Thai PM allows New Year countdown event

 Thailand’s Centre of COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) has been assigned by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to discuss with businesses how a New Year countdown event can be held in a way which will not lead to a COVID-19 resurgence.

The prime minster told the media that he is pleased with the slowdown in new infections over the past several weeks which, he said, is a healthy sign and that the government is preparing to ease lockdown restrictions further, citing the New Year countdown event as one example.

He said that he has told the CCSA to try to conclude talks with the private sector about the New Year event within a week and that it must be held outdoors with measures taken to prevent a new round of infections.

Although the Omicron variant has not been detected in Thailand yet, the prime minister said that he has instructed officials to try to track down the remaining travellers from eight African countries already in Thailand for RT-PCR tests, to make sure they are free from the Omicron variant. – ThaiPBS

Source - BangkokJack

 

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#Vietnam - International Tourism Fair 2019 kicks off in Can Tho

CAN THO An international tourism fair - The VITM Can Tho 2019 - kicked off in the southern city of Can Tho’s Ninh Kieu District on Friday.

The event is being held by the Vietnam Tourism Association (VNTA) in coordination with Can Tho City’s People's Committee and Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and others attended the opening ceremony.

VITM Can Tho 2019 is the largest tourism event to be held in the Mekong Delta.

The aim is to support local tourism businesses to build, promote and sell their products to make tourism a key economic sector in the region.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, vice president of the VNTA Cao Thi Ngoc Lan said this was the first time the VNTA in co-ordianation with Can Tho City's People's Committee had organized the fair.

"The fair is expected to create opportunities for local people, authorities and businesses to present their tourism products and local cuisine to domestic and foreign tourists to make tourism a spearhead for economy," Lan said.

About 320 booths run by international and Vietnamese enterprises, service facilities and destinations in 25 provinces and cities are taking part in the event.

There are also booths from South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Cuba.

The highlight of the fair will be the Mekong Delta Tourism Development Forum which will offer solutions for rapid tourism development.

More than 10,000 indoor and outdoors tours, 5,000 hotel rooms, air tickets and over 5,000 promotional vouchers with 20-50 per cent discounts are on offer to visitors from travel agencies and prestigious tourism service businesses such as Vietravel, Sagota, Saigontourist and Fiditour.

The fair also includes a food festival with culinary contests and a presentation of local specialties.

Chefs from all over the country will be making special local dishes at the festival.

The fair will be running until December 12 at the Center for Trade and Investment Promotion and Exhibition Fair at 108 Le Loi Street. VNS

Source - Viet Nam News

#Thailand invites Chinese tourists to record-breaking sticky rice mango feast

Some 10,000 Chinese tourists have been invited to a feast in Thailand that has broken the Guinness World Record for the biggest sticky rice mango banquet ever, as a way to win tourists from China back.

The dessert, featuring 6,000 mangoes and 15 tonnes of sticky rice was announced the world biggest one in an event themed "We Care About You" near Bangkok. The feast was held on Sunday by the tourism panel of the National Legislative Assembly and was coordinated by the Association of Thai Travel Agents.

Chinese tourists were invited to enjoy the most famous Thai dessert along with Thai food and fruits as well as Thai-Chinese performances.

Organizers said they want to build up a good image of Thai hospitality through this event.

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 "Considering there was a sharp drop of Chinese tourists to Thailand, we've been making an effort to improve the country's safety standards, expecting to restore the confidence of tourists from China and let them know Thailand care about them." said Pichit Kuandachakupt, chairman of the committee of religion, art, culture and tourism of the National Legislative Assembly 

 Chinese arrivals, which were booming in early 2018, were stunted by a deadly ferry sinking in July 2018 which killed 47 Chinese tourists.

Although yearly arrivals of Chinese tourists for 2018 exceeded a historic milestone of 10 million in December, monthly arrivals were lower than that during the same period last year.

Thailand have exceeded the waiver on the on-arrival-visa fee for 20 countries and regions including China, the kingdom's biggest tourism contributor that accounts more than a quarter of its international arrivals.

Source - TheJakartaPost

 

#Google Thailand offers free public Wi-Fi

GOOGLE Thailand yesterday launched a series of initiatives, including free high-speed public Wi-Fi, to enable more Thai consumers and businesses to participate in the growth of the digital economy.

The initiatives were announced at the first Google for Thailand event, held in Bangkok under the theme “Leave no Thai behind”, aimed at promoting equality of digital access.

Ben King, country director of Google Thailand, said at the event that the Google’s initiatives would span across the four pillars: access, education, content and products and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“They were designed to ensure that all Thais would have opportunities and know-how to access technology and use it to build livelihoods,” he said.

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King said Thailand is rapidly growing digital economy. He showed a projection of digital economic opportunity in Thailand worth US$37 billion, while the opportunity in Southeast Asia is US$200 billion.

Moreover, Thailand is No 5 for average peak connection speed, or 106 MB per second. Ranking first is Singapore, followed by Hong Kong, South Korea, and Qatar, according to Akamai Technologies, a content delivery network and cloud service provider. 

Thailand is second for highest mobile Internet adoption in Asean, having 90 per cent of 3G/4G coverage across the country.

The event was also attended by Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, who delivered a speech on the vital role that digital technology will play in achieving the government’s 20-year national strategic plan. However, he urged netizens to learn how to use the benefits of digital technology but not be used by it.

One of the highlights launched yesterday was Google Station, a high-speed public Wi-Fi programme undertaken in Thailand, in partnership with CAT Telecom, sponsored by Unilever.

 Google Station will start in 10 venues across Bangkok and in two provinces, Pichit and Loei, and will be expanded to other parts of the country in the coming months, allowing more Thais to access a free and reliable Internet connection, said Anjali Joshi, vice president of product management.

Currently, locations available for the free Wi-Fi services in Bangkok include Hualamphong train station and Megabangna shopping mall. To register, people should go to @FreeGoogleStation-CAT Wi-Fi system and enter their mobile number and name. 

Thailand is the fourth country to have Google Station, after India, Indonesia and Mexico.

King also announced the construction of the Academy Bangkok – A Google Space, a digital skills training facility at True Digital Park in Bangkok.

It will open later this year and will be a new training venue for participants of the Google Ignite programme, a two-month digital marketing training course that prepares university students for careers in Thai companies.

Google also introduced a new feature, Motorbike Mode, for Google Maps in Thailand.

Krish Vitaldevara, product lead for Google Maps, said the new feature will help Thailand’s 20 million motorcyclists to plan routes taking into account shortcuts and narrow roads that only motorbikes and scooters can take and offers more accurate travel times that reflect motorbike speed.

To support Thailand’s ever-growing YouTube community, Mukpim Anantachai, head of YouTube partnership, YouTube Thailand, said the company would relaunch the YouTube Pop-Up Space in Bangkok in November to give Thai creators access to state-of-the-art production facilities.

During the announcement, Mukpim also unveiled a new data plan in partnership with AIS. It will offer unlimited data packs at Bt59 per month for YouTube Go, an app that allows viewers in Thailand to watch and share YouTube videos even with slow or no Internet connection.

Lastly, Google Thailand announced collaboration with Siam Commercial Bank to allow SMEs to sign up and be verified for Google My Business, a free business listing on Google Search and Google Maps, through SCB personnel who will visit SMEs at their stores.

Source - TheNation