#Indonesia - Surfing contest, cultural festival in celebration of South Nias 14th anniversary

To commemorate the 14^th anniversary of South Nias regency, the provincial administrations plans to hold two interesting events called South Nias Open Surfing Contest 2017 (NSOSC 2017) and South Nias Regency Traditional Song, Culture and Tradition Festival.

The two events will be held for four days from July 25 to 28 at Sorake Island. They are results of a partnership effort between the provincial administrations through South Nias culture, tourism, youth and sports department with South Nias Surfers Association (APNS) and supported by tourism ministry.

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 “We’re going to hold a surfing competition and it’s open for local and international surfers. The main goal is definitely to increase the number of local and overseas tourists to South Nias,” explained South Nias cuture, tourism, youth and sports department head Anggreani.

The surfing contest itself is an annual event and the last time it was held was last year at Ya’ahowu Party.

Other than providing winners with Rp 87 million worth of prizes, NSOSC 2017 aims to scout new talents in Nias that can be trained to compete in National and International leagues in the future.

“NSOSC 2017 is divided into three categories: Men’s (16 years and above), women’s and grommet (men’s and women’s),” Anggreani added.

As for the festival, it will feature traditional dances and rituals of South Nias 

such as faluaya, famadaya harimao, stone-jumping, moyo dance and fataelesa.

 

Sorake beach is a haven for surfers, it’s included in the 10 best surfing spots in the world and said to be the second best after Hawaii. During the months of June – July surfers flock the beach because the waves are able to reach up to 10 to 12 meters high. Another uniqueness of the beach: one will not find anything but coral reefs in it.

Nias island is reachable by sea using a ferry boat from Sibolga city in North Sumatra with a distance of 85 miles or 12 hours. Travelers will then arrive at Mount Sitoli, the biggest city in Nias Island. Continue the journey from Mount Sitoli to Teluk Dalam city for about four hours using a four-wheeled vehicle. However, for a shorter traveling time, a flight is available from Kualanamu International Airport in Medan, North Sumatra. (asw)

Source - TheJakartaPost

#Phuket, Thailand - Nai Harn Beach – one of the best in Asia?

Let’s have a look at what reviewers think of top-ranked Nai Harn Beach in Phuket.

Phuket’s Nai Harn Beach recently ranked fourth in the 2017 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Top 25 Beaches in Asia. Situated on the southern end of the island, the beach is a stone’s throw from Phuket’s famed sunset viewing point - Promthep Cape. It’s considered a peaceful beach by Phuket standards, with no jet skis, para sailing, etc., but it is still pet friendly. So what did TripAdvisor’s reviewers think of the beach? Top issues included beach chairs/mats/loungers, local food and trash on the beach, but the overall consensus is that it is truly one of the most beautiful beaches around.

 
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Sarah R. from Brisbane, Australia commended the beauty of the beach but wasn’t so enthusiastic about the beach chairs.

“We caught a taxi from Karon to Nai Harn for a few hours on the beach before sunset at Promthep Cape. Four beach chairs cost 500 baht, and we only used them for an hour before a storm hit. Still, it’s a beautiful beach.”

Source - TheNation

#Thailand - Criminal Court ruling today in major human-trafficking case

The Criminal Court on Wednesday will rule on a major human-trafficking case involving as many as 103 defendants, including a senior military officer, Manas Kongpan.

The ruling is due to be delivered at 8.30am.

The trial began in 2015 as suspected syndicates were accused of trafficking migrants, notably ethnic Rohingya, to Thailand and via the Kingdom to other destinations.

Thai and Myanmar citizens were arrested that year following the discovery of a mass grave in jungle shelters in the border district of Sadao, in Songkhla province, used by traffickers to hold the migrants.

Investigations indicated a number of security officials as well as Thai and Myanmar civilians had taken the migrants – originally from Bangladesh and western Myanmar – to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The case attracted international attention to the regional migrant crisis across the Indian Ocean, and countries were criticized for ignoring the problem.

Thailand was then downgraded to the lowest level – Tier 3 – in the US State Department’s “Trafficking in Persons” (TIP) report in both 2014 and 2015.

The Thai government has since taken a number of measures, including amendment of its trafficking law and the creation of a special division in the Criminal Court to handle human-trafficking cases in particular.

Wednesday’s ruling is the first such case for the new division.

Thailand, meanwhile, remains on the Watch List in Washington’s annual TIP report.

Source - TheNation

Thailand wants more tourists who act like Australians

Thailand is now so popular for holidays that almost 35 million foreign tourists -- equivalent to half the country’s population -- are expected this year.

As the influx gets harder to manage, the government is shifting strategy. It’s now targeting a minimum increase in tourism revenue of about 5 percent annually instead of a particular number of visitors, Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul said. That means encouraging longer stays and higher daily spending, a mix the typical Australian holidaymaker exemplifies, she said.

“Maybe they’re the ones who are like: this is my time -- I eat, I shop, and I eat, and I shop," Kobkarn, 56, said in an interview.

Australian visitors were among the top 10 biggest spenders in terms of per capita daily expenditure last year, forking out 5,831 baht ($172), Tourism Ministry data shows. Their average length of stay of almost 14 days was the highest in that group. Some nationalities take even longer holidays but tend to be more parsimonious. British tourists, for instance, stayed for just over 18 days on average while spending 4,376 baht daily.

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Tourism is a bright spot for Thailand’s economy, which faces challenges such as political uncertainty and sluggish consumer demand. The sector makes up about 18 percent of gross domestic product, Kobkarn said in the interview in Chiang Mai last month.

 

“We no longer have a target for number of tourists,” she said. “We shouldn’t go beyond the limit that we can cope. But there’s no statistic on that yet. When people say that Phuket may be too crowded, or Bangkok is too crowded, we have to make sure that we are introducing new destinations too.”

Arrivals from overseas more than doubled in the past decade, powered by a surge in Chinese holidaymakers who contributed 28 percent of 1.6 trillion baht in foreign tourism receipts in 2016. 

Affordability is one reason why Thailand has usurped Malaysia as Southeast Asia’s most popular destination, but Kobkarn said the nation must focus on quality as well as cost to tackle emerging competitive threats from the likes of Myanmar and Vietnam.

Quality doesn’t just mean targeting wealthy tourists as Thailand needs travelers on a variety of budgets, Kobkarn said. Instead, it refers to offering good value experiences that encourage return visits, increase the average length of stay and bolster daily spending per head, she said.

Read also: Thailand issues tourist guidelines for mourning period

Visitors from the Middle East are the biggest per capita daily spenders, according to the Tourism Ministry data. Chinese tourists stood out for above-average expenditure and sheer number of arrivals -- 8.8 million, dwarfing other nationalities and making China the most important single country for tourism receipts.

Thailand’s years-long tourism boom slowed somewhat in recent months. That’s partly because of terrorist bombings in resort towns in August last year and a clampdownby the military government on some operators of large Chinese tour groups, which were judged to generate insufficient local spending.

Arrivals are likely to pick up in the second half of 2017 as security concerns fade and Chinese visitors embrace independent travel over package tours, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

That signals more strain for the country’s airports, some of which are already stretched beyond capacity. State-run Airports of Thailand Pcl is planning to invest about $6 billion over a decade to try to ease the bottlenecks.

Read also: 2 weeks, 1 country and a world of wonders in Thailand

Even as Kobkarn tries to focus on revenue targets rather than visitor numbers, arrivals are projected to climb, whether drawn by the allure of white-sand beaches in resorts such as Krabi, the gastronomic delights of Bangkok or the perennially notorious sex capital Pattaya.

The Bank of Thailand forecasts 34.9 million tourist arrivals this year, a climb of about 7 percent from 2016, and 37.3 million in 2018. That’s projected to help Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy expand 3.5 percent in 2017 and 3.7 percent next year.

Thailand needs to be a quality tourism destination since a range of factors can prevent it being seen as the cheapest, such as rising wages or an appreciating exchange rate, Kobkarn said.

“We’re working very hard for people not to think only of the cost,” she said. “We’re not the best. We still have many negative things. But we’re very sincere in improving ourselves.”

Source - TheJakartaPost

16 Myanmar workers rescued from Malaysian fishing boat

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Sixteen Myanmar migrant workers, including three minors under 18 years old, who were allegedly ‘sold’ to a Malaysia fishing boat in southern Thailand were rescued by Thai officials on July 13, according to a Thai-based migrant rights groups.

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 “We were asked to rescue migrants on July 8, and we spent about four days collecting information about the victims and their location. After that we asked Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation to help rescue the victims,” said U Kyaw Thaung, director of the Myanmar Association in Thailand (MAT), on Monday.

He said that initially 13 Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand were sold by a broker to the Malaysian fishing boat that had docked with fake documents at Naya Thiwa Port, Pattani province, in Thailand.

U Kyaw Thaung said each worker had paid 17,000 baht to the broker to find jobs in Indonesia, but the broker sold them to the fishing boat instead.

“When we asked the DSI to help save our workers, it asked for a recommendation letter from the Myanmar Embassy. They rescued our migrants on July 13 when we provided the recommendation letter,” Ko Shwe Tun Aye, chair of Migrant Workers’ Network in Phuket, said Monday.

He said the workers were rescued with the help of the Thai army.

According to MAT, they also rescued other Myanmar migrants, one aged 14 and two aged 17, who had been sold by another broker to the fishing boat on the day the rescue team reached them.

According to U Kyaw Thaung, the 16 Myanmar workers were to be sent to a fishing vessel in Indonesia. Fifteen of the victims are from Rakhine State and one is from Bago Region.

All the rescued victims are being held at a detention center, and Thai officials are planning to arrest the brokers for human trafficking.

Source - mmtimes

What happened in Thailand

What happened in Thailand
Many have financial problems
The can not loan more from the banks / Than the go loan from the loan-sharks.
Than the real problems started.

After a while, the can not pay on time.
The loan shark say, no problem. we go help you, and want replace the Thai staff, for one of them. (Indians, Pakistani, ....)
Slowly the go take over their business.
And the lazy, stupid Thai stay with empty hands on the street.

You never known, how the became in such big problems.

One of the reasons is the lazy staff in the shops / restaurants / bars / hotels / ...
The like to play with their mobiles (games)
The not give any service, the say easily ''mee mie'' - means no have.

This major problem you see on every place in Thailand on the moment.
Especially in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Samui, ......

You recognize them on the pushing smooth takings.
Same, ''we have your size'' - ''we have your color'' - ''we discount you''

A example in Bangkok is MBK and PANTIP PLAZA
You get crazy about all the pushing sales tricks from these outsiders
.

#Thailand - Chiang Mai voted third among the world’s top 15 cities

A popular destination with both local and foreign tourists, Chiang Mai has been recognised as among the World’s Top 15 Cities among readers of the influential travel magazine Travel + Leisure.

“Chiang Mai, with its lovely Lanna temples, charming traditions, unique food, family-friendly attractions and stunning setting is a gem in Thailand’s northern hills. There’s so much for tourists to do here, from cultural exploration to adventurous treks and food tours. I’d like to thank the readers of Travel + Leisure for rating the city so highly and naming the capital of Lanna one of Travel + Leisure’s World’s Top 15 Cities 2017,” said Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. 

Chiang Mai took the third place on the list of Travel + Leisure World’s Top 15 Cities 2017 with a score of 91.40 out of 100.
#Bangkok came in eighth.

The score is based on a survey of over 300,000 international T+L readers who were asked to rate the “best of the best” in international travel experiences and destinations and contribute to the globally respected, Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards.

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 ''Chiang Mai is an increasingly popular as a Thai destination and attracts a range of visitors from honeymooners to foodies and even MICE events. It’s the perfect place to enjoy unique Thai local experiences; such as fire massages at the Ban Rai Khing Community, traditional dancing or a sit-down Khantoke dinner,” Yuthasak said

Read more on TheNation