Tag: Thailand

Thailand Launches Muslim-Friendly Tourist App

BANGKOK (REUTERS) – Thailand on Monday launched a smartphone app to attract Muslim visitors, something that could help further boost an industry which has been steadily recovering since a 2014 coup.

Thailand is predominantly Buddhist but parts of the south are majority Muslim. Known for its laissez-faire attitude towards travellers, powder-white beaches and as an aviation hub, Thailand draws millions of tourists each year.

Now its tourism body hopes the new app will help further boost Thailand’s tourism sector, which makes up about 10 per cent of its economy.

The industry took a beating last year as some foreign governments issued warnings against non-essential travel to Thailand due to political unrest and a May 22 coup, but it has been steadily recovering.

Efforts to welcome Muslim travellers to Thailand come amid rising anti-Muslim sentiment in some Western countries and recent Islamist militant attacks.

The new app will be available on Google Inc’s Android and Apple Inc’s iOS systems, the Tourism Authority of Thailand said in a statement.

With search and navigation features, it will help visitors find hotels and shopping centres with prayer rooms and halal, or permissible under Islamic law, restaurants, said Juthaporn Rerngronasa, acting governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Among non-Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries, Thailand was ranked the second most popular place for Muslim travellers to visit in the world after Singapore by the Global Muslim Travel Index in 2015. “We believe this is because we have the required range of products and services for Muslim travellers,” said Juthaporn.

The app is available in English and Thai but will be expanded to include Arabic and Bahasa Indonesia.

Thailand expects a record 29.5 million tourists this year, up 19 per cent from 2014, its tourism council said last week.

Source www.straitstimes.com

June 30, 2015
Japan Offers $4.7 Million To Help Rohingya Refugees

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan on Saturday offered US$3.5 million (S$4.7 million) to help the Rohingya boat people who have fled Myanmar where they faced severe discrimination.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Japan remained committed to helping national reconciliation efforts on various fronts in Asia, including between Myanmar’s government and “ethnic minority groups”.

“With regard to non-regular immigrants, including women and children trying to cross the Indian Ocean, Japan has decided to extend US$3.5 million” through global agencies such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, he said in a public address.

The money will go to providing food and shelter as well as to fund data analysis of their maritime movements, the foreign ministry said.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

June 21, 2015
Thailand Confirms First MERS Case

BANGKOK – Thailand confirmed its first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on Thursday, becoming the fourth Asian country to register the deadly virus this year.

Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin told a news conference that a 75-year-old businessman from Oman had tested positive for MERS.

“From two lab tests we can confirm that the MERS virus was found,” Rajata said, adding the man had traveled to Bangkok for medical treatment for a heart condition.

“The first day he came he was checked for the virus. The patient … contracted the MERS virus.”

The health minister said 59 others were being monitored for the virus, including three of the man’s relatives who traveled with him to Bangkok.

MERS is caused by a coronavirus from the same family as the one that triggered China’s deadly 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The vast majority of MERS infections and deaths have been in Saudi Arabia, where more than 1,000 people have been infected since 2012, and about 454 have died.

Last month, a MERS outbreak erupted in South Korea resulting in 23 deaths so far. A total of 165 people have been infected and 6,700 people are in quarantine.

But there have been signs that the outbreak, the largest outside of Saudi Arabia, may be slowing in South Korea. The daily number of new cases has dropped to single digits this week compared to as many as 23 last week. Three were reported on Thursday – the lowest number since June 1.

All of the infections known to have occurred in South Korea have taken place in healthcare facilities. Three hospitals have been at least partially shut and two have been locked down with patients and medical staff inside.

China and the Philippines have also reported one MERS case this year.

Earlier, Thailand’s Disease Control Department said it was screening travelers at 67 points of entry.

“We are checking 67 ports including land, sea and air,” said Sophon Mekthon, secretary-general of Thailand’s Disease Control Department.

“We’ve told all hospitals in Thailand to be on alert. Those who come back from the Middle East and South Korea must be checked thoroughly.”

Source: www.todayonline.com

June 19, 2015
Thailand Beat Myanmar To Win Football Gold

Thailand overcame a spirited Myanmar and their noisy fans 3-0 in the final of the SEA Games football tournament on Monday to cement their position as kings of the region.

Centreback Tanaboon Kesarat, who helped the men’s full national team win the Southeast Asian championships in December, struck the opening goal, neatly angling his body and diverting a 51st minute home after Myanmar failed to clear a corner.

Chananan Pombubpha, who had been guilty of wasting a number of chances beforehand, made the game safe when he was put clear by playmaker Chanathip Songkrasin in the 63rd with substitute Pinyo Inpinit wrapping up the scoring with 12 minutes remaining.

The victory was the Thai’s 15th football gold in the biennial multi-sports event and 10th in the last 12 editions. The under-23s won all sevens games in Singapore, conceding just one goal.

Head coach Choketawee Promrut told reporters it was the best Thai under-23 winning side to win the SEA Games title and said a halftime tactical switch won gold.

“In the first half, Myanmar were compact, very good. In the dressing room (we said that) we must play wide. It worked.”

The Thai’s started Monday’s final as red hot favourites and carved open numerous opportunities but a combination of wasteful finishing, in particular by Chananan, and superb stops by Myanmar goalkeeper Phyo Kyaw Zin kept the match scoreless.

The Thailand team celebrates winning the gold medal. Photo: SINGSOC

Every defensive clearance roundly cheered by the majority Myanmar crowd in the National Stadium who came in hope of a first football gold in the under-23 event since 1973, also in Singapore.

The longer the match stayed goalless the more they believed an upset was possible by their team, who had over-achieved in reaching the final for the first time since 1993 and had adopted the slogan “no stars, no problem”.

But eventually their resistance was broken when an inswinging corner from their right bounced off Ye Ko Oo and fell to the grateful Tanaboon.

The goal brought about a drop in defensive concentration and Chananan wasted one chance clear on goal before eventually finding the net after the talented Chanathip had dispossessed the unfortunate Ye Ko Oo in midfield and sent him through again.

Myanmar pressed for a way back into the game through the lively Shine Thura in attack but they were restricted to shots from long range before Pinyo trickled home a third after a delightful dinked through ball by skipper Sarach Yooyen.

“We missed our target, I’m very sad for our fans,” said Myanmar coach Kyi Lwin, who was part of the team that lost to Thailand in the 1993 final in Singapore.

Source: www.seagames2015.com

June 16, 2015
PRC Girl Urinates On Grounds Of Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall In Bangkok

An image of a young girl from China urinating in front of the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in Bangkok was posted online to the collective finger-wagging of Thai netizens, who are once again calling out Chinese tourists for their “lack of etiquette”.

“This is what happens when there are so many unlicensed Chinese guides here,” wrote Facebook user Tiger Foung, who posted the photo on June 7. “They are so negligent. A Chinese tourist let one’s daughter pee in front of the lawn of the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall.”

Foung went on to say that Thai people were ‘disgusted with the Chinese people who are rowdy, have no manners, spit and defecate anywhere they want,’ according to a translation by the Bangkok Post.

Urging this photo to be shared worldwide, he further added that “In the end, we’ll end up having just low-quality Chinese tourists. We have to share this to world, so they know how bad the Chinese tourists are.”

Some users from social media say Foung’s post is biased, while a Chinese user chimed in that “If you have to pee then go someplace no one can see.”

This is only one of many complaints from Thai people about the behavior of Chinese tourists, who previously came under fire for washing their feet in public sinks, drying their unmentionables at the airport, stealing pedicabs and knocking down barricades.

[Image via Bangkok Post]

Source: http://shanghaiist.com

June 11, 2015