A press release on Friday said that through the partnership, GSB will help ensure better funding for hospitality entrepreneurs by providing flexible-interest rate loans and instalment plans.

Airbnb will work with GSB to help build capacity through hospitality and hosting training while connecting homestay owners to its worldwide platform and marketplace network of over 500 million guests.

Dr. Chatchai Payuhanaveechai, GSB President and CEO, and Mike Orgill, Airbnb General Manager for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, jointly launched the partnership on Friday.

As part of the launch pilot, Airbnb and GSB trained GSB officials and 29 local homestay groups, including the participants of GSB’s ‘Smart Homestay 2018 Competition’, which recognised outstanding homestays in different provinces across Thailand.

The partnership will support local sustainable tourism while diversifying income distribution to communities across Thailand, in alignment with the Thai Government’s initiative to drive local economic growth in secondary cities through tourism. Specifically, both GSB and Airbnb pledged to expand business opportunities for Thai hospitality micro-entrepreneurs to help generate income for local communities.

GSB will provide a special loan package – providing grassroots customers with smaller, flexible loans – to hospitality micro-entrepreneurs who meet the Bank’s requirements. Airbnb will conduct a series of train-the-trainer model capacity building sessions to equip GSB officials with the skills to navigate and utilise Airbnb’s global platform efficiently, and cascade this knowledge to homestay owners under GSB’s programmes.

On Friday, participants took part in a series of sharing sessions about Thai tourism and its opportunities, as well as an Airbnb host onboarding and activation workshop for homestay owners. The high-speed fiber optic Internet for the workshop was provided by state-owned telecommunications company TOT Public Company Limited.

Airbnb Superhost, Nitaya Laisuwan, who hosts in a homestay in Bangkok, also shared her personal story and best practices. The passionate host and mother of two is a full-time English teacher who welcomes guests in her 4th generation traditional Thai wooden home, located by Bangkok’s Chao Praya river.

The mall has invested over Bt100 million to revamp all its digital channels and platforms in order to cater to the current consumer trends and integrate the digital technology with all aspects of the customer experience.

Sirinchat Sangsri, vice president of marketing for Megabangna shopping centre, said that the company launched a Megabanga application on Wednesday in a move aimed at keeping its customers up to date on sales campaigns and other information. The app does not provide products or services for sale.

Megabangna aims to increase number of customer registrations of the app by 50 per cent by 2021.

“We expect to have 10 per cent of our visitors having the Megabangna application within the next five years,” said Sirinchat, adding that Megabangna had 46 million visitors last year.

She said that the Megabangna application contains a complete range of features, such as promotions, activities, shop details and a membership loyalty programme called Mega Smile Rewards. The app provides convenient, quick and accurate information to customers and offers that are specially tailored for them, she said.

“This year, Megabangna shopping centre has reached its seventh anniversary. We have paid great attention to creating the best customer experience in order to ensure that visitors to Megabangna are always happy and impressed in each of their visits,” said Sirinchat.

“We found that the Thai people on average spend nine hours on the internet each day, including being online via electronic devices. Most people, or up to 71 per cent, access the internet via their smartphones.

“Moreover, more than 80 per cent used smartphones for watching entertainment programmes and searching for information and over 59 per cent did their shopping by phone. All these activities happened on mobile applications. Therefore, we are utilising this channel to provide benefits and promotions to customers, as we believe this can help us cater to the behaviours and needs of customers of various lifestyles.”

She said that customers’ needs and lifestyles are changing frequently and unpredictably in line with the trends and influencers in the market.

“The enlargement of the online platform enables consumers to access any information 24/7 – anywhere and anytime. This leads to customers knowing what they want, choosing what they prefer, advocating on what they believe and even sometimes telling the brands to understand their needs and tailor offers to meet their expectation – and even beyond,” she said.

“Learning from this challenging scenario, we therefore set our mission to turn Megabangna shopping Centre into a modern meeting place to accommodate the lifestyles and needs of our customers. We perceive ourselves as the meeting place where people can shop, dine, play and socialise with their family and friends.”

Arena of Valor (RoV) is a multiplayer online battle arena game which starts on May 27 and will feature a Bt150,000 prize pool.

Agatha Soh, head of marketing at Shopee Thailand said: “Sales of gaming products have consistently performed well on Shopee. Coupled with the tremendous popularity of RoV in Thailand, this partnership serves to bring gaming communities closer together, and make e-sports even more accessible to the wider community.”

The competition will kick off with a group stage, where participants compete to advance to the semi-finals and finals held on June 14 and 17 at Garena’s e-sports studio. The four finalists will get the exclusive opportunity to battle with celebrities May-Pitchanart and Jyp-Pokchat, and popular pro-players, KritNgi and Wanoiz.

To further enhance the spectator experience, the semi-finals and finals will be streamed on Shopee Live, Shopee’s latest in-app live streaming feature.

“The realm of e-sports has no limits and can be enjoyed by all,” said Krit Pattanateacha of Garena Thailand Co Ltd.

“Today the importance of games and e-sports is no longer limited within the game content itself, but to a wider ecosystem that connects various industries. Gaming fans in Thailand have become a part of the community with a variety of members who have the same passion for games, with Garena as the centre of this dedicated community.”

“We are very proud,” said Johann Dutoit, Chief Actuary of AIA Thailand said “We strongly believe that it reflects the best practices that AIA has put in place, and we are convinced that it will provide confidence to our regulator and our auditors in the quality and reliability of our work. We also believe that it will be a valuable tool to encourage more good people to join us when they see the high standards that we uphold at AIA.”

This award is designed to provide a level of assurance with regard to an organisation’s commitment to high quality actuarial work.

It has been awarded to AIA Thailand in recognition of its creation of an excellent working environment which values professionalism, technical quality and regulatory compliance.

It reflects the commitment of AIA Thailand to uphold the highest ethical standards of behaviour for over 80 years, said Dutoit. The award ceremony was held recently at the IFoA Asia Conference in Chengdu.

According to a statement, the new route will be available three times a week.

“The travelling trend continues to increase especially in the youth market, hence demand to open unique routes is increasing as well,” AirAsia Indonesia president and director Dendy Kurniawan said.

Phuket is one of Thailand’s biggest islands in the southern region and boasts various destinations, such as Phi Phi Island, the Big Buddha statue in Chalong and Phuket Old Town.

The carrier is currently offering promotional fares from 583,000 rupia (Bt$1275) one way that can be booked until May 26 for a travel period between July 2 and October 25.

Other direct flights served by AirAsia from Thailand to Indonesia are Jakarta-Bangkok, Medan-Bangkok and Denpasar-Bangkok.