Pattaya Today 15
Vol. 8 No. 18 1 - 15 June 2009
Pattaya Tourist Revival
Dear Editor We live just down the road from an internet games shop where hordes of kids play incredibly bloodthirsty on-line games until all hours of the morning. Surely this is going to warp them for life and accounts for the rampant violence in teenagers. What do you think? David Hassel, Dh007@gmail.com Dear David, I’m inclined to agree that such overexposure to unlimited, naked gratuitous violence is bound to have a lasting negative effect upon impressionable minds. Psychologists in the West appear very reluctant to draw a direct correlation between exposure to games of violence and the increase in urban violence among teenagers and youth in general. However, it seems obvious to me that the ‘Extreme Hollywood Effect’ i.e. the constant inclusion of excessive violence, random killing and blood-soaked scenes in movies and to a lesser extent TV has an anesthetising effect and makes it difficult to draw distinctions between fantasy and real life, especially for the young. Certainly, some of the teenagers responsible for mass killings in the US and elsewhere have admitted to being addicts of Grand Theft Auto and other staggeringly ultra-violent video games, or movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or Die Hard 2, where the body count was 264! So yes, I think you’re right in your assertion. Dear Editor I am forced to watch Thai TV because my girlfriend has it on all the time watching the Thai soaps. They all seem to have the same themes: love, hate, envy, jealousy and usually involve someone getting killed. They also all seem to have the same people in them and even the same theme tunes. What are your thoughts about Thai TV. Jordan C. Maxwell, Bang Saray Dear Jordan, I sympathise with your predicament. Until we got cable TV, I was in the same boat. Personally, I blame the producers and script writers for their lack of creativity and imagination. It’s ironic that foreigners are told from the start that Thais hate raised voices and aggression, but as, you say, all the soaps seem to involve both these and those 4 melodramatic elements you mention, including the maltreatment of women. The settings are also atypical, large middle class houses which few Thais live in; there always seem to be mia nois, insane jealously, and intense rivalry and envy, invariably resulting in the death of one or more of the characters. The problem as I see it is that the traditional Thai socializing agents of temple, family and community seem to have given way to adulation of the these so-called superstars, who are now their exemplars, but hardly set much of an example. I’d sack all the producers and introduce more realistic themes, but then that’s me. Dear Editor, I have constant problems with my internet. It’s slow, hangs up all the time and causes me endless frustration. When is Thailand going to enter the 21st century internet –wise? Bill Cassidy, Pattaya Tai Dear Bill, Your salvation is at hand. TRUE is about to introduce an 8 megabit broadband Internet service to Pattaya, af-
ter trying it out successfully in Bangkok. To take advantage of this new service you must either have a True Move mobile-phone number or TrueVisions payTV service account. Unlimited 8-megabit service, so we’re told, will cost around Bt2,000 monthly. TRUE will apparently also be offering a cheaper 3-megabit service for Bt450 a month. The best bet is to check out all the details with the company, but it looks like we’ll soon be finally getting a bona-fide broadband service. Dear Editor, We live in a condo which has constant problems with its manager. I understand there’s a new condo law which gives the owners more rights. Do you know anything about it? Lena Small, an anonymous Jomtien condo owner Dear Lena, Yes, there’s a new condo law in place. Whilst I can’t go into depth, its main advantages are to the tenant/owner and clearly specifies the duties of the manager and obligations of the tenants/owners. A few examples are: the statutory Annual General Meeting, and Extraordinary Meeting requirements will be enforced; the juristic person must maintain all common property and facilities (as originally advertised and as submitted to the Land Office) in good condition for the benefit of all occupants; he must also prominently post the condominium’s monthly income and expenses within 15 days from the end of the month; the appointment and dismissal of a manager or a juristic person now only requires the votes of 25% of the owners. A lawyer or real estate agent can give you the full details. Dear Editor, There’s an urban rumour abroad that the current problems with the Internet, especially Wi-Fi, are due to too restricted bandwidth and some of it being taken to provide for the upcoming 3G service. How true is this, do you know? Leonard Knowles, Mabprachan. Dear Leonard, As we understand it, the national telecom regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), after granting 3G licences in August, 2008, recently told TOT and CAT Telecom to insist their private telecom concessionaries speed up the development of their 3G wireless broadband services on their existing spectra. The NTC watchdog apparently has the right to seize back parts of the spectrum bands utilised by private telecom operators to provide the 3G service, if they are too laggardly. Of the respective concessionaries, DTAC, will begin the trial launch of 3G service on its 850 MHz spectrum on 30 to 40 3G base stations within the year; True Move has already begun its 3G service on a trial basis on the 800 MHz spectrum on its 70 3G base stations; and AIS launched its 3G service commercially in Chiang Mai in May, using its 900 MHz spectrum on its 100 3G base stations, in Chiang Mai, Chonburi and Bangkok. The three private mobile phone operators are also trying to acquire the 2.1 GHz spectrum licences from the NTC to develop the 3G service. Hope that answers your questions, Leonard.
Thai tourism, already reeling from the economic downturn and the damage done to it from the combined action of the Yellow and Red Shirts, estimated at Bt200 billion by Kongkrit Hiranyakit, Chairman of the Tourism Council of Thailand, plus the Bt14.4 million damage to the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, has now been further hit by the impact of the H1N1 Flu virus. In Pattaya, average occupancy of the 60,000 hotel rooms, here, has fallen to 3035%, compared with 50-60% in 2008. Happily, however, the combined efforts of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the Tourism Council of Thailand, the Culture Ministry, Pattaya’s Mayor, Mr. Itthiphol Khunpleum, and the June start of the Emirates Airlines’ new A380 Super-Jumbo DubaiSuvarnabhumi service will do much to reverse this downward trend. Thailand has traditionally been a favourite holiday venue for Indians, attracting almost 500,000 last year, so it made perfect sense for the TAT foreign road-shows to kick off there, one at The Park Hotel, New Delhi, and the other in Mumbai. Pattaya is already the most famous Thai destination for Indians, featuring in all their travel itineraries, and 20 leading Pattaya tourism businesses attended to give support to the TAT-sponsored ‘Pattaya Road Show’ to further reinforce the city-resort’s image and to appraise the 50 Indian travel agents of all the new Pattaya attractions, including the Pattaya Floating Market and Central Festival Pattaya Beach Shopping Complex, soon to be followed by another in Chonburi. The Alangkarn Theatre, too, is yet another new attraction, which will be a beneficiary of the new initiative from the Culture Ministry to subsidize national art and cultural venues. The ‘Pattaya Road Show’ will be followed by a TAT road-show to Macao. The Middle East, too, has always favoured Thailand, particularly Pattaya, hence Emirates Airlines’ daily A380 Airbus Dubai-Suvarnabhumi service from June 1, with a 489-seat capacity, featuring onboard shower spas, lounges, flat beds, massage-equipped private suites in first class and a new generation of intelligent seating and flat beds in business class, will be especially welcome. Well-heeled Middle Eastern tourists are particularly attracted by medi-tourism and TAT expects a 6.5% increase to 500,000 Middle Eastern tourists this year. Encouraging domestic tourism is the other prong of the TAT campaign, which it started at Pattaya Beach, from May 1-3, with the Five Regions of Thailand Travel Festival Road-show, showcasing attractions from each region of the Kingdom, including cultural performances, attractive hotel accommodation and spa treatments. From Pattaya the road-show moved on to other Thai venues. Mayor Itthiphol’s proactive spearheading of his Pattaya Tourism Revival Campaign started with his formation of the Tourism Committee, tasked with the restoration of foreign and national tourist confidence in the resortcity. To fund this campaign, he has asked for contributions amounting to Bt100 million from the TAT, the local administration and private operators to stimulate the city-resort’s tourism business. The Pattaya Tourism Revival Campaign will also benefit from the proposed improvements to U-Tapao Airport, including building new parking facilities and a passenger terminal to double the airport’s capacity at a cost of Bt995 million, which the Royal Thai Navy has approached the government for. The mayor has enlisted the wholehearted co-operation of virtually every interested party in the city, who have pulled together in unprecedented solidarity. Those joining the campaign include the Thai Hotels Association Eastern Chapter (THA-E), all Pattaya’s other hospitality industry representatives, Pattaya Business and Tourism Association (PBTA), and numerous other local businesses. The hospitality industry will be offering 20,000 free hotel rooms for 6 months until October and restaurants and shopping malls discounts of up to 50%, with further discounts for entertainment and services being offered by other local businesses from May to July. There will be an additional stimulus from airlines, such as the Thai Airways International and budget airlines’ special discount packages offering 2-3 nights’ accommodation and air tickets. The Tourism Committee also wants the government to use Pattaya as the host for MICE venues. Proposals from August to January are to attract international tourists via a Korean festival, ASEAN Week, Loy Krathong Festival, and music and sports events. Chatchawal Supachayanont, President of the Eastern Chapter of the Thai Hotels Association, expressed his earnest concern, saying “With this campaign, we hope tourists and meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition (Mice) activities will be lured back to Pattaya again and tourism sentiment will improve as well.” Mr Chatchawal also said that all operators would join the promotion.”This is the first time we have had co-operation from all parties, aiming to restore Pattaya’s tourism image,” he said The campaign will also benefit from the DASTA Initiative to transform Pattaya into a ‘green’ city as well as PM Abhisit’s upcoming visits overseas to foster support for the tourism industry.