Are we ready for the next crisis?
February 1, 2012 by Imtiaz Muqbil and Don Ross
Filed under News, Trade Talk
BANGKOK, 1 February 2012 – A prominent Thai economics professor has alerted the Thai tourism industry to the impact of an Israeli attack on Iran, including high oil prices and the dangers of a wider conflict, Travel Impact Newswire reported Tuesday.
Addressing the joint annual meeting of the Thai Hotels Association and Association of Thai Travel Agents on 30 January, Assoc.Prof. Somchai Pakapaswiwat PhD., who also advises the Thai government via the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), analysed how an Iran attack would pan out, including the possibility of expanding into a wider war involving the United States, China and Saudi Arabia.
It is the first time that the Thai tourism industry has been directly told to be prepared for the business impact of a potentially catastrophic geopolitical crisis. It also answered in advance the question posed by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in the marketing pitch for an upcoming series of seminars: “Are you ready for the next crisis?”
Asean tourism campaign will boost Murdoch empire
February 1, 2010 by Imtiaz Muqbil and Don Ross
Filed under News
Report by Imtiaz Muqbil, executive editor, Travel Impact Newswire and Don Ross, TTR Weekly editor.
US aid funds will be spent on a project that claims to be enhancing the region’s competitiveness in tourism, but also appears set to give the meta-search portal Wego.com, financially backed by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, clear dominance in the Asean online travel market.
The site http://www.southeastasia.org is being developed as a critical component of the Asean Competitiveness Enhancement Project, under which US$4 million is to be channelled over 2008-2013 through the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The project is being managed by a US consultancy firm Nathan Associates Inc with RJ Gurley as project director.
