More than 4.6 million tourists visited Thailand in the first eight months of the year, with the largest groups coming from neighbouring countries, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).
However, the number is still less than half of the 10 million arrivals targeted by TAT this year, with only four months left.
The TAT has placed its hope on a tourist surge in the last three months of the year, Thailand’s high season, aiming to draw at least 1 million visitors per month.
TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said on Friday that Thailand saw 4,635,418 international arrivals between January 1 and August 31.
The top contributor of tourists over the first eight months was Thailand’s southern neighbour Malaysia, with 647,648 arrivals.
Second is India, with 449,236 arrivals, followed by Laos (276,924), Singapore (242,220), and Cambodia (228,846).
The United Kingdom is the sixth on the list, with 211,016 tourists, followed by Vietnam (205,687), the United States (191,404), South Korea (187,792), and Germany (159,639), according to the TAT.
Most visitors arrived through the country’s three major airports — Suvarnabhumi (2,596,319 arrivals), Phuket (719,886), and Bangkok’s Don Mueang (313,520).
The list of popular land entry points is topped by seven immigration checkpoints in the South, Northeast and East.
They are Sadao, with 223,776 tourists, followed by Nong Khai (129,699), Sa Kaeo (101,031), Sungai Kolok (75,238), Padang Besar (73,055), Betong (70,182), and Mukdahan (51,803).
The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) is sending aircraft to get aerial images of flood-hit areas so as to be able to offer help to the affected people.
The RTAF reported on Friday that it was planning to help people in the Air Force’s areas, in the Chao Phraya river basin and the Northeastern region.
It will collect aerial and satellite images of flooded areas in Nakhon Sawan, Chai Nat, Ang Thong, Sing Buri, and Ayutthaya provinces.
The images will be used to analyse and gauge the direction of the floods to be able to make appropriate plans to evacuate people and goods.
The RTAF has also ordered Wing units and Flying Training Schools in the areas to prepare to evacuate people.
Previously, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency had reported on Thursday that 749,396 rai (119,903 hectares) along the Chao Phraya, Pa Sak, Bang Pakong and Mun rivers were affected by floods.
Phuket’s Thalang district was hit by flooding after heavy rain on Friday.
Images shared on social media show locations including a golf course, filling station, school and a condominium close to Phuket Airport submerged under water.
More than 40 cars and 20 motorcycles were damaged by the floods.
Worawit Sisakhukram, a village headman in Phuket, said he was inspecting the area with district officials to assess the damage and find ways to help victims.
Worawit reported that the floodwaters are receding slowly. He also asked the local Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation office to help drain the inundated condominium.
Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew also inspected the flooded areas as part of aid efforts for victims.
Phuket Airport asked passengers to arrive three to four hours ahead of their scheduled departure time. Passengers can call 076 351111 for updates on airport and flight information.
Acting Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan is scheduled to visit Krabi province on Monday to inspect and monitor water-management projects.
He will be accompanied by Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn and Deputy Defence Minister Chaichan Changmongkol.
Prawit is scheduled to preside over a meeting on water management with the Office of National Water Resources, Royal Irrigation Department and the Agricultural Land Reform Office at City Hall in Krabi’s Muang district.
The Office of Agricultural Economics is also expected to present the local palm oil situation at the meeting.
Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn
Also on Prawit’s itinerary is a visit to the Khlong Haeng reservoir and Ban Song Phraek community’s water-resource development for agriculture. He is also set to hand out Sor Por Kor 4-01 title deeds for agricultural land to eligible members of the public.
Chaichan Changmongkol
Prawit visited Chachoengsao on Thursday to inspect a tap-water-making plant to monitor the progress of a water-management project in the eastern province.
Booster shots are necessary to help our bodies fight off “invading diseases” like Covid-19, a top virologist advised.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, expert virologist Dr Yong Poovorawan said: “Getting vaccinated is like training the body’s immune system to become frontline soldiers to fight off invading diseases.
“However, the Covid-19 virus does not just invade our body head-on, but also mutates or disguises itself, so the soldiers cannot identify it as a threat and the virus eventually sneaks past our defence,” he said.
“This means you can contract Covid-19 no matter how many jabs you have had.”
Yong said those who received their first two jabs, should get booster shots because it’s like reinforcing your defence. These soldiers will help fight off enemies that enter our bodies as soon as possible to prevent severe symptoms.
“Booster shots have proven to be highly effective in preventing severe symptoms, hospitalisation and death, especially among the ‘608’ group,” Dr Yong said.
The 608 group refers to elderly people aged 60 and above, patients with seven chronic diseases or underlying conditions and women 12 weeks or more into their pregnancy.
“Those whose immunity cannot be boosted via vaccines, such as patients with chronic kidney disease and those on immunosuppressants, are advised to opt for the long-acting antibody [LAAB], which is now widely available in Thailand,” Yong added.
Singapore will have its first hydrogen-ready power facility Keppel Sakra Cogen Plant, following a final investment decision by Keppel Infrastructure Holdings Ltd, via its wholly-owned unit Keppel Energy, to develop the 600MW state-of-the-art, combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant.
Keppel Infrastructure is a wholly-owned unit of Keppel Corporation, a Singapore flagship multinational company providing solutions for sustainable urbanisation.
In a statement issued on its website, Keppel Infrastructure said the total investment for the plant, expected to be completed in the first half of 2026, is estimated to be about S$750 million. It will be built on Jurong Island’s Sakra sector.
To run initially on natural gas as primary fuel, the plant is also designed to operate on fuels with 30 per cent hydrogen content and has the capability of shifting to run entirely on hydrogen, it said.
In addition, as a CCGT power plant, it will be able to produce steam for use in industrial processes for the energy and chemicals customers on Jurong Island, it said.
“This advanced CCGT will be the most efficient among the operating fleet in Singapore and will be able to save up to 220,000 tons per year of CO2 compared to Singapore’s average operating efficiency for equivalent power generated.
This translates to taking about 47,000 cars off the road per year, Keppel Infrastructure, one of Singapore’s electricity retailers, said.
With the energy sector accounting for almost 40 per cent of Singapore’s carbon emissions, the company said decarbonising electricity generation is at the core of the global climate change effort and one of the key features of Singapore’s Green Plan.
Meanwhile, Energy Market Authority (EMA) chief executive Ngiam Shih Chun said Singapore’s electricity demand is projected to grow with increasing electrification and economic growth.
As such, Ngiam said the EMA welcomes investments by the private sector to bring in best-in-class technologies in power generation.
“Being hydrogen-ready, this power plant by Keppel will contribute towards greater efficiency and lower carbon emissions. This will support Singapore’s transition to a more sustainable energy future while ensuring the security and reliability of electricity supply to consumers,” Ngiam said.
The High Court here sentenced Rosmah Mansor to 10 years’ jail on each of three corruption charges involving a RM1.25bil hybrid solar project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak.
Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan also ordered that the prison time run concurrently from the date of judgment, which means that the former prime minister’s wife faces 10 years in jail.
He also fined her RM970mil, in default 30 years in jail, if she fails to pay.
The court allowed a stay of execution on the sentence pending an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak, arrived in court on Thursday to hear the verdict on charges against her of seeking bribes in exchange for government contracts, just days after her husband was jailed for corruption.
Rosmah, 70, who has drawn criticism over her extravagant lifestyle, is facing three counts of soliciting and receiving bribes involving funds amounting to 194 million ringgit ($48.09 million) to help a company secure a government project. She has consistently denied wrongdoing.
Najib was voted out in a 2018 election, amid widespread public anger at government corruption and allegations that more than a billion dollars in 1MDB funds had been transferred into his personal accounts.
The Imperial Household Agency plans to use social media to provide accurate information about the Imperial family in the wake of erroneous reports regarding the former Princess Mako’s marriage, according to the agency.
In its budget request for the next fiscal year, the agency has included three additional positions, including the newly created post of counsellor, as part of its efforts to improve the distribution of information on the Imperial family.
Using social media is expected to be one of the measures taken to stem the spread of misinformation.
The agency requested an increase of one counsellor and two staff members in its Grand Steward’s Secretariat. Currently, the secretariat’s Press and Public Relations Office, which is part of the General Affairs Division at the agency, provides information on its website.
Misinformation about the marriage of Mako Komuro, 30, the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, was circulated in weekly magazines and on social media, highlighting the lack of proper publicity by the agency.
Under the new system, the agency intends to use social media to proactively send out correct information on the Imperial family. It has yet to decide which social media sites it plans to use.
“We have received comments from members of the Imperial family that we need to proactively provide correct information and convey a more accurate picture to the public,” a senior official of the agency said.
Dr Bernadette Madrid, a children’s rights crusader from the Philippines, was named one of the four laureates of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards, considered to be Asia’s Nobel Prize.
In a virtual ceremony on Wednesday, the Manila-based Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation cited Dr Madrid, 64, for her work with the Child Protection Network Foundation.
The non-governmental organisation has helped more than 149,000 abused children and women across 61 provinces and 10 cities, providing them with medical, legal and psychosocial care since 2002.
The paediatrician also heads the Child Protection Unit of the state-run Philippine General Hospital, the first facility in the country to provide mental health services to abused children and women. To date, the unit has helped 27,600 children.
The Ramon Magsaysay award is named after the seventh Filipino president, a former automobile mechanic who was venerated for the servant leadership that earned him the moniker Champion of the Masses.
Past winners include Singapore’s former deputy prime minister Goh Keng Swee and Malaysia’s former chief justice Suffian Hashim.
The other 2022 Magsaysay Awardees included Dr Sotheara Chhim, a psychiatrist who survived the Khmer Rouge regime that left around two million Cambodians dead due to overwork, starvation and mass executions in the late 1970s.
Dr Chhim, 54, now heads the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO), which leads efforts to treat Khmer Rogue survivors left traumatised by the genocide.
He helped develop a way to diagnose “baksbat” or “broken courage”, a post-traumatic syndrome exhibited by Cambodians that includes symptoms of fear, passivity and avoidance.
TPO promotes more clinical awareness of this syndrome so that Cambodian sufferers can be better assessed for trauma and treated.
Japanese ophthalmologist Tadashi Hattori, 58, received the award for providing free eye surgeries in rural parts of Vietnam. He first visited Hanoi in 2002 and found that cataract blindness was prevalent in the country, where eye specialists and facilities were limited.
Dr Hattori donated medical equipment to Hanoi and has done numerous medical missions to Vietnam to give free eye treatments, train local doctors and donate to hospitals.
The last Magsaysay Awardee was French environmental activist and filmmaker Gary Bencheghib, who was recognised for helping clean up Indonesia’s polluted waters.
His family moved to Bali when he was just nine years old, and he quickly discovered that the supposed picture-perfect tourist destination was bogged down by plastic waste. This started his advocacy to build kayaks made out of discarded plastic bottles to raise awareness about marine plastic pollution.
In 2017, Bencheghib’s team made a documentary series as they kayaked around the Citarum River, said to be one of the most polluted rivers in the world.
This got the attention of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, prompting the government to launch a seven-year rehabilitation program for the Citarum River.
All four Magsaysay laureates will be flown to Manila for the in-person awarding ceremony on Nov 30. The award comes with a cash prize, which was US$50,000 (S$69,900) in past years.
The government plans to attract 900,000 foreign visitors this year which is expected to generate more than US$218 million, according to a Statistical Report on Tourism.
The outlook for the tourism industry is positive following the reopening of the country to international tourists on May 9.
As a result, the number of tourist arrivals has increased significantly in recent months, giving a boost to the supply of foreign currency, which is urgently needed to buy imported goods.
More than 35,980 tourists visited Laos in May and the figure rose to more than 171,800 in June, according to the report, which was issued by the Tourism Development Department of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.
Of the total 211,898 foreign tourist arrivals in Laos in the first six months of this year, more than 60 per cent came from Thailand, 30 per cent came from Vietnam and the rest came from other Asia-Pacific countries.
The full operation of the Laos-China Railway and the draws of scenic Vangvieng, the Luang Prabang World Heritage Site and the low value of the kip are among the main attractions for visitors from neighbouring countries.
But high-end tourists from Europe, the US, South Korea, China and Japan are not yet returning in significant numbers.
In Europe, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has had knock-on effects that are contributing to an economic downturn and inflation, while in China continuing Covid-19 restriction measures are preventing people from travelling. Other issues relating to flight connections to Laos are also hindering the speedy recovery of tourism and the service industry.
Tourism is one of six important priorities for the country’s socio-economic development.
In light of this, the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism has developed the Lao Tourism Development Strategic Plan for 2021-2025, which aligns with the government’s policy to promote the country’s natural, cultural, historical and agricultural attractions to bolster ‘green tourism’ and its sustainability.
Tourism has been severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which was reflected in the drop in the number of tourist arrivals, while the revenue generated from tourism fell sharply in 2021 compared to 2020.
With the reopening of Laos, the service and hospitality sector has started to recover, but very slowly.
To compensate for the loss in revenue from foreign tourists, the government has been trying to promote domestic tourism by launching Lao-Visit-Laos Campaign in a bid to encourage Lao people to travel around the country.
However, given the current economic situation and rising prices, it is difficult to target local tourists as a key driver of service industry recovery.
Laos is largely a destination for long-distance tourists who also visit neighbouring countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Therefore, the number of tourists coming to Laos depends on various factors, such as the convenience of transportation, ease of departure and arrival, the diversity and quality of tourism products, and safety and security.
Vientiane Times
Asia News Network
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Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew also inspected the flooded areas as part of aid efforts for victims.
Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn
Chaichan Changmongkol
