Sawasdee khrap and thanks for your ongoing support.

As you may have noticed, the site has been sporadically on an infrequent basis over the past few weeks.

Unfortunately my laptop, which is my most invalueable tool in
running this site, was stolen. This incident has left me practically disabled in terms of running Thai Travel News.

As we are very much a start up venture, an instant replacement was out of the question. 

Good news happens to be that i have arranged a replacement, which should arrive early this week. Additionally, I hope that we will be operating at full capacity in the next few days.

Thanks for your understanding and ongoing support.

Kind Regards,

Jared Sheldon
Managing Editor

New routes have been launched connecting Thailand’s second largest city Chiang Mai and the major Asian cities of Macau and Hong Kong.

Hong Kong carrier, Dragonair, has announced it will commence flights to the popular northern tourist destination in July. Thai AirAsia will begin services between Chiang Mai and Macau starting in late May.

The Thai subsidiary of the Malaysia-based low-cost carrier will make it inaugural flight to the popular casino destination of Macau on May 22, 2012.  The flight will use one of the airline’s brand new Airbus A320 jets, and depart Chiang Mai at 4.15pm and arrive in Macau at 8.45pm.

Thai AirAsia’s flights will provide passengers with opportunity to connect to Hong Kong by ferry after arriving in Macau.

Hong Kong-based Dragonair will commence flying to Chiang Mai from July 1, 2012.  The service, which also uses a narrow-bodied A320 jet, will cater for the holiday period until September 30, 2012.  Flights will operate four times a week, departing on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Dragonair will become the only airline to operate flights between Chiang Mai and Hong Kong.

Phuket authorities have implemented a series of new detection and safety precautions in the Thalang district situated towards the north of the island.

The popular resort island has experienced a number of small tremors over the past 10 days after an 8.6 magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia.

The most severe of the quakes led to a tsunami alert that saw many prominent tourist spots situated on the coast of the Andaman Sea evacuated, including the Phuket tourism hub of Patong. One the measures implemented by authorities includes seismographs set up at various locations to monitor tremors and shift in the Earth’s surface.

Experts say that the devices have been set up along the Klong Marui fault line, which is where the many of the recent tremors have taken place.  Movement along the fault line was triggered by two major earthquakes that took struck off the coast Indonesia on Wednesday last week. Seismologists are predicting that the island will be affected by aftershocks, which will result in small tremors being felt around the island. Additional safety precautions are being taken, according to Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit, who said that further evacuation routes have been mapped out throughout the island.  An Earthquake watch centre has also opened in the centre of the island. The centre will receive and monitor seismic activity both on the island and throughout the area on a 24/7 basis. Thailand’s Minister for Health Witthaya Buranasiri has said that a number of emergency medical vehicles, which have been dubbed as ‘Super Ambulances’, would be on-hand, and mobile hospitals would be set up in the event of a crisis.

“If the worst possible situation occurred, patients at hospitals affected by an earthquake could be immediately transferred to mobile hospitals in safe areas,” said Mr Witthaya. Yesterday, authorities say that a number of aftershocks were felt throughout the Thalang district measuring around 2.0 on the Richter scale. A total of 18 tremors have been reported since a 4.3 magnitude quake occurred on the island on Monday. The Minister reported that Thailand’s Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, has shown deep concern over the situation in Phuket and insisted that assistance would be on offer should any tremors take place.

A Thai Member of Parliament has been caught red handed viewing pornographic images during last Wednesday’s sitting of Parliament. The incident took place on the same day that images of a naked woman were shown to the House on TV screens during a crucial debate on a constitutional amendment. 

The Democrat Party MP, Nutt Bantadan, came clean at a press conference yesterday, saying that he viewed the pic ‘accidently’ after he was tagged on a social networking site.

Nutt Bantadan said that the porn pic came up on his phone during a parliamentary changes to an amendment bill.

Photos taken of Nutt viewing the images in parliament did the rounds on Facebook and Twitter.  The incident occurred at almost the same time as another pornographic image appeared on a number of big screens throughout the chamber.

Nutt came clean at yesterday’s press conference saying that friends on a social networking site had sent him the provocative image.  He said that said that it was common for his friends to tag him in in photos, just for a  laugh.

The Democrat Party MP said that he closed the image as soon as he realised that the content was pornographic. He added that he was in the process of deleting the offending image when he was photographed looking at the pic while sitting in Parliament.

“The journalist who took the picture must have known well that I didn’t look at the picture for a long time,” he said.

Nutt acknowledged that it was wrong for him to use a mobile phone during parliament meetings to check updates on Facebook, Twitter and Tagged, but said that he often checks for updates from friends and family via some of the social media apps on his iPhone.

Wednesday proved to be rather interesting day for Thai parliament, when a separate incident involving a porn picture took place at about the same time Nutt was caught on camera viewing the offending material.

Television screens situated within the Parliamentary chamber flashed with images of a naked woman for about five seconds, before fading to black.  Wednesday’s second parliamentary pornographic gaffe occurred about three times before technicians switched off the screens.

The incident was later said to have been carried out by hackers situated outside the building.

The EU has agreed to suspend all sanctions against Myanmar following last month’s free elections. 

The European Nations agreed to lift all trade sanctions for a year, with the exception of an arms embargo that would remain.

One diplomat said that lifting the sanctions for the 12-month period would give the EU time to assess the sustainability of the reforms.

A formal announcement will take place in Luxembourg on Monday, and mention the possibility of a review after six months.

Head of foreign policy for the EU, Catherine Ashton, this week promised to ease sanctions at the end of this month in a bid to reward the nation for its ongoing political reforms.

Ashton said that more needs to be done to build a strong partnership with Myanmar.  She will travel to the ASEAN member nation at the end of this month.

“I do hope that what we are now seeing is an opportunity for this country to go forward,” she said. “We will now enter into an active collaboration with Myanmar, to assist the reform process and to contribute to economic, political and social development.”

It became clear that sanctions were likely to be eased after Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron and popular Burmese democracy figure, Aung San Suu Kyi, both publically called for an end to sanctions against the former British colony.

Thailand’s official 2012 tourism campaign is now underway following its launch at Impact Arena in Bangkok.

‘Miracle Year of Amazing Thailand’ officially commenced last weekend, with tourism officials estimating that the worldwide campaign will bring an extra 2.2 million foreign visitors to the country.  This brings the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT’s) target to more than 21 million for 2012.

While the ‘Miracle Year’ slogan will be seen around the world, tourism officials are specifically chasing Asian travellers. One of the biggest factors influencing the shift in focus is the economic crisis which is currently plaguing North America and Europe.

TAT chief, Suraphon Svetasreni, kicked off the celebrations at Muong Thong Thani Hall 2 at Impact Arena with the ‘7 Miracles of Thailand’ exhibition.  The show commemorates three of this year’s momentous occasions, including HM The King’s 84^th Birthday, HM the Queen’s 80^th Birthday, and HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn’s 60^th birthday.

This year, the TAT will also be encouraging domestic travellers to take to the roads and enjoy this beautiful country that the Thai people are amazingly fortunate to call home.

One of the unique features of this year’s campaign was the promotion of five locations throughout the country celebrating the Songkran Thai New Year celebrations.

•  5,689,127 international visitor arrivals during Q1
• Growth of 7.13%.
• Strong Australian Dollar sees more Aussies in Thailand
• Bangkok bomb plots caused 2% drop in February

Thailand’s Tourism Ministry has revealed that the number of tourists arriving in Thailand during March has recorded a significant growth of 11.99 percent.

A total of 1,906,402 international tourists arrived last month, while the first quarter’s arrivals of 5.6 million was up by 7.13 percent on last year’s figure.

During the month, all visitor arrivals from all markets noted an improvement, except for the Middle East, which noted a minimal drop of 0.14 percent.

Africa recorded the biggest growth during march, which was up by almost 90 percent, although this only represented around 22,000 arrivals.

One of the largest markets to see a strong growth was Oceania, which consists mainly of Australian and New Zealand Travellers.  The strong Australian dollar has seen a record number of Aussies head overseas on relatively cheap package holidays.

In second place, East Asia (including ASEAN countries) was up 14.26% (977,249); Europe, +9.19% (592,302); the Americas, +8.52% (93,109) and South Asia, +4.57% (96,370).

Thailand has had a rough run of luck lately, with Bangkok being the unfortunate and unwitting victim of two foiled terrorist plots, while insurgents in the country’s predominately Islamic fatally bombed a hotel in the regional centre of Hat Yai.

The statistics showed that the number of tourists arriving at the capital, Bangkok, dipped in February, by 2 percent.  These incidents had minimal bearing on the number of tourist visiting the country during March.

The March 31 bombing of the Southern provincial cities of Yala and Hat Yai would most likely lead to a drop in the number of Malaysian and Singaporean travellers arriving in the country.  Situated close to the Malay border, Hat Yai and Yala are favourites for Malaysian travellers to visit for shopping.

One of the fastest growing markets, and possibly one of the most important markets – China – continued its upward trend. Chinese visitors to Thailand rose by 32 percent, while Russian travellers slowed down from an improvement of 57 percent last year to just three percent in 2012.

Thailand’s national parliament was interrupted when pornographic images of a nude woman flashed on screens throughout the building while a debate was in progress.

Members of Parliament were treated to a close up pic of a young woman striking a provocative pose.

The racy images featured in between video footage of an ongoing debate on a controversial amendment to the nation’s constitution.

Parliament was halted and the monitors were switched off in a hurry after one of the MPs complained.

An investigation into the origin of the investigation is underway, while House Speaker, Somsak Kiatsuranont blamed the incident on hackers situated outside of the parliament building.

Photos of the gaffe were apparently taken by one of the MPs who was present in the chamber.  The images featured a woman reclining without any underwear who appeared to be holding her groin.

Debate dedicated to the second reading of a constitutional amendment resumed later in the day. The amendment is aimed as a precursor to drafting a new national constitution.

A report has revealed that 40% of Asia’s medical tourism takes place in Thailand.

Thailand has long been considered a favourite for many to go under the knife for surgical procedures for its specialised medical treatments and relatively cheap price tag.

The nation has become a hub for medical tourism, now possessing more than four percent of Asia’s share of the market.

Since the year 2000, the number of people visiting Thailand to undergo various treatments has grown enormously for two reasons.In addition to the low-cost procedures available, Thailand has all the tourism infrastructure needed to cater for travellers from all corners of the globe.

The capital, Bangkok, receives flights from all over the world, and with many routes from hundreds of airlines operating from the US, UK, Australia and Asia. Not only are flights to Thailand well priced, but direct flights operate from many cities around the world.

One of the other reasons that Thailand is considered to be a top destination for medical tourism is the high standard of medical care that can be obtained, especially within the city, Bangkok and even the resort areas of Southern Thailand.

Today, there are more than 15 hospitals in Thailand that are accredited by JCI. Most medical tourists prefer local private hospitals because they have experienced and trained doctors and surgeons. Some of the most respected private hospitals in Thailand include Bumrungrad International Hospital, Bangkok Hospital Group (BHG) and Samitivej Hospitals.

Thai tourism officials are currently examining the option of building a second airport at the resort island of Koh Samui in the gulf of Thailand.

At present, the island is served by one airport, Samui International Airport (USM) which is wholly owned by the country’s largest private carrier, Bangkok Airways.

Thailand’s Transport Ministry is currently looking into the viability of a state-run airport on the popular tourist island to offer an alternative Samui International. The move comes as passengers complain of high fees, and airlines operating flights to the privately owned facility complain of high airport charges.

Thailand’s Minister for Transport, Jarupong Ruangsuwan, has instructed government airport management group, Airports of Thailand (AoT) to examine the investment viability of building a second airport on the island of Koh Samui.

Jarupong said that the existing facility on the island was not in a position to be expanded to cope with the rising demand in flights to Koh Samui.  The airport, which was build in 1989, is situated on the border of a residential area and the coast of the Gulf of Thailand, which renders almost any move to expand the airport as impossible.

“There have been complaints of high airport fees that need to be resolved,” the minister said.

The minister highlighted the benefits that a second airport would bring to Koh Samui and the surrounding islands. Local tourism would be given a boost as a second facility would offer price competition on routes to the island and end Bangkok Airways’ monopoly on flights to and from Samui.

One of the options that has been suggested is to enter talks with Bangkok Airways to discuss various measure to solve the problem. Jarupong said that by building a new airport is a sure way to gain bargaining leverage.

At present, current facilities at Samui International are too limited to cater with the rise in flights departing and arriving at the island.  The limitation in fights has had a detrimental effect on smaller hotels and resorts on the island, leading to an oversupply of rooms and an all-out price war.

The transport minister said that construction on the island must be worthy of investment and take into account the landscape and environment surrounding the facility.

A survey was carried out into the feasibility of a second airport on the island in 2003 that revealed a new airport would cost 2 billion baht to construct.  The ideal location for the facility would be 14 km away from the current airport on the western coast of the at Na Muang.