TTAA names new president

BANGKOK, 26 April 2012: The Thai Travel Agents Association confirmed, Suthipong Pheunphiphop, as its president for a 2012 to 2014 term, after elections took place, Monday.

Mr Suthipong will announce a new committee line-up to manage the association that has 700 members mainly working in the outbound travel segment. His term begins 16 May.

He replaced Charoen Wangananon who held the top association post since 2007.

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Dusit college opens new programme

BANGKOK, 26 April 2012: Dusit Thani College will open its new international Bachelor Programme in Resort and Hotel Development with partner, Ecole Hoteliere Lausanne, from Switzerland. The new programme will kick of this August and is designed to attract more oversea students to study in Thailand.

The cooperation between the two colleges was announced earlier this year. The educational programme will have its first intake for its English courses this August for both Thai and international students.

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Talk fest master in Chiang Mai

CHIANG MAI, 19 April 2012: The master of talk fests, UN World Tourism Organisation, will host a “warm up” meeting on green tourism, 3 May, in Chiang Mai, to prepare a tourism agenda for yet another global conference on sustainable development due to be hosted in Rio de Janeiro next June.

Directly after the Chiang Mai event UNWTO’s  talk fest continues, 4 to 5 May, with two “commission” meetings to present the agency’s forecast for international tourism, dubbed Tourism Towards 2030.

UNWTO Secretary-General Dr Taleb Rifai said “The theme of our conference for this year has been selected to reflect contemporary issues of global as well as regional interests.

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Changes in TUI management

LONDON, 19 April 2012: European tour operator, TUI Travel PLC, announced, Wednesday, management changes to streamline structure and accelerate its move to being online driven.

The changes in the so-called “mainstream sector” of the company follow the promotion last year of Johan Lundgren to deputy chief executive of TUI Travel PLC, who took over supervision of the company’s core business.

According to the announcement to the stock exchange and media, its Northern, Central Europe and Western Europe sector will close and a mainstream sector board formed. Reflecting the importance of the group’s largest source markets, UK, Ireland and Germany, their managing directors will be promoted to the group management board.

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Travel by tiny margins

BANGKOK, 19 April 2012: Association of Thai Travel Agents’ member companies handled 843,396 international tourists at Suvarnabhumi Airport during the first three months of 2012 representing a slight increase of 1.89% from 827,752 visits during the same period last year.

ATTA released its data, Wednesday, based on fees member agencies pay to the airport to provide a meet-and-greet service for international clients. It is considered an accurate barometer for the tourism industry, but is limited to travel through Bangkok and via the agency channel.

For January to March, China continued to be a strongest market with 216,979 trips. It represented an improvement of 34.34% from 161,516 during the same period last year.

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Shortfall in Chinese guides

CHIANG MAI, 12 April 2012: More Chinese are visiting Chiang Mai, but the city is now facing a shortage of qualified tour guides, says Chiang Mai Professional Tourist Guide Association chairman, Somrit Haikham.

“There are around 20,000 Chinese tourists visiting the province annually. But it is very likely to increase to 50,000 as transport options improve and we are already short of guides to serve the market.”

Mr Somrit added: “The market increases 5% annually and while we have 55,000 tourist guides registered in the country most of them prefer to work in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya.”

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ONYX names com chief

BANGKOK, 11 April 2012: ONYX Hospitality Group announced earlier this week the appointment of Harris Kurdthip as director of marketing communications.

Mr Kurdthip was promoted from the previous position of director of public relations Thailand to his new role of director of marketing communications for the entire group.

He will be responsible for driving marketing and PR activities for ONYX, its brands and properties, including overall management of two key corporate teams under marketing at ONYX Headquarters in Bangkok comprising group marketing services and Thailand’s communications teams.

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THA director passes away

BANGKOK, 6 April 2012: Thai Hotels Association director, Sakarin Chosawai, 51, died Tuesday following a heart attack, Thai Hotels Association reported Wednesday.

Funeral rites are being held at Dhammamongkol Temple on Sukkhumvit Road Soi 101, Bangkok, until 11 April.

Mr Sakarin held the post of director at THA since 2005. He was also a member of the sub-committee on tourism and sports in the House of Representatives.

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Seminar on AEC 2015

SAMUI, 4 April 2012: Samui will host an ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 seminar to educate businesses and people in the South to gear up for competition.

The seminar will be held, 26 to 27 April, at the International School of Tourism, Surathani Rajabhat University.

The Towards the ASEAN Economic Community will focus on lifting awareness in the tourism and hospitality businesses particularly the challenges companies will face in the South.

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TTAA offers early bird discount

BANGKOK, 2 April 2012: The Thai Travel Agents Association is offering an early bird discount on this year’s second Thai International Travel Fair 2012, 16 to 19 August.

Companies need to confirm their bookings by 23 April to be eligible for a 15% discount on booth rentals at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.

The TITF 11th edition should have 911 booths, while the event will be themed Amazing Winter Packages. The deals will be valid from September 2012 to early January 2013.

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