Phuket celebrating the coming of holiday season by bringing two major annual fairs in Phuket Town. The town is also launching much checkpoints guarded by police officers throughout the country after the campaign of road safety “Seven Days of Danger”. Launching the opening of both events such as Phuket Red Cross Fair and Colorful Phuket Countdown 2012, Phuket Governor is being busy today.

Phuket Red Cross Fair takes place in Saphan Hin at 6 PM as it will display fireworks with following performances. Years ago it held charity raffle with grand prize, a Honda city car. Meanwhile Colorful Phuket Countdown 2012 will hold in Sanaam Chai in front of Phuket Provincial Hall. The opening is holding at 8 PM today (29/12). Colorful Phuket Countdown 2012 will perform mini-concerts from famous artists, a dance contest, a 20 meters exhibition tunnel with lights and decorations and others. Second countdown event will set up a clock to count down the seconds going to the last sunset of this year in Phromthep Cape, Rawai.

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The Phuket travelers who will travel in Japan offered free Potassium Iodine tablets at Phuket International Airport. The anti radiation medicine are provide at a Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) booth set up today on the second floor of Terminal 1. The booth is open from 6:30am to 9:30pm daily until further notice.

“People are adviced to take a tablet daily from one to 12 hours before entering radioactive areas. One tablet is active for 24 hours,” said PPHO chief Dr Sak Tanchaikul. The tablets are available in two dosages: 130 milligrams for adults, and 65mg for children aged 3-18 and not weighing more than 68 kilograms, Dr Sak added. This afternoon, the booth had delivered 320 bottles of the 130mg adult doses and 80 bottles of the 65mg tablets for children, Dr Sak said.

“The first batch of tablet was sent from the US. However, the Ministry of Public Health has ordered the Government Pharmaceutical Organization to produce more of the tablets,” he added. Pregnant women are advised to take just one tablet – and only once. “Any people with health conditions such as nephropathy [a kidney condition related to diabetes] or hyperthyroidism are advised not to take the tablets at all,” Dr Sak said.

The tablets may have side effects such as vomiting, skin rashes or stomach ache. “People should consult a doctor or stop taking the tablets if they suffer any strong side effects, Dr Sak said. “These tablets just provide some protection from radiation. However, the best way not to be affected by radiation is to avoid going near affected areas. Travel to Japan is currently not advised. Visit there if it is necessary,” he added.

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Isarn (Northeastern Thailand) cultural heritage fair takes place in Phuket with fashion show and products like a premium Isarn silk on offer. “Heritage Cultural of Southern E-San” event began yesterday until upcoming Monday in 1st floor Event Hall at HomeWorks on the bypass road.

The fair features cultural heritage of Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Buriram and Surin provinces. It will host “mini” Isarn country music concerts and cultural performances daily at 4pm and 6pm. However, there will be no mini-concert today. There will be a promotion of “Hot Time, Hot Price” with special prices on local Isarn products at midday, 2pm and 4pm daily. Fashion show showcasing silk garments which will take place today (25/2)  starting at 4pm and 6pm. Among the 80 booths participation in this event, it will display antique silk garments, silk weaving and yarn spinning demonstrations.

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Central Retail Corporation (CRC) announced 5 billion baht new face of Central Festival Phuket shopping mall including the launching of its fourth floor. The renovation process started on September 2004 when the complex has opened. It will be complete on early 2011. This remake meant to recover Phuket tourism industry high growth projections in retail sector throughout Thailand.

The renovation costs about 150 million spent by 300 retail tenants to renovate their stores in this complex. Thanapon Tangkananan said government’s retail industry limited its growth between 7% and 8% for this year as the highest along these five years. Mr. Thanapon is CRC vice president for business development and former president of Thai Retailers Association.

Retail sector development drove by strong domestic consumption and exports as well as fine price of agriculture products said him. Phuket itself attracted more than 7 million foreign tourists annually which was half of the total number of foreign visitors to Thailand, he added. “Despite some negative factors, such as the political unrest that hit Bangkok earlier this year, the number of foreign tourists visiting Phuket has recovered very quickly,” Mr Thanapon said. The growth had estimated about 20% last year.

Central Festival Phuket will be launch for twice on February as “The South’s Best International Lifestyle and Shopping Destination.” Its resettlement meant to attract larger numbers of foreign tourists especially from Russia, China including Hong Kong, South Korea, and Europe. CRC executive vice president for business development Lertvit Pumipitak said its new face would support parent corporation’s leadership position in retail business of Phuket. “The renovation will increase total retail space of the shopping mall from 40,000 square meters to 53,000sqm,” he said.

This extension will operate when the fourth floor opens after it was unused for more than six years. The new fourth floor will be a health and beauty zone that will be fulfill by 20 shops. It offers total retail space for more than 4,500 sqm. The amount of tenant stores in Central Festival Phuket has increased by 15% within 30-40 launching of new outlets. It will open after the renovation had completed.

Within the renovation the company expected an increasing of customer for 20% to 25 %. The mall now absorbs between 10,000 and 15,000 customer per day. While 40% of them were foreigners said Mr. Lertvit. General manager of Central Festival Phuket Wilaiporn Pitimanaaree said the sales of retail tenants increased between 12% and 15% last year in first 10 months. The mall itself expected average sales grow by more than 20% during the last two months. It has driven by holiday season and the opening of high season. Foreigners spent twice than local customer per visit, said her.

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“I know it’s a challenging route, but with the high number of people visiting Bali, I believe that some of them may want to visit Phuket, too,” Thai AirAsia CEO Tassapon Bijileveld said at the launch yesterday.

“I also believe that Scandinavian tourists in Phuket want to visit Bali, and that Australians, who visit Bali all year long, want to come to Phuket, as well,” he added.

The average load factor for December through January, the peak tourism months for both Phuket and Bali, is expected to be 85% to 90%, Mr Tassapon said. The passenger seating capacity in the other hand is 180 on each flight. The success of this route could ascertain additional flight proportion into daily flights within two months, the CEO said.

“We still don’t know what the load factor will be during the low season. We need to do a lot of marketing in the first three months. If it is about 70% to 75%, then it will be okay,” he added.

The direct scheduled flights are the first ever between the rival resort islands, both of which have had their share of ups and downs over the years.

In 2005, then-Governor Udomsak Uswarangkura reacted with indifference to an offer to link Phuket with Densapar, the capital of Bali, made by Indonesian Ambassador Ibrahim Yusuf during a courtesy call to the island. The perceived snub came just two months after the terrorist bombings that left 20 people dead at two sites in South Bali.

Regarding domestic services, CEO Tassapon said the number of flight reservations within Thailand had returned to normal, except in Songkhla and Ubon Ratchathani, which were affected by the recent floods.

“Reservations fell to 50%-60%, but we did not cancel any flights because many items needed to be delivered to flood victims. I think 15 days from now the number of reservations made in every province will be better,” he said.

Also at the launch was Phuket Vice-Governor Nivit Aroonrat, who pointed out that the new route would bring more tourists to Phuket and add pressure to resolve long-standing infrastructure problems.

The “taxi problem” and lack of public parking at beaches and other tourist destinations were among the matters that require action, he said.

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Mr Kittitat, who received his award for his expertise in Italian, said “In the past, Italian tourists usually came as groups of elderly people who could not speak English well. They still needed to rely on our help. But younger Italians are more self-reliant, thus the need for tour guides is declining even though the number of tourists continues to rise,” he said.

Thitinan Poolsanguran, who received her award for her expertise in the Japanese market, agrees.

“With the boom of the Internet, some young Japanese travelers already know beforehand where they want to visit by searching online. They even book tour packages from Japan on their own. And with the recession, they want to pay cheap prices and are not interested in hiring tour guides. Already, we are seeing less demand for tour guides,” she said.

Japanese tourists generally spend four days and three nights in Phuket, she explained.

Guides pick them up at Phuket Airport and have only 20-50 minutes while en-route to their hotels to develop a rapport with the tourists and offer them optional tour packages for the second and third days of their stay, she explained.

However, Mr Kittitat said the downward trend in demand for tour guides was not all bad.

“There is a chance that tour guides will survive since the Internet cannot answer everything tourists want to know,” he said.

“As tour guides, we cannot just try to sell them tour packages. We must explain local things to them, such as how to keep safe during their stay here – for example, telling them how dangerous it can be to swim in the sea where there are red flags,” he added.

Miss Thitinan said that the decline in demand for tour guides makes it more important than ever to act sincerely when taking care of foreign visitors.

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As the Rassada Mayor explained, Surathin Leunudom, 14 million baht is being spent on renovating and extending a footpath along a 750-meter stretch of Srisuthat Road just past the bridge to Koh Sireh. It also includes improvements in landscaping, drainage along both sides of the road, better lighting and signage – and two large sculptures of monkeys on pedestals. The seaside mangrove area is a popular spot for locals to visit, “especially in the evening”, Mayor Surathin said.

UMTA Co Ltd began work on the project in April this year and is expected to complete construction in October. The municipality has also approved a 24-million-baht budget for renovations to the seaside promenade at Mali Kaew Beach on Koh Sireh, which will include construction of new toilets and two food stalls, he added.

“Mali Kaew is another attraction that should be developed, and after waiting for two years, I am very happy to see that this project will go ahead,” he said.

Rassada Municipality is now accepting tenders for the Mali Kaew construction project, Mayor Surathin added.

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The Bangkok Post reports that tourist arrivals and hotel occupancy plummeted, particularly in the Central and Northern provinces of the Kingdom.

According to the Bank of Thailand, arrivals declined 12% year-on-year in May, after a record number of foreigners came to the country in the first quarter. Still, here that helped shore up the economy was no other than international trade and investment with their strong external demand.

Despite the violent protests in May, the overall economy expanded moderately from the previous month, says Mathee Supapongse, director of the central bank’s Domestic Economy Department.

Although we can consider that tourism was a disaster here with hotel occupancies falling to 35% in May compared with an average of 50% for the past five years.

Bangkok and the North were hardest hit, but some southern destinations, particularly Phuket, enjoyed a slight increase from the same period last year.

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The meeting will be held on June 18 to 20 at Ratilanna Spa, Sobtana Aunprasert, Assistant Director of the TAT office in Chiang Mai office, announced this.

In July, members of the TAT Chiang Mai office will come to Phuket to study the tourism market here.

There are currently two daily flights between the two cities aboard Thai AirAsia flights.

The low-cost carrier began a second direct daily service on June 1 using aircraft that had been flying its Phuket – Hi Chi Minh City and Phuket – Medan routes, both of which are now temporarily suspended.

The two-hour flights between Phuket and Chiang Mai are a big improvement over the past, when all air travel had to do stopovers at Suvarnabhumi or Don Muang airports in Bangkok.

Driving one way from Phuket to Chiang Mai takes two about days, putting the cities too far apart for most domestic tourists planning a holiday by car or bus.

Mr Sobtrana said the main goal of the meeting is to increase travel between the provinces, including domestic tourism that is needed in Chiang Mai to help keep struggling tourism businesses afloat during the low season.

Good marketing and public relations strategies are essential to expanding the overseas market and both markets would benefit with even more direct flights between the two cities, he said.

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PTA President Somboon Jirayut says for targeting Australia because since there are direct flights to Phuket from most major cities there, including Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

“The association is also planning to make road shows in China, Korea and Japan – probably next year, but it’s not confirmed yet,” he said.

Thai Airways International (THAI) was planning new direct routes to Phuket from seven cities abroad, Mr Somboon said.

The airline had yet to confirm which cities would be chosen, but the THAI board would probably make an announcement near the start of the next high season, he said.

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