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TAT expects local travellers to spend over Bt1.26-bn this long weekend (nationthailand.com)

TAT expects local travellers to spend over Bt1.26-bn this long weekend

NationalDec 09. 2020

By The Nation

At least 3.11 million Thais planning to travel over four-day weekend, with ‘We Travel Together’ scheme influencing many tourists.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expects the December 10-13 weekend to see up to 3.11 million Thais travelling in the country, spending more than Bt12.6 billion and boosting hotel occupancy by up to 40 per cent, TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said on Wednesday.

A TAT survey conducted on November 25 found that the government’s “Rao Tiew Duay Kan” (We Travel Together) subsidy scheme influenced 74.15 per cent of travel decisions and “Khon La Khreung” (Lets Go Halves) affected 88.57 per cent of travel expenditure plans. The survey found that 80.4 per cent of Thais want to travel locally, with 62.83 per cent during the New Years’ break and 21.06 per cent during this long weekend.

Most respondents (87.64 per cent) opted for short trips averaging three and half days, with the average total cost coming up at Bt9,136.

Of the respondents, 63.05 per cent chose the North as a preferred destination, followed by the East, Central region, Bangkok and its metropolitan area and the Northeast. The most popular provinces proved to be Chiang Mai, Chonburi, Bangkok, Phetchabun and Krabi.

Average travel groups came in at 4.3 people, most of them families. Private cars proved to be the most popular mode of transport (56.24 per cent) followed by flights (12.05 per cent) and bus (10.89 per cent). While most travellers (60 per cent) chose to stay in hotels and resorts, 13.88 per cent preferred to stay with friends or relatives.

Yuthasak said the one factor making Thais hesitate in making travel plans during this long weekend were the Covid-19 infected Thais who sneaked across the border from Myanmar in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district. This has affected especially affected the tourism business in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai as people are anxious and unconvinced about the domestic epidemic situation. Many bookings have been cancelled since this news broke.

Tourism in the South has also been affected by flooding in several provinces, including Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani, Krabi, Trang, Phatthalung and Songkhla.

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Suvarnabhumi Airport waives Zone C parking fees for long holiday (nationthailand.com)

Suvarnabhumi Airport waives Zone C parking fees for long holiday

NationalDec 09. 2020

By The Nation

Suvarnabhumi Airport has exempted fees at its long-term car park at Zone C from Wednesday until 5pm on December 14, airport general manager Wing Commander Suthirawat Suwannawat said after the Cabinet approved a long holiday this week to compensate for Father’s Day as well as stimulate domestic tourism.

Zone C can accommodate 718 vehicles and has a shuttle bus running every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day.

The buses run a free passenger pick-up and drop-off service from Zone C to the passenger terminal at Gate 3 and 8 on Level 1 and Gate 5 on Level 2.

Passengers must continue to strictly follow anti-Covid-19 rules by wearing a face mask, social distancing and arriving at the airport two hours in advance.

For further information, contact the Airports of Thailand office via 1722, 24 hours a day.

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Prayut reveals Children’s Day slogan (nationthailand.com)

Prayut reveals Children’s Day slogan

NationalDec 09. 2020

By THE NATION

Government House on Wednesday revealed Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s slogan for the upcoming Children’s Day.

Thai Children’s Day falls on the second Saturday of every January, or January 9 this time around.

The slogan can be translated as: “Thai children in new normal era unite Thais to build the nation with loyalty and virtue.”

It is a tradition for a prime minister to give the slogan for the day.

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Bangkok police nab two Uighur escapees, return them to prison in Tak (nationthailand.com)

Bangkok police nab two Uighur escapees, return them to prison in Tak

NationalDec 09. 2020

By The Nation

Two Uighurs who escaped from jail in Tak’s Mae Sot district twice were caught in Bangkok, while the immigration police chief in Tak has been transferred for being lax in his duties.

The two escapees were arrested in Bangkok’s Wang Thong Lang district and flown back to Tak. The two Uighur men had broken out of immigration jail in Mae Sot mid-October and were later spotted in Bangkok. Records show they had broken out of jail twice.

Meanwhile, Pol Colonel Sangkhom Tadso, chief of the Tak immigration police, has been transferred to another region for repeatedly failing in his job.

In 2017, 20 Uighur inmates had escaped from the immigration detention cell in Songkhla. The provincial immigration bureau at that time was under Sangkhom’s supervision.

There are about 11 million Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic-speaking ethnic group, living in the Chinese state of Xinjiang. Beijing has been holding more than one million members of this minority in detention camps, and is subjecting many more to intense surveillance and restrictions.

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Beauties cosy up to beasts in Chiang Mai (nationthailand.com)

Beauties cosy up to beasts in Chiang Mai

NationalDec 09. 2020

By THE NATIONMiss Thailand contestants on Tuesday made the most of wildlife at the Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai’s Mae Rim district and at the Night Safari Zoo in Hang Dong district.

The 30 beauty pageant participants have been on a publicity tour since last week, starting off with a visit to Lamphun, Lampang and finally Chiang Mai. The tour also aims to promote domestic tourism in the North.

The Tuesday programme started with a visit to the “I Love Flower” farm and the Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden in Mae Rim district, where the contestants posed for photos. They then headed for the Tiger Kingdom and Night Safari Zoo to take photographs with giraffes, leopards and tigers, before watching the zoo’s Safari Dancing Show that also features wildlife.

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Cabbies seek to participate in ‘Let’s Go Halves’ scheme (nationthailand.com)

Cabbies seek to participate in ‘Let’s Go Halves’ scheme

NationalDec 09. 2020

By The Nation

The taxi cooperatives network wrote to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Wednesday asking that taxi drivers be allowed to participate in the “Khon La Khrueng” (Let’s Go Halves) subsidised shopping scheme.

Vitoon Naewpanich, the network’s chairman, said discounts on public transport will benefit both taxi drivers and passengers.

“More people will take taxis, which will help taxi drivers’ income and reduce people’s cost of living,” he said.

The Cabinet approved the second phase of the subsidised shopping scheme on Tuesday, which will now be expanded to cover 15 million citizens from the original 10 million.

Until March 31, the government will pay 50 per cent of participants’ bill for food, drink and general goods up capped at Bt150 per day. The cap on the total subsidy per person over the entire period has been raised from Bt,3000 to Bt3,500.

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Doi Inthanon visitor faces legal action for scratched out message (nationthailand.com)

Doi Inthanon visitor faces legal action for scratched out message

NationalDec 09. 2020

By The Nation

Doi Inthanon National Park’s chief is taking legal action against a tourist who scratched out the message “it’s our love” on a wall inside the park, damaging the growth of moss and lichen.

Park chief Kriangkrai Chaipiset filed a police report in Chiang Mai’s Chom Thong district on Tuesday after a Facebook user called “Superbee Solao” posted a clip and pictures of himself damaging park property.

The action violates the National Park Act, which prohibits any damage on trees, rock, soil, mineral, petroleum and other natural resources in the park or any act that will affect the ecosystem.

CCTV footages shows the offender and friend riding a motorbike without a licence plate out of the park at around 2.12pm and heading towards Chom Thong district.

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Police raid operational centres of online gambling set up (nationthailand.com)

Police raid operational centres of online gambling set up

NationalDec 09. 2020

By The Nation

Police raided four sites from where an online gambling network was being operated in Bangkok, Nakhon Ratchasima and Sa Kaew provinces on Tuesday.

An unnumbered house in Sa Kaew’s Aranyaprathet district was the first to be searched after police learned gambling websites were being run from there.

In the house, police found 120 employees who ran the websites and learned each website had about 4,000 members and generated up to Bt30 million monthly.

As many as 15 websites with 60,000 to 70,000 members were being operated from this house, generating about Bt300 million per month. Hence, police believe a big syndicate may be behind this operation.

Two sites in Bangkok and one in Nakhon Ratchasima were also searched and police collected transaction records as evidence.

A businessman based in Aranyaprathet is believed to be behind the online gambling operation.

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25 found positive in quarantine (nationthailand.com)

25 found positive in quarantine

NationalDec 09. 2020

By The Nation

Thailand saw 25 new cases in quarantine over a 24-hour period, Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said on Wednesday.

He also confirmed that of 196 people who had travelled back from Tachilek province in Myanmar, 46 were found to have been infected. Only 17 entered the country illegally, he added.

The latest cases in the past 24 hours comprise both Thais and foreigners from abroad:

> Two Kuwaiti women, aged 31 and 71. The elderly woman had already been infected in October.

> Six from Switzerland – a Thai female accountant, 46, a Thai businesswomen, 50, three Thai maids, 52, 60, and 67, and a Swiss man, 53.

> Seven Thai women, ranging in age from 25-35. They worked in entertainment venues in Myanmar.

> A Russian diving instructor, 31, who travelled from his home country.

> A Thai female merchant, 52, who returned from Sweden.

> A Thai steersman, 27, who came home from Singapore.

> A Libyan woman, 32, and her son, 4, who travelled from Turkey.

> Two Thais – a female operating room officer, 59, and a female student, 18 – who travelled back from the United States.

> Three tourists who flew in from South Korea – a Korean man, 44, a Korean boy, 8, and a Japanese woman, 43.

Meanwhile, six patients have recovered and been discharged.

“I would like to thank all those who have cooperated with us. This will help keep our country safe,” Dr Taweesin said while talking about the 196 who travelled back from Myanmar’s Tachilek province.

He added that any Thais who want to return home should first contact officers instead of deciding to cross the border by themselves. He also encouraged people to continue with their travel plans but follow the rules by wearing a mask.

As of Wednesday, the number of confirmed cases in Thailand has increased to 4,151 (1,164 in state quarantine). Of these, 211 are in hospital and 3,880 have recovered and been discharged. The death toll remains at 60.

According to Worldometer, as of 10am the number of confirmed cases has reached 68.56 million (increasing by 584,388). Of these, 47.45 million have recovered, 19.54 million are active cases (106,441 in severe condition) and 1.56 million have died (an increase of 11,714).

Thailand ranks a safe 151st for most cases in the world, while the US has the most number, with 15.59 million, followed by India (9.74 million), Brazil (6.67 million), Russia (2.51 million) and France (2.3 million).

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Gang confesses to abducting Chinese man for Bt15-million ransom (nationthailand.com)

Gang confesses to abducting Chinese man for Bt15-million ransom

NationalDec 09. 2020

By The Nation

A gang which abducted a Chinese man were nabbed on Tuesday and confessed that they had kidnapped him for Bt15-million ransom because of a conflict over the budget for constructing a building.

Thong Lo police, which were investigating the case starting with an examination of an area in Soi Sukhumvit 39, traced a white Mitsubishi in which the victim was taken to Suphan Buri province.

They subsequently arrested one Chinese man with Malaysian nationality and his four Thai accomplices in Bang Pla Ma district and rescued the victim.

The Malaysian kidnapper told police he had a conflict with the victim and his company over the construction and he could not withdraw money for the project.

He, therefore, decided to abduct his compatriot for ransom.