Myanmar - Cambodia, Angkor Wat, Bagan to be tourist sister cities

 

 As part of the ‘two countries, one destination’ campaign, the Myanmar and Cambodia tourism ministers will ink a Memorandum of Agreement to tie Angkor Wat and the Bagan Cultural City, said U Kyaw Swa Min, a member of Working Group Committee for Angkor-Bagan tourism cooperation.

He told The Myanmar Times the agreement will be signed at the ASEAN Tourism Forum in 2018.

“We will negotiate a bilateral agreement for an Angkor-Bagan tourism integration plan between us before the MoA is signed by the two ministers,” he said.

U Kyaw Swa Min said the working group committee, led by the deputy directors general of the tourism ministries of both sides, are working out details on how to integrate a tourism package for Angkor and Bagan.

“Angkor Wat and Bagan are similar in natural features and were founded in the same century. They are also quite unique, and that is why we grouped them for development as one destination,” U Kyaw Swa Min said.

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Currently Nyaung-U airport cannot receive foreign flights because it is a domestic airport. Tourists have to take a flight via Yangon or Mandalay international airports to get to Bagan.

Tourists cannot fly directly to and from Angkor Wat and on to Bagan from Nyaung-U airport now because it does not have enough staff.

“Even regular flights from regional countries cannot be accommodated unless they upgrade the facilities at Nyaung-U airport,” U Kyaw Swa Min said.

Nyaung-U airport is being including as part of the ancient archaeology zone that needs to pass a heritage impact assessment before being allowed to be upgraded, according to the Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library in Bagan.

U Aung Aung Kyaw, director of the department said, ”We have to do a heritage impact assessment but it will be done by aviation experts. We need to do this because there will be many types of aircraft landing and taking off.

“We also do not know what ancient structures are present underground.”

The Department of Civil Aviation, (DCA) can allow international flights with aircraft capacity limitations but this needs to be approved by the Immigration Department for visa regulation purposes, U Ye Htut Aung, deputy director general of DCA, said in a previous interview with The Myanmar Times.

Almost 300,000 tourists visit Bagan yearly.

There are three ways to reach the destination -- by car, plane and water (river cruise). And all foreigners have to pay a K25,000 fee to enter the ancient archaeology zone.

Daw Khin Moh Moh Aung, a local resident, said, ”We welcome whatever they decide that it is good and beneficial for our regional development.

“But one thing to consider before they do anything is security, which is very important, not only for local people but also for tourists, because we want to be happy no matter who comes to visit our land.

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#Indonesia - Sidoarjo turns mud waste area into tourist destination.

Lusi Island is set to become the latest tourist attraction in Sidoarjo regency, East Java.

The reclaimed island, which is a result of mud dredging from Porong river estuary, will be part of Mangrove Restoration and Learning Center's area managed by the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry alongside local administration and the public.

Since 2015, the ministry has built many facilities in the area, which include pedestrian track, observatory tower, a management office, toilet and water management installation.

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 “[The island] is good for mangrove tourism. It will also have karamba [floating fish enclosure] next year,” said the ministry’s directorate general for Territorial Sea Management Brahmantya Satyamurti to tempo.co.

Set on a 94-hectare of land, the island also hosts Tambak (fish farm) Wanamina. However, a large part of the island has not yet been developed. 

Brahmantya said the island was initially created to become a mud waste area for Porong River and not designed for tourism. Therefore, to turn it into an ecotourism spot, it will need sufficient sanitation, as well as clean water facilities and food and beverage stalls.

 

Source - TheJakartaPost 

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Three Thai water parks have been listed among the Top 10 in Asia in travel website TripAdvisor’s 2017 Travellers’ Choice awards.

Ramayana Water Park in Pattaya took third spot among the 10 and Black Mountain Water Park in Hua Hin sixth spot. Also in Pattaya, Cartoon Network Amazone is making a splash and was named the seventh-most popular water park in Asia.

“I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to these three parks in Thailand for winning positive reviews from travellers from around the world,” says Tourism Authority Governor Yuthasak Supasorn. “These awards certainly help to further strengthen the image of Thailand as a family-friendly destination.”

The award winners were determined using an algorithm that took into account the quantity and quality of user reviews and ratings posted around the world in the past 12 months.

TripAdvisor users praised Ramayana Water Park for its “beautifully clean water” and “excellent rides” and called Black Mountain “safe”, “family-friendly” and “a great day out”. 

Cartoon Network Amazone was hailed as “state-of-the-art” with both “simple and daredevil” slides.

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 Ramayana opened in May last year and covers 100 rai (160,000 square metres), making it one of the largest water parks in Southeast Asia. It boasts 21 rides and more than 50 other attractions, including two children’s zones, a “lazy river” and a floating market.

It’s 20 kilometres south of Pattaya, close to Khao Chi Chan, known for its giant Buddha etched into the side of a mountain, and next to Silverlake Vineyard.

Black Mountain, which opened in 2011, covers 40,000 square metres. It’s got a 17-metre-high tower from which nine different water slides radiate, plus a spectacular wave pool, a lazy river, a beach-infinity pool and children’s pool.

It’s about 15 minutes from Hua Hin town centre.

Cartoon Network Amazone is the world’s first Cartoon Network-theme water park. Opened in 2014, it features 10 entertainment zones and more than 150 water attractions. It’s in Bang Saray, about 20 minutes’ drive south of Pattaya.

Source - TheNation

#Thailand - Shortage of migrant labour hits key sectors

CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS SLOW DOWN; FISHERIES, AGRICULTURE ALSO AFFECTED

MANY SECTORS, including construction in the capital, fisheries in the South and agriculture in border areas, are facing labour shortages due to the tough new labour law, sources said yesterday as migrant workers began returning to Thailand.

A construction site of the Red Line train (Bang Sue-Rangsit) needed to slow down after many Myanmar workers left their work to reprocess work permits, an official said. 

Workers at the construction site at Bang Sue central terminal also left work, even though they did not need to: they incorrectly believed that their “pink card” was no longer valid under the new law, the official added. He noted that those workers might take 10-20 days to check or reprocess the register before getting back to work.

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However, other construction sectors were less affected by the new law, since major construction firms usually hire legal workers, according to an official at the State Railway of Thailand who declined to be named. 

Millions of migrant workers in Thailand were in a chaotic situation over the past week after the government issued a new decree to manage migrant workers. The decree took effect on June 23, threatening fines for employers of at least Bt400,000 for every illegal worker they hire. 

Only a few days after the decision, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha last Tuesday invoked his special powers under Article 44 to suspend four key articles of the decree until the end of the year. The suspended articles prescribe much harsher penalties against offending migrants and their employers until the end of this year. 

The suspension came too late for many companies, as thousands of legal and illegal workers panicked over the tough punishment and rushed to go to their home countries to process or reprocess their work permits and to register. More than 50,000 migrant workers reportedly returned home since last month, mostly to Myanmar and Cambodia. 

In order to end the chaos, the Labour Ministry will allow all Thai employers to register their Lao, Cambodian and Myanmar workers at temporary centres throughout the country from July 24 to August 7. 

While Prime Minister Prayut said earlier that he believed the workers from neighbouring countries would return to work in Thailand as there are demands in the market, Nit Ouitengkor, former president of Ranong Chamber of Commerce, said they might not return due to complicated legal procedures. There are more jobs available in their countries, including Myanmar, since the economy there is now growing faster than Thailand’s, he said. 

Ranong is Thailand’s southern port province, sitting next to Myanmar. The province is home to some of the most important fishery piers in the country. 

Many piers in the province yesterday were seen almost empty, while some were working with only half of the normal workforce. While it is estimated that more than 5 million migrants from neighbouring countries are working in Thailand currently, it is estimated that only half of them are documented. 

In the eastern border province of Sa Kaew, where there is a shortage of farm workers, local authorities coordinated with their Cambodian counterparts to encourage workers to cross the border to work. Many Cambodian workers have fled due to the new labour law in the past month, leaving many farms in trouble during the growing season. 

Sa Kaew provincial immigration chief, Benjapon Rodsawad, said Cambodian people are allowed to cross the border to work temporarily in the area in order to ease the current labour shortage.

With border pass papers, Cambodians would be allowed to enter and stay in Sa Kaew and neighbouring Pachin Buri province for seven days, he said, “so we have to strictly check their document in order prevent them from going deeper to other provinces or the capital”. 

Source - TheNation 

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#Indonesia - Talaud Islands regency celebrates anniversary on uninhabited island.

Talaud Islands regency in North Sulawesi held a festival on Monday as part of its 15^th anniversary celebration.

The Sara Island Festival reportedly attracted some 5,000 visitors, who participated in the event’s various activities, such as tug of war and ship decorating competitions.

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 “The festival aimed to boost tourism in the region as Talaud has many potential tourist attractions that are unique and enchanting,” said Talaud Islands Regent Sri Wahyumi Maria Manalip.

To travel to the uninhabited Sara Island, a destination popular for its underwater paradise, white sand beaches and three-colored seawater, visitors need to take a 30-minute ride on a small boat that can be rented for between Rp 300,000 ($22.36) and Rp 400,000.

“Several cottages and clean water facilities have been built on the island, but we’re keeping it uninhabited because the atmosphere feels different if nobody permanently lives on it,” Sri added.

 

Source - TheJakartaPost

Read also: Bolmut regency, North Sulawesi to develop tourism sector

#Thailand - Koh Tao run by mafia

Gangster’s Paradise: Foreign papers allege ‘death island’ Koh Tao run by mafia

Since the reopening of the case on the April death of Belgian backpacker Elise Dellamagne this week, stories have been coming fast and furious in international news about Koh Tao, nicknamed “Death Island” by some press due to all the mysterious foreign deaths on the small isle.

While most stories have been updates on Dellamagne and the last backpacker to disappear, Russian tourist Valentina Novozhyonova, 23, back in March; others have been roundups of all the foreigners to die or disappear on the island over the last three years. The most famous of these being Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, who were savagely murdered on the island’s beach in 2014. 

Today, a writer for the UK’s Independent, who used to live in Thailand, wrote about the island’s “dark side” and strongly urged tourists to avoid the destination. 

 

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 She wrote about how both locals and expats on Koh Tao are afraid to speak on the deaths and disappearances since it’s allegedly an open secret that the island is run by a mafia family that has no qualms about killing those they see as opposition. 

  The writer claims that the mafia family “demanded protection money, controlled the local police force, and were not above attacking or burning down the homes and businesses of people that crossed them.”

The Sun followed up with the story this afternoon of a young man, Sean McAnna, who claims he had a run-in with the Koh Tao mafia family and they threatened his life.

 McAnna spoke to the press back in 2014 and is a friend of the murdered David Miller. He fled Koh Tao a week after Miller and Witheridge’s bodies were found amid alleged threats on his life. Two newspapers saw fit to repackage and republish his story today in the wake of the latest foreign death. 

The young man said he was drinking at the same bar Miller and Witheridge visited just before they were murdered. He claimed that two men approached him, claiming that McAnna had murdered the Brit backpackers. 

He alleges that they told him they were going to take him into the jungle and hang him to make it look like he hung himself. The claimed to tell him that this would make him look like he was was responsible for the murders. He believes these people were part of the island mafia family. He fled from them and spent the night hiding out before taking the first flight he could from the island paradise. 

He echoed the statement made by the Independent writer when he said he would never return to Koh Tao. 

Source + Photo - Coconuts.co

 

 

#Thailand leads the pack for Asia's abused tourist elephants

Twice as many elephants work in Thailand's tourism industry as the rest of Asia combined, with the vast majority kept in "severely inadequate conditions", a new report revealed Thursday.

The world's largest land mammal is a huge draw for tourists across two continents. But while Africa's elephants are more likely to be spotted roaming vast nature reserves, their Asian cousins are less fortunate.

A multi-million dollar industry has flourished in recent decades with tourists taking rides on the giant beasts or watching them perform in circus shows.

Researchers from World Animal Protection spent two years visiting 220 venues using elephants across Asia, in what they describe as the most comprehensive survey to date of a rapidly growing, lucrative, but poorly regulated industry.

Their data showed pachyderm welfare routinely came in second place to turning a fast profit, with three-quarters of Asia's captive elephants kept in conditions that were rated poor or unacceptable.

 

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 Thailand stood out as the global epicentre. Of the 2,923 elephants WAP documented working within Asia's tourism trade, 2,198 were found in Thailand alone. 

 

The next largest industry was India, with an estimated 617 elephants, followed by Sri Lanka on 166, Nepal on 147, Laos on 59 and Cambodia with just 36.

All the venues visited, which researchers said represented 90 percent of the industry, were rated on a scale of 1-10 in terms of conditions with 77 percent scoring between just one to five -- what researchers classified as "poor or unacceptable".

"When not giving rides or performing, the elephants were typically chained day and night, most of the time to chains less than three metres long. They were also fed poor diets, given limited appropriate veterinary care and were frequently kept on concrete floors in stressful locations," the report said.

'Tourists can push change' 

India fared the worst on living conditions with an average score of 4.4, followed by Thailand on 4.6, Nepal on 4.8, Sri Lanka on 4.9 and on Laos 5.0.

Cambodia averaged 6.5 but researchers noted there were just 36 elephant in four venues, two of which got good marks.

Highest rated venues rarely or never chained their elephants, limited or banned close interactions with tourists and allowed the animals to socialise in herds.

In Thailand only eight venues were rated as good, compared to 114 rated poor.

Jan Schmidt-Burbach, a Thailand-based expert with WAP, said tourists had the power to improve captive elephant lives by choosing venues that promote observing animals over interacting with them.

"As a general rule, if you can ride, hug or have a selfie with a wild animal it's cruel and you just shouldn't do it," he told AFP.

Researchers added that the 30 percent increase in Thailand's tourist elephant population since 2010 was based mostly in poorly rated venues.

Thailand's elephant entertainment industry took hold in the 1990s after authorities banned the use of elephants in commercial logging and owners said they had to find new revenue.

Most of that generation of elephants have now died out, yet the number of elephants involved in the trade keeps increasing. The country has more elephants in captivity than living in the wild.

WAP said they were particularly concerned by Thailand's animal circuses, where elephants can often be seen riding tricycles, walking on tightropes and even playing basketball.

"The training required to make elephants perform such tricks is particularly cruel and stressful," researchers said.

Source - TheNation