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Besides the rapid redevelopment of Central Phuket and its large influx of investments, the tourism board of Thailand (TAT) is promoting Phuket’s exhilarating gastronomic scene. Michelin, the tire company that awards stars to fine dining locations worldwide, has announced its expansion into Thailand’s Southern Coast, Phuket and Phang Nga. Michelin deems Phuket as the ‘Pearl of the Andaman’ and the upcoming guide will explore the gastronomic scene of this UNESCO city, after the manufacturer made its debut in Thailand last year with its first guide of Bangkok.

Michelin and the Tourism of Thailand (TAT) announced at a recent press conference that the company is working on the guide of Bangkok, Phuket and Phang Nga. Michelin stated Phuket has a distinctive food scene and its flavorful cuisine is found with a wonderful blend of influences from India, Malaysia, China, and the Peranakan culture, offering an infinite realm of flavors worth discovering. Michelin inspectors will travel and unearth Phuket’s best dining and lodging experiences to ‘make travel more enjoyable’ in line with its corporate slogan, “A Better Way Forward.”

Supasorn, governor of TAT, noted that the Michelin guide will highlight Phuket’s ‘melting pot of cultural cuisine’ and the city’s ‘luxury gastronomy,’ to promote Thailand as an international gastronomic destination.  Phuket offers ultimate culinary experience of both traditional and innovative flavors, across a large price range from luxury restaurants to street vendors. Under the strict rating and inspection of Michelin, Thailand’s food and beverage sector will soon improve its services and quality.

Michelin’s expansion into Thailand’s Southern Coast, will aid the tourism board in developing its new districts and cities under Thailand’s latest tourism campaign to power forward its tourism sector into the country’s second cities.

Situated along the Andaman Sea, Phuket and Phang Nga inspire tourists worldwide with its white sanded beaches and crystal clear waters. Visitors travel for their beach-side holidays but often overlooks Phuket’s cultural scene. The island was Thailand’s major trading route for mining and was frequented by the French and Portuguese and its close proximity to Malaysia as a harbor created a gathering place for Chinese immigrants in the South Pacific, where the unique Peranakan culture arise.

In 2016, UNESCO named Phuket as the ‘City of Gastronomy.’ Beside the endless stretch of white beaches and Phuket Old Town’s architecture originated from the Sino-Portuguese culture, its gastronomy scene is truly a unique experience.

In the 1900s, to propel its automobile tire business, Michelin distributed free travel guides, with red pages featuring lodging and restaurants and green pages for tourism destinations. Since 1920, Michelin inspectors disguised as customers, visiting restaurants and lodgings repeatedly before rating it with its stars. In present days, Michelin’s guides on lodgings and restaurants has become the best-selling guides in the world.

Michelin has expanded into over 30 countries and cities: Bangkok was Michelin’s first destination in Thailand, the second in all of Southeast Asia. In 2017, more than 17 restaurants in Bangkok were featured in its Bangkok Edition. The newest edition, featuring Bangkok, as well as Phuket and Phang Nga will be released in late 2018.

Thailand’s great push forward on mega-transportation projects is seeing strong dividends being paid in its tourism industry, reports Bill Barnett, founder and Managing Director of hotel industry expert consultancy C9 Hotelworks.

One key example is Phuket, where passenger arrivals grew by nearly 19% in the first four month of the year at the newly upgraded and expanded Phuket International Airport, Mr Barnett notes.

“Why Phuket? One only has to look at the upward trajectory of low-cost carriers (LCC’s) and supercharged airlift. Underpinning the remarkable growth story is the exponential rise of Mainland China, which registered a 50% year-on-year increase, followed closely by Russia at 47%. “By year-end, a record high 9.7 million passenger arrivals are expected to pass through the airport,” he added.

Direct flights to Phuket this year as of May has witnessed 23 new routes introduced to the destination with 19 being from Mainland China according to C9 Hotelworks’ latest market research. Currently there are 33 cities in China that link to the destination, door to door.

“A defined shift in geographic source markets over the past ten years has experienced rising demand for non-beach centric activities. With the strong purchasing power of tourists, especially Chinese, Russians and Australians, more retail and tourism attractions are developing on the island,” Mr Barnett explained.

“The changing mix of visitors is reflected in the island’s hotel performance with leading hotel data benchmarking group STR reporting that in 2018 upper midscale hotels have shown the highest demand growth of 10% compared to the same period last year,” he added.

“Phuket is gradually transforming to a more urbanised holiday destination rather than a pure beach getaway. Resort-oriented retail is a rising force, with our data showing nearly 200,000 square meters of Grade A net lettable area in the pipeline,” he adds.

 “Another spin-off of the tourism numbers is a series of impressive upcoming themed tourism attractions including Vana Nava Water Park, Blue Tree Water and Entertainment Park and Aquaria at the new Central Festival mall extension. The powerful mix of retail and tourism is most evident in the island growth belt from Kathu to an ever-expanding Patong.”

Citing the “Phuket Hotel Market Update May 2018” report by C9 Hotelworks, Mr Barnett points out that Phuket presently has a total of 1,744 tourist accommodation establishments with 84,427 keys as of Q1 2018, which includes both registered and unregistered properties.

The report notes there are 36 new hotels in pipeline with 27 properties affiliated with international hotel brands. In addition, with the intention to attract real estate buyers, 10 upcoming mixed-use properties will a have hotel residences component, which accounts for 28% of total incoming supply.

Summing up Phuket’s pathway to sustainable growth. Mr Barnett says, “The announcement that the AoT (Airports of Thailand) is set to invest an estimated US$1.8 billion (B57.87bn) in a second airport just over the Sarasin Bridge in Phang Nga bod+s well for fundamentals.

“Creating a broader Greater Phuket Tourism Triangle that includes Phang Nga Bay and the prime west coast beach strip from Natai to Thai Muang on the mainland will bring more diversity and refresh the island’s maturing global appeal.”

Source: The Phuket News

Thailand’s economy is likely to grow more than 4 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, driven by exports, tourism and private consumption, a finance ministry official said on Wednesday.

“Growth in the second quarter is still quite good, and should be more than 4 percent,” Warothai Kosolpisitkul, an official at the finance ministry, told a briefing.

In January-March, Southeast Asia-second largest economy expanded more than expected, up 4.8 percent from a year earlier, the fastest pace in five years.

Last week, the ministry said the economy is expected to expand 4.5 percent this year, rather than rise 4.2 percent previously projected.

Last year’s growth was 3.9 percent, the best in five years.

source: Todayonline

he board of Airports of Thailand has approved construction of second airports for Chiang Mai and Phuket with a combined planned investment of 120 billion baht.

AoT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said on Friday the board approved the plans in principle for fiscal years 2019-2023, with each project allocated 60 billion baht, Thai media reported.

Construction is expected to begin in 2019 and be completed no later than 2025, he said.

Ban Thi district in neighbouring Lamphun province has been earmarked as the site for Chiang Mai’s second airport, and tambon Khok Kloi in Phangna province’s Takua Thung district for the second Phuket airport. The two sites are each about 20-30km away from the existing airports.

Each facility will accommodate about 10 million passengers a year, he said.

AoT board chairman Prasong Phunthanet said the planned second airports would cater to the rising number of visitors to these destinations and ease overcrowding at the existing airports.

source: Bangkok Post

Golden Emperor Properties hosted the first Thai Language Class for Beginners, to provide a learning experience and an entertainment activity for our clients. The first class received a generous amount of support, and thus, we hosted another on May, 24th. Besides learning some simple phrases and vocabularies that can be used for everyday life from an experienced instructor, attendees also enjoyed some snacks and acquired the local Thai culture. The night was spent under a relaxing atmosphere.

Photo Above: Golden Emperor hosts another Thai Language Class for Beginners, which was another supported success.

Photo Above: The instructor teaches the class simple phrases and vocabularies useful for everyday.

Photo Above: Attendees spent a relaxing night with us.