#Pattaya ranked as 7th Best of the Best Destinations

 Popular online travel platform Tripadvisor ranked Pattaya in Thailand 7th in the Travellers’ Choice Awards Best of the Best Destination for 2024, suggesting the beach city is the perfect choice for great resorts, outdoor activities, cabaret and cultural tours.

Tripadvisor’s Travellers’ Choice Award Best of the Best for 2024, is divided into five categories including destinations, restaurants, beaches, hotels and things to do. The list is based on reviews and opinions from Tripadvisor users over the past 12 months.

Pattaya, on Thailand’s eastern Gulf coast, was ranked 7th in the destinations category, with the website claiming that only 1% of Tripadvisor listings could make its name.

Tripadvisor highlighted Pattaya’s must-see attractions, including the famous Jomtien Beach, Khao Phrabat Temple, Sanctuary of Truth and the city’s lively entertainment venues. The Sanctuary of Truth was also recently chosen as the location for the action sci-fi film, The Creator.

The platform suggests that travellers to Pattaya, the second-largest city in the Chon Buri province and the eighth-largest city in Thailand, can expect great resorts, outdoor activities, cultural tours, and cabaret performances.

Source: The Thaiger

Russians the biggest tourist group in Phuket in November so far

Russians have made up Phuket’s biggest group of tourists so far in November. From November 1-10, Phuket saw 18,370 Russian tourists.

The total number of foreign tourists was 75,247, The Phuket Express reported. The next top four countries for tourism in Phuket were: India with 8,939 tourists, Australia with 5,275 tourists, the UK with 4,511 tourists, and Germany with  4,152 tourists.

In September, the TAT said that Malaysians made up Thailand’s biggest tourist group this year. The next three countries with the most tourists were India, Laos, and Cambodia.

But the number of Russian tourists appears to be growing in some areas of the kingdom. Last month, the first direct flights from Moscow to Phuket International Airport resumed.

Also last month, the island of Koh Samui expected to see a surge in Russian tourism, especially in December. Russian tourism has been a big revenue-producing staple of Koh Samui but was stymied by the Covid-19 pandemic and then the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The return of Russians is expected to bring a big boost to tourism on Koh Samui and the surrounding islands, Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao. Residents of Russia and other European countries that experience freezing cold winters are plotting their escape to the warm tropical weather in Thailand.

As of October 26, Thailand witnessed 7,349,843 international tourists arriving, surpassing the 7 million mark. It’s put the country within its goal range set by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) of 7 to 10 million visitors for 2022.

Source - The Thaiger 

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#Vietnam opens new international airport 50 km from Halong Bay

Vietnam opened a new airport, Dec. 30, on the island of Van Don, close to Halong Bay. Previously, travelers had to reach the magnificent UNESCO World Heritage Site via the capital, Hanoi, a four-hour drive away.

While the Vietnamese authorities have extended visa exemption for nationals of certain countries for stays of up to 15 days until 2021, the country has also opened a new airport, billed as Vietnam’s most modern, located close to the popular tourist destination of Halong Bay.

Business looks good for the junk boat cruises at this magnificent UNESCO World Heritage Site, as Van Don International Airport, which cost around $350 million and is managed by a private company, will allow visitors to travel directly to Halong Bay, without traveling via Hanoi.

Visitors will be able to reach the port in one hour’s drive, thanks to a new highway, compared to previous travel times of three to four hours, depending on the route. Note that domestic flights to and from Hanoi are operated by Vietnam Airlines and VietjetAir.

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Vietnam was aiming for 17 million foreign tourists in 2018. In the end, it welcomed some 15.5 million visitors, up 19.9 percent on the previous year. For 2019, the country’s goal is 18 million international arrivals. The Halong site is just one of the destinations set to help draw visitors, as the country also aims to develop tourism in the wider Quang Ninh province, which has 250km of coastline. Perhaps the beaches of Minh Chau and Ngoc Vung will one day become as popular as those of Phuket or Koh Phi Phi in Thailand. These new facilities, which took barely three years to create, were also envisaged to boost tourism and trade with Taiwan, South Korea, Cambodia and Singapore.

Van Don International Airport expects to see two million annual passengers by 2020 and some five million by 2030.

As well as the airport, Vietnam opened its first international cruise port, specially designed for cruise ships, located in Halong. This new infrastructure, designed by architect Bill Bensley, can accommodate up to 8,460 passengers at once. 

Source - TheJakartaPost

 

Move to exempt Thais from immigration form

Agency boosting staff and counters at Don Muang airport in bid to alleviate huge crowds of arriving passengers.

EXEMPTING Thai nationals from filling out immigration forms is among the measures being considered to help relieve the overcrowding of arrivals at Don Muang International Airport.

Immigration Bureau commander Pol Maj-General Nattorn Prohsunthorn said yesterday that his agency had discussed the passenger backlog problem with executives of the airport. 

They agreed to increase the number of immigration counters and outsource some of the work.

 He said one of the measures being considered was for Thai passengers to no longer be required to fill the departure and arrival TM6 form.

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The immigration police chief said his agency wanted the proposed exemption to be implemented as soon as possible and it was seeking to expedite amendments to relevant regulations.

He dismissed concerns that cancellation of the requirement would adversely affect national security, pointing out that authorities already have a database of Thai passengers.

“The Immigration Bureau has also sought permission for foreign passengers from certain countries to pass through the automated passport control channels” that are now reserved for Thai passport holders, to help relieve the overcrowding, Nattorn said.

Contingency plans

He said that from tomorrow, the number of immigration officials at Don Mueang airport would be increased to 100, from 42 at present, and they would work four shifts around the clock.

He also said Airports of Thailand (AOT), which oversees Don Mueang airport, has agreed to create space to set up more immigration counters. Within two weeks, the number of immigration counters will be increased from 25 at present to 39, he said.

The Immigration Bureau chief was speaking to The Nation after inspecting immigration operations at Don Mueang airport yesterday, where there were still long queues of arriving passengers.

Over the past year, the number of passengers passing through Don Mueang airport every day has increased to 40,000, up 400 per cent from 2012, when it was reopened as Bangkok’s second international airport.

 On Tuesday, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered relevant agencies to tackle the problem of long immigration queues at the airport.

The PM instructed the Immigration Bureau, AOT and the Transport Ministry to prepare contingency plans to deal with chaos similar to that seen at the airport last Friday night, when almost 10,000 passengers had to wait up to five hours to be processed by immigration officials. The chaos was blamed on the delay of over a dozen flights. 

Meanwhile, the Immigration Bureau yesterday described as “inaccurate” media reports that the prime minister had signed a new ministerial order last Friday to exempt all passengers from having to fill the TM6 form when they leave and enter the country.

In a statement, the bureau said that the order, effective from October 1, would cancel the existing TM6 form and replace it with a new one that asks for information necessary for the Ministry of Tourism and Sports in analysing and planning tourism marketing strategies.

“Passengers still have to fill the form when they leave or enter the country,” the Immigration Bureau statement said.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports clarified yesterday that from October 1, the existing TM6 form would be replaced by a new one – in which both the “departure card” and the “arrival card” will be on the same page. 

The ministry said in a statement that an electronic alternative to collect necessary passenger information would be needed before the TM6 form was eventually scrapped.

“The relevant state agencies are in the process of doing so,” the statement added.

Recently, Somkiat Tangkitvanich, president of the think-tank Thailand Development Research Institute, said the TM6 form cost Bt5 each and that almost 7 million Thais travelled overseas, according to the 2015 statistics.

He noted that all the information that passengers have to fill in is already on the passport, which has to be produced while passing through the automated passport control machine.

Source - TheNation

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Bangkokians forced to walk on Airport Rail Link track after train stopped working

Dozens of Bangkokians were forced to walk on the Airport Rail Link’s tracks this morning as they were evacuated from a train to another due to a power outage.

At 9am this morning, the Airport Rail Link transferred an entire crowded train to another train by foot between Makkasan and Ramkhamhaeng station, after the train had stopped working and they had spent an hour trying to fix the problem without success.

All passengers arrived safely at Hua Mark station. The Airport Rail Link is currently closed until they are able to clear all the passengers in its system, according to a Spring News journalist. 

The Airport Rail Link, which is operated by State Railway of Thailand’s subsidiary SRT Electrified Train, has not yet issued an official statement to explain the incident.

Source: Coconuts

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7 more carriers look to U-tapao Airport, #Pattaya

At least seven airlines are planning to begin operating at U-tapao Rayong Pattaya International Airport to serve tourists and business travelers.

 Rear Admiral Worapol Tongpricha, director of U-tapao Airport, said it had received more commercial air traffic since it opened full services.

He said at least seven airlines including Hong Kong Airlines, China Southern, Okay Airways, Emirates, and local operator Pattaya Airlines planned to operate flights into U-tapao Airport.

Hong Kong Airlines plans to operate four fights per week, while China Southern expects to start operations in January. Pattaya Airlines will resume its services. The rest are working on their business plans.

Worapol said Terminal 2 was still undergoing construction at a cost of Bt800 million, but when it is completed next year it will increase annual capacity by a million passengers.

From October last year to last month, the number of passenger rose tenfold thanks to more airlines using the airport.

"We believe that U-tapao can attract more airlines and travellers as its passenger service charge of Bt400 per passenger is lower than Bt700 at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Parking and landing fees are also more than 60 per cent cheaper than at Suvarnabhumi," he said.

 Several airlines are already operating scheduled flights at the airport such as Bangkok Airways, Kan Air, and Thai AirAsia. Tassapon Bijleveld, chief executive officer of Thai AirAsia, said the airline inaugurated four new routes yesterday, flying from U-tapao Airport to Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, Singapore and Macau.

The airline celebrated the occasion by giving 60 young people from Chiang Mai and Udon Thani their first flight experience, flying them to U-tapao to visit HTMS Chakri Naruebet, the Royal Thai Navy's aircraft carrier.

AirAsia now operates eight routes from U-tapao Airport. It flies to Kuala Lumpur four times weekly, Nanning three times weekly, Nanchang four times, Singapore seven times, Macau seven times, Chiang Mai 10 times, Udon Thani seven times and Hat Yai four times, for a total of 46 flights a week.

U-tapao Airport is AirAsia's fifth flight hub connecting the Eastern region to the rest of Thailand and international destinations, and the airline has noted a strong positive response.

"We are proud to have to started and to be a part of U-tapao Airport's burgeoning vibrancy and ability to welcome commercial air travel. We have stationed two Airbus A320 [aircraft] at U-tapao Airport, which serve a total of eight routes," Tassapon said.

Thai AirAsia expects to serve 14.5 million passengers with a load factor of 82 per cent this year. Next year, the airline hopes to carry 16.5 million passengers with an 82-per-cent load factor.

The airline is scheduled to receive five more aircraft next year, which will help it add two new routes to India and several in the domestic market. 

Source: The Nation

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