights daily to Chiang Mai during the morning and evening peak traffic …

  • Everything old is new again – the plastic ban in Krabi marine park

    Everything old is new again – the plastic ban in Krabi marine park

    With thousands of tourists heading out to islands around Phuket and Phang Nga Bay every day, all with their lunches and snacks packed up in plastic bags and polystyrene, you can imagine how much waste is produced. So Thais online have been full of praise for tourists using traditional “pinto thao” food containers instead of …

  • Traveling tax dodgers – Immigration & Customs want you to pay import duty

    Traveling tax dodgers – Immigration & Customs want you to pay import duty

    If you travel overseas often and bring back luxury items to resell online, the Immigration Division has you on its radar. You have to pay import duties, it says. “We’ve had reports about people even taking orders in advance for goods to bring back,” Pol Colonel Choengron Rimpadee, the division’s deputy spokesman, said on Sunday. …

  • Trang Moon Festival 2018 – cultural shows, food stalls, contests

    Trang Moon Festival 2018 – cultural shows, food stalls, contests

    The ‘Trang Moon Festival’ has long been observed by Chinese people in Thung Yao in Trang province’s Palian district. The 2018 Trang Moon Festival is scheduled for September 22-24. Through the staging of this traditional festival, the Chinese commemorate the fight for their nation against the Mongols. Trang province was one of Thailand’s trading ports …

  • Getting THAT ‘plane’ pic at Phuket Airport

    Getting THAT ‘plane’ pic at Phuket Airport

    The Phuket International Airport runway is built right on the beach, Nai Yang Beach. The actual runway, running east/west, finishes about 150 metres before the actual beach. So, when planes are landing from the west they come down really low over the people on the beach just before it touches down. Pilots like to land …