Hospitality management study

Horizons News - Thursday December 20, 2007

TRAVEL TITBITS

Hospitality management study

KARNJANA KARNAJANTAWE

The Office of Tourism Development (OTD) of the Tourism and Sports Ministry has set aside 13 million baht to conduct a pilot study on hospitality management in 11 selected communities.

OTD will educate locals about principles of sustainable tourism, including how to be good hosts and teach English-language skills to people in the communities, said OTD Director-General Thanittha Maneechote.

In the initial phase, 11 communities have been selected, such as Huay Kheelek in Chiang Rai, Nhong Maena in Phetchabun, Samchuk in Suphan Buri, Ban Ko Klang in Krabi and Phato in Chumphon.

The study will last three months and OTD would draft a policy based on the results before submitting its proposal to the government next year.

"We hope that each of the 11 pilot sites will be a model for other communities," she said.

The director-general said OTD would add another 20 communities, among them four in Wang Nam Khiew in Nakhon Ratchasima and Ban Thai Song Dam in Phetchabun, to the list next year.

-

Daily Hanoi-Hue link

Pacific Airlines, a low-cost airline based in Ho Chi Minh City, has launched one daily flight between Hanoi, Vietnam's capital city and Hue to serve the increasing number of travellers to the Unesco-listed city in central Vietnam.

The airline, which will be renamed as Jetstar in 2008, uses the 168-seat Boeing 737-400 on the route. The airline plans to double the daily frequency to Hue on January 25 and it will launch the inaugural Hue-Hanoi flight in July next year, said the airline's Chairman Pham Vu Hien Hien.

"We help build connectivity between the World Heritage Site with Vietnam's capital, said Mr Hien, adding that he believe it will bring more guests from the two cities and overseas to Hue.

For more information, visit the web site http://www.pacificairlines.com.vn.

-

Raising the bar

Qantas/British Airways (Thailand) has announced a new standard of business class on flights from Bangkok to London and Sydney.

It is spending 6.5 billion baht to redesign the cabin, increase the width of its six-feet long fully-flat beds by 25 percent, offer electronically-operated privacy screens, upgrade Club World entertainment system with more than 100 movie and TV show options, 70 CDs and 20 games through the audio-video-on-demand system.

There is also a new on-board Club Kitchen which offers a wide range of food and beverage.

When completed, British Airways will fly even more business class beds around the world.

-

More on Phuket, Phi Phi

A new English-language pocket-sized travel guide titled Exploring Phuket & Phi Phi launched recently also has stories to tell readers.

It's written by Oliver Hargreave who has lived in Thailand for more than 15 years. He published his first travel guide, Exploring Chiang Mai: City, Valley and Mountain in 1997.

His second book will be useful to those planning to vacation in Phuket and Phi Phi.

The 260-page book features all the relevant information from the time you arrive at Phuket Airport and Phi Phi Island to where to go and where to stay. The book also gives a historical background of Phuket, special features on Phuket Vegetarian Festival and the tsunami plus 350 beautiful photos, 28 maps, self-help menus for ordering food and basic Thai language tips.

For more information, visit the web site http://www.odysseypublications.com.

-

Personalised service

Japan Airlines (JAL) has introduced a new personal style of service for its executive class passengers.

JAL cabin attendants will no longer use carts when serving meals, but serve food in restaurant style in order to create a quieter atmosphere for passengers. Each passenger will also be looked after by the same cabin attendant from the time of boarding the aircraft to the point of disembarkation.

This new style of service is already available on flights between Narita-Chicago, Narita-New York, Tokyo-Los Angeles and San Francisco routes, Tokyo-New Delhi and Singapore routes.

It will also introduce the new type of service to all of JAL's US routes (excluding Hawaii), Asia and some selected European routes soon.

-

New travel portal

Web Media, a travel content producer, has launched English-language travel news and articles about Thailand at http://www.emedia-asia.org.

Emedia-asia.org offers more than 100 articles, pictures and news on Thailand and is available free of charge. It will be useful to those who want to integrate its content service to their travel web sites.

This is an ideal way for web sites to improve their users' experience by providing new content without the cost, said the company's Managing Director Andrew Bond.

Emedia-asia's travel feed is immediately available in beta version with installation instructions provided on the site.

If you have comments or news to share, email to karnjanak@bangkokpost.co.th

Bangkok Post