Bangkok the best in HONG KONG magazine survey

HONG KONG: — Bangkok has been named the “best leisure destination” in Asia-Pacific, and Phuket is ranked second by the readers of Business Traveller Asia Pacific magazine in its Annual Travel Awards 2008 in Hong Kong.

The Thai capital was also ranked the second in the Best Business City in Southeast Asia category, the Thai Foreign Ministry reported yesterday.

Banyan Tree Phuket Hotel and JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa were voted first and third “Best Resort Hotel in Asia-Pacific” respectively, while Novotel in Suvarnabhumi Airport ranked second in the category of Best Airport Hotel in Asia-Pacific. Bangkok’s Ascott Sathorn and Fraser Place Langsuan were also voted first and third in the category of Best Serviced Residence in Asia-Pacific respectively.

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Thai stock index plummets, heading to lowest since 2007

BANGKOK: — Thai shares plummeted 3.57 per cent at 11.20 am in Thailand time, jerked by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc’s collapse. They headed for its lowest close since Jan. 10, 2007.

The SET index started the day with a sharp drop and heded south further to hit the day’s low at 617.67 before rebounding slightly to 619.44 points.

Banking stocks were the biggest losers. Bangkok Bank (BBL) fell 5.45 per cent at Bt104,

Kasikornbank (KBANK) was off 3.85 per cent at Bt62.50, Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) was down 6.21 per cent at Bt68 and Bank of Ayudhya (BAY) lost 4.74 per cent at Bt18.10.

Other stock markets in Asia also caught the cold. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slumped 5.6 per cent, Taiwan stock market sank 4.45 per cent, while other bourses declined in a range of 2-4 per cent.

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Passport service available at Udon Thani City Hall

Udon Thani City Hall is the latest upcountry centre where people can apply for passports.

Khon Kaen, Ubon Ratchathani and Nakhon Ratchasima already have passport offices.

Consular Affairs Department boss Thirakul Niyom says Udon Thani is a busy, prosperous city. It deserves a passport office.

People can apply for and collect passports between 8.30am and 3.30pm.

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Foreign arrivals drop sharply due to political turmoil

Current political turmoil has already affected tourism both in the short- and medium-term, with the number of international arrivals having fallen by 70 per cent, according to the Thai Tourism Services Association.

Charoen Wang-ananont, association president, conceded the political standoff had directly impacted the tourism business. Earlier, the association had projected the tourism boom in the fourth quarter of this year, which is the high season of every year.

In particular, a large number of Chinese tourists are likely to make overseas trip in that season since most had stayed at home in their own country in the third quarter when the 2008 Olympic Games took place. However, almost all Chinese tourists had cancelled trips to Thailand upon concern over the ongoing political unrest.

He said the number of foreign tourists had so far fallen by 70 per cent and that of local tourists by 60 per cent with the hotel room occupancy dropping by 30-40 per cent.

Mr Charoen said what operators in the tourism sector want the new government to do urgently to ease the repercussion is to lift the imposition of the State of Emergency Decree immediately and unconditionally, and administer the country in a way that helps reduce national divisiveness.

He projected the number of foreign tourists visiting Thailand would drop by 300,000 in the fourth quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, Thai Airways International president Apinant Sumanaseni said that the ongoing political unrest and the recent rallies by anti-government protesters to besiege several local airports had prompted many countries to warn their people not to visit Thailand.

It caused the number of THAI passengers, particularly from Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Japan, to drop by around 20 per cent, and that of passengers from Europe by 5-10 per cent in August.

Should the political unrest continued unabated, he said, it would definitely affect revenue and profits of the national flag carrier although global oil prices had dropped.

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Drug abuse, prostitution still the country’s woes

The country is suffering from widespread drug abuse and a rising number of young male prostitutes, the youngest being 13, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board’s deputy secretary-general, Kittisak Sinthuwanich, said.

These facts were revealed in the agency’s second quarterly report, for which a focus group was monitored from April to June on five dimensions, namely the quality of human resources, health and social security, the behaviour and well-being of citizens, the sexual behaviour of young people and the environment.

With regards to human resources, the report found that unemployment had dropped to 1.4 per cent both within and outside the agricultural sector.

Employment in the handicrafts industry, however, had risen to 1.5 per cent due to a dwindling in the labour-intensive industry.

In reference to health, the report showed that Thais needed to watch out for 11 types of infections and diseases. Also, according to data collected by the Public Health Ministry over the past decade, people aged between 15 and 24 were suffering from sexually transmitted diseases - a number that continues to rise. However, in terms of social security, people’s lives and property were more secure though drug abuse was becoming a severe problem.

He said, even prisoners had easy access to drugs.

On the other hand, injuries and deaths caused by road accidents had reduced due to the strict enforcement of traffic law. However, people were still breaking speed limits.

With regards to social behaviour and well being, the report showed that households were spending less on alcohol but more on cigarettes. However, alcoholism and consumption of cigarettes among young people was still on the rise. In addition, more and more teenagers were living together outside marriage.

The report also found that there are 48,000 people working in the sex industry, including students, of which 44.4 per cent were aged between 13 and 16.

About 60 per cent of the sex workers earned about Bt20,000 a month.

With regards to the environment, the report said the quality of air in many areas had improved but people in Bangkok, Saraburi and Chiang Mai were still breathing in small particles. In addition, some areas in Bangkok had high levels of ozone gas, while almost every area in the capital was affected by noise pollution.

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