Floods could return

BANGKOK, 1 February 2012: Thai’s tour operator need to monitor and respond quickly to natural disasters or adverse weather conditions, Rangsit University’s flood and water management specialist, Dr Seri Suparati told travel agents on Monday.

He suggested tour companies adapt tour programmes based on their experience in last year’s floods.

Speaking at a seminar, Tourism Vision in the Future,  he warned tour operators to prepare for floods later this year by adapting tours in the central plains. Read more

Flood recovery budget

BANGKOK, 11 January 2012: The Thai Cabinet has approved a Bt11,026.607 million budget for flood rehabilitation.

Government spokesperson, Thitima Chaisang reported the Cabinet approved a Bt11,026.607 million budget of which Bt5,693.800 million would go to transportation; Bt137.575 million to rebuilding religious and historical sites; Bt1,379.905 million to water resources and irrigation and Bt3,201.640 million to restore schools.

In addition, Bt613.688 million will go to the Ministry of Defence to repair military vehicles used to help flood victims in the capital and other inundated provinces. Around Bt341 million will cover hardware damaged by floods and Bt272 million for equipment damaged by military’s relief operations.

In a damage assessment report, the government reported that 8,252 factories in 42 provinces had suffered substantial losses estimated at Bt328,261 million including lost business revenue.

It included 888 factories in seven industrial estates in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani province. They alone suffered losses of Bt171,087 million in lost revenue.

There were another 7,364 factories that filed claims for a total Bt157,174 in losses. Restoration will take up to six months to complete.

Buddy back in business

BANGKOK, 6 January 2012: Buddy Oriental Riverside Pakkred Hotel has reopened after a three-month closure due to flooding in Nonthaburi province, Buddy Group Hotels & Resorts announced Thursday.

The hotel was forced to close in late October for almost two months.

Buddy Group Hotels & Resorts chief operating officer, Sorathep Rotpojanaruch, said: “We could not take bookings for three months and we also lost considerable revenue from our restaurants, Song Fang Klong and Pazzo,” he said. Read more

Tourists flee New Year flood

SONGKHLA, 5 January 2012: Songkhla tourism will suffer a Bt50 million drop in revenue following floods that hit southern Thailand late last week.

According to the Hai Yai-Songkhla Hotel Association, floods wiped out New Year celebrations at the popular southern town that is usually packed with Malaysian and Singaporean tourists. Heavy rains and subsequent floods forced tourists to cancel their plans to visit Songkhla province.

Most tourism-related reservations were cancelled by New Year’s Eve, while tourists who had checked in at hotels cut their holiday short. It scuttled the province’s main source of revenue during what is a very short peak season. Officials estimated a Bt50 million loss in revenue for tourism related enterprises. Read more

Dream World back to reality

BANGKOK, 5 January 2012: Dream World reopens 10 January to coincide with Children’s Day celebrations. It is offering discounts of up to 50% discount 10 to 15 January.

The popular theme park, located in North Bangkok, was badly damaged by massive floods in November that inundated most of the capital’s northern suburbs.

Reduced prices on passes: Adults, Bt75; children, Bt60; Dream World Visa pass, Bt240 and all rides single pass Bt215. Read more

Floating market resurfaces

BANGKOK, 27 December 2011: Ayothaya Floating Market reopened last Sunday, after three-months submerged in 3 metres of flood water.

According to Ayothaya Floating Maket manager, Ploysuay Laksanasut, the floating market was closed by floods 5 August, but most of the equipment and stock in 190 stores was removed in time.

Flood waters damaged the entire complex costing an estimated Bt60 million in repair costs.

Most of the shop renters have returned, but it will take time to recover its daily tourism turnover. The attractions used to draw hundreds of tour buses daily, mainly sightseeing groups from Bangkok. Read more

Bangkok still a favourite

BANGKOK, 28 December 2011: A Bangkok University poll showed that 87.6% of international tourists interviewed said recent floods had not dented their confidence in Thailand.

Released earlier in the week, the travel intentions survey was conducted 22 to 24 December with a sampling of 721 foreign tourists (63.4% males and 36.6% females) at seven tourist locations in Bangkok — Khao San Road, Silom Road, Watergate-Ratchadamri intersection, Chatuchak market, Wat Phra Kaew, Hua Lamphong Station-Yaowarat road, and Sukhumvit road-Asoke intersection.

Of the 721 interviewed tourists, 392 were European, 145 were from the US, 55 from Oceania, 104 from Asia and 25 from Africa. Read more

Honda scraps flood cars

BANGKOK, 28 December 2011: Japanese automaker Honda on Tuesday began destroying more than 1,000 cars in Thailand to reassure customers that no vehicles damaged in the country’s recent flood crisis will ever be sold.

The scrapping process at Honda’s plant in the central province of Ayutthaya is expected to take one month, the company said in a statement.

The plant is located in the Rojana Industrial Park, where heavy flooding in early October brought production to a halt and aerial pictures showed hundreds of new cars submerged in muddy water. Read more

Sea surge strikes Chumphon

BANGKOK, 27 December 2011: About 100 people in villages along the Gulf of Thailand coast in southern Thailand were evacuated Sunday and several tourists were stranded when a large wave flooded a coastal village.

The 3 to 4 metre (10-to-13 feet) high wave inundated a shore on the Gulf of Thailand, causing floods of 1 metre deep and damaging houses in a village in Chumphon province, according to provincial governor Pinich Charoenpanich.

He said officials helped evacuate about a hundred people to a safe place farther inland. Read more

Death toll rises in Philippines’ floods

MANILA, 22 December 2011: The number of people killed in flash floods triggered by a tropical storm in the southern Philippines has risen above 1,000, the civil defense chief told AFP on Wednesday.

“I expect that (the death toll) will go up because there are still many missing,” said Benito Ramos of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, as he announced that rescuers had recovered 1,002 bodies.

Ramos said the death toll had surged in recent days as more bodies were recovered from the sea. Read more

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