Tag Archives: Tourism/ travel industry

Thailand authorities dismiss chlorpyrifos as cause of Chiang Mai hotel tourist deaths

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The Downtown Inn, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Photo: Supplied

Thailand public health authorities have dismissed claims made by New Zealand 60 Minutes that the widely-used chemical agent chlorpyrifos is behind the deaths of a number of tourists at the Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai earlier this year. The New Zealand current affairs program, supported by United Nations scientist Dr. Ron McDowall, made the claim in an episode titled To Die For, in which Dr. McDowall said he believed the dead Chiang Mai tourists had been “killed by an overzealous sprayer who’s been acting on the instructions of the hotel owner to deal with bed bugs,” Dr. McDowall said he had consulted with other experts in New Zealand and Italy and all agreed the likely cause of death of the … Continue reading →

Chiang Mai tourist death hotel mystery remains – governor slams foreign media report

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Chiang Mai Provincial Governor; Mom Luang Panadda Diskul slammed foreign media reports

This story was updated at 10:25am May 15, 2011. Additional/ edited text in green type. Mystery still surrounds the deaths of six foreign tourists and a Thai national tourist guide who stayed at The Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai earlier this year, with Provincial Governor ML Panadda Disakul criticising foreign media for exaggerating news that the Dow Chemical Co. chlorpyrifos was found in the room of dead New Zealand woman Sarah Carter. Mr. Panadda also dismissed claims made by a New Zealand-based United Nations scientist, who told New Zealand’s 60 Minutes program last Sunday that in his opinion Ms. Carter had been “killed by an overzealous [insecticide] sprayer”, saying there is no medical proof. On the 60 Minutes report Dr. … Continue reading →

Thailand tourist coaches the world’s most artsy buses

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Khun Toan at work ona Thailand tourist coach in Vang Len

Aircraft, ships or the sides of buildings might be the pinnacle of surfaces for airbrush and graffiti artists to personalize, but the plethora of charter tourist coaches in Thailand provides an equally good surface, while being much more abundant. Though charter tourist coaches in most countries are fairly conservatively decorated, in Thailand the sides are mobile works of art with Thailand tourist coaches just as likely to be finished with paintings of Japanese Manga characters, through to Hanna-Barbera or Disney classics, or even space fantasy themes. The most funky and blinged out tourist coaches in Thailand – generally only used by groups of Thai’s – have every surface covered by lavish airbrushed artwork, and then are finished off with rows … Continue reading →

Lost smiles in LOS as Thailand travel tragedies website goes live

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Not a tawdry backpacker hotel. The Downtown Inn, Chiang Mai, Thailand

This story was updated at 20:23 April 14, 2011. Edited text in blue type. Known internationally as the land of smiles (LOS), a new website that went live today, Thailand Travel Tragedies, is the sort of website sure to wipe the smiles off the faces off the people at the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) when they return from the Songkran holidays. Thailand Travel Tragedies has been set up to “list all occurrences of fatalities or serious illness contracted [by foreigners] while visiting Thailand”, and is actively soliciting contributions from anyone with Thailand holiday fatality or serious injury tales to tell. The idea for the website evolved following the death from an as yet unexplained reason of 23-year-old New Zealand … Continue reading →

Pattaya Bed races aid city’s poor

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Boystown Pattaya entry mirrored a theme from the stage play and movie Grease

The third annual Pattaya International Bed Races were held yesterday, January 30, 2011 with thousands of local and international holiday makers enjoying the spectacle along the beachfront of one of Thailand’s most recognized tourist destinations. Organised by the Pattaya chapter of Rotary International with the support of the Pattaya City Hall and Tourism Authority of Thailand, the annual Pattaya International Bed Races have become synonymous in Pattaya with the last Sunday of January, with foreign and Thai-owned local businesses straining to raise funds for the locally underprivileged. Local media baron and senior Pattaya Rotarian, Niels Colov, said that though the number of entrants was slightly down on last year because of the economy, he was optimistic that supporting leisure and … Continue reading →

Thailand Prime Minister dead man walking as Asean leaders flee Pattaya

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Prime Minister of Thailand Abhisit Veijajiva

The ongoing political protests in Thailand and the hasty cancellation of the 14th Asean economic summit that saw 14 heads of state hurriedly evacuated from a Pattaya hotel rooftop by helicopter will have a long-lasting affect on Thailand. After only four months in office Prime Minister Abhisit  Veijajiva already looks like a dead man walking following this latest fiasco, appearing to have the support of neither the Thailand military or the Thailand police. The true test of Mr Abhisit’s leadership and whether his Democrat Party government is really in charge of Thailand will come in the next few days. After repeatedly promising the heads of Asean and the six dialogue countries – Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, South Korea and … Continue reading →

Page rank and green dots no substitute for $$

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Thai handicrafts such as these delicate soap carvings in Chiang Mai

It occasionally comes as somewhat of a surprise that when some people discover the term “search engine optimization” (SEO) that all rationale and logic to what otherwise might be a sound business strategy flies out the window in pursuit of little green dots in page rank graphs, or search engine results page (Serp) position. Now don’t get me wrong, page rank and where a website appears in organic search results is important if a site is to attract web traffic and if the internet is going to be an effective marketing tool for the products and/or services a company offers. However, if too much attention is spent on these factors the risk is that the overall aim – that of … Continue reading →