The Thai travel agents’ association has responded to a proposal to charge tourists entry fees to enter Thailand by claiming it has not been thought through properly. In an interview aired on national television last week, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor Yuthasak Supasorn said all tourists should be required to pay a nominal fee upon entry.
The director of Ayutthaya’s road and motorway division has confirmed the region will have a brand new designated cycleway by next year. Jiraphong Pinthabute stated the cycle path will run down from the Chao Phraya River dam in the province of Chai Nat to the Rangsit campus of Thammasat University in northern Bangkok.
The northern provinces of Thailand are experiencing unseasonable bad weather that has seen temperatures plummet to as low as 8°C. Heavy rain is also exacerbating the cold spell and the Thai Meteorological Department says the storm blowing in from Myanmar will mean the bad weather will last at least until tomorrow evening.
During a flying visit to Pattaya, a senior Thai immigration director urged police in the resort to crack down on visa violators. Deputy Commissioner Chachuwan dropped in to the police headquarters in Jomtien on Saturday and gave the assembled officers a pep talk.
The Cambodian Culture Ministry has released a statement saying France has given back an ancient Harihara statue head. The head had resided in one of France’s top museums since it was stolen from a Takeo Province temple during French colonial rule in the 1880s.
Last week, Phuket Marine Police launched health and safety courses for crews of tourism boats. The sessions are designed to provide crew members with the rudimentary skills needed to deal with any emergencies during the course of sightseeing or dive excursions.
Thailand’s national park operator recently announced the establishment of 21 national parks across the nation. Two of these have already been set up and are Doi Chong Mountain and Chet Sao Noi national parks.
The Vietnamese government has given the green light for local authorities in six more locations to launch electric tramcar services. The six places are Hue, Danang, Haiphong, Vung Tau, Lao Cai and Khanh Hoa.
The operator of Bangkok’s largest events venue has announced that its amenities will be expanded in the very near future. The director of the IMPACT Muang Thong Thani Complex’s exhibition team says the plan is to add a theme park, a lifestyle mall, a swimming pool and a marina to the current facilities.
Thailand’s government cabinet yesterday reached agreement on an increase in the cost of visas issued at entry points to the country. The visa fee is set to go up from THB1,000 to THB2,000 at an as yet unspecified date in the near future.
The Northern Thai province of Lampang has just held the official opening ceremony for its newest tourist attraction. The attraction is a palaeontology museum housing exhibits garnered from archaeological sites right across the nation’s 17 northernmost provinces.
Flowering cherry trees are currently adding vibrant colour hues to the mountains of northern Thailand and enticing thousands of people to visit. Thailand’s own version of the famed Japanese sakura tree is found in locations across the nation’s northern provinces.
Thailand’s Transport Ministry says the state railway operator will run services on a new Bangkok suburban line when it becomes operational. Omsin Chivapruck, the deputy-transport-minister, ruled out the participation of private companies by saying the government had supplied or borrowed all the money for the project itself.
Local authorities on Phuket have shut down a snake show centre at which a tourist was attacked by a python. Chalong Council has ordered the owners of the Soi Palai centre to close until they get the requisite licences to operate snake shows.
The organisers of Bangkok’s big bike festival say there are just nine days to go until the start of the ever-popular annual event. The Bangkok Motorbike Festival (BMF) is the eighth in the series and is scheduled to kick off on Wednesday 27 January.
The boss of Thailand’s Nam Nao National Park has issued a plea to visitors asking them to respect the natural environment and not leave litter. Uthai Chansuk said the increasing popularity of the park among tourists might lead to problems with waste disposal which in turn could impact on wildlife.
An official ceremony last week marked the relaunch of Bangkok’s beloved planetarium. The refurbishment of the five-decade-old planetarium took more than six months and cost THB95 million.
A local train from Samut Sakhon Province bound for Bangkok jumped the rails early yesterday morning. The State Railways of Thailand (SRT) service had just departed from Maha Chai Station when the accident occurred at around 07:15.
Thailand’s tourist bureau launched its second annual culture festival in central Bangkok yesterday. The venue for the tourism extravaganza is the city’s Lumphini Park. The setting has been divided up into five zones which showcase the different culture and traditions of the nation’s main parts.
The director of Bangkok’s public transport bureau has proposed leasing electric buses to replace the Thai capital’s aging fleet. Pranee Sukrasorn says leasing buses would be more cost effective and, if the government gives the green light, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority could take delivery of the first batch next year.