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InterContinental Samui opens
INTERCONTINENTAL has opened their latest property - the Samui Baan Taling Ngam has opened, a well-known hotel previously run by Le Meridien group of Hotels & Resorts.
Located in the enclave of Taling Ngam Bay, on the west coast of Koh Samui, the 81-key resort offers guestrooms, suites and beachfront villas that come fitted with state-of-the-art amenities including LCD flat-screen TVs, DVD players, and iPod docking stations. Private plunge pools are featured in all villas, and complimentary Internet access is provided across all room types. Dining and entertainment establishments include the Air Bar, Amber and Flames.
Highlights of the resort include seven designer pools, a private beach with a 150m licensed private jetty and a 200m pier that provides guests easy access to the rest of Koh Samui’s well-known destinations.
2012 King’s Cup Polo Tournament
Dates have been announced for one of Thailand’s most unique sporting events, the King’s Cup Polo Tournament.
The event will take place in the seaside resort town of Hua Hin between September 12 and 16 this year.
The charitable polo event differs from the regular brand of polo by using elephants instead of horses. The tournament is held to raise money for Thailand’s elephants, with around US$ 500,000 raised throughout the event’s 11-year history.
This year’s King’s Polo Tournament promises to be bigger and better than 2011, which saw 12 teams, featuring over 40 players, including German royals, Prince Carl-Eugen Oettingen-Wallerstein, his wife Princess Anna and daughter, Princess Joanna.
Proceeds from last year’s event have been donated to a number of projects, which include the research of using elephants in therapy sessions for children in Thailand living with autism. Other projects to receive funding were an elephant hospital based in southern Thailand, and a number of elephant conservation networks around the country.
Thailand prepares to launch Miracle campaign
The Thai Tourism and Sports Ministry will launch the new "Miracle Thailand Year" campaign in April after postponing it from last month due to the flooding which devastated parts of the country late last year. With a budget of THB6.3 billion (US$202 million), the 12-month campaigns will focus strongly on Thai festivals. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) plans to extend the festival periods to maximise tourism potential of these events. Thai New Year promotions, the Songkran Festival, will run for a whole month rather than five days as has been the case previously.
Susdivarchr Cheewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, wants to see a longer term plan to maintain Thailand’s tourism leadership position in the region as the Asean economic integration approaches in 2015.
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