On Friday 16 December, the Mayor of Pattaya, Khun Itipon, officially launched the much awaited Pattaya International Firework Competition. The two-day event was held in the beautiful beach resort of Pattaya Thailand and with a host of other firework events throughout December, gave it claim to being the firework capital of the world.

Siam Royal View this week opened the first golfing facility on Koh Chang at their luxury beachside property development. The superb Pitch and putt course is wonderfully laid out across lagoon islands and although not a full golf course it is one of the most attractive golfing attractions in Thailand with walkway bridges connecting the islands across the course. The course is open daily to the public and is certain to become one of Koh Chang’s most popular attractions. Since the game of Pitch and Putt is not so widely known we decided to give our readers some insight into this fascinating and skilful game.

After the worst flooding that Thailand has experienced in 50 years, the country is now looking at ways to boost tourism. While large areas of Thailand were badly affected by the flooding, it has to be stressed there were many areas left totally untouched. Holiday destinations such as Koh Chang and the seaside city of Pattaya in the eastern side of the gulf were totally unaffected by the flooding. 

A festival of international golf held in the beautiful beach city of Pattaya has come to a close after the most fantastic week. 

The Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA) has drafted a 10 year tourism plan that they hope will turn Pattaya from a resort town into a world class sustainable tourism destination.

In the past week, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has revealed their new marketing campaign. Named “The Miracle Years of Amazing Thailand”, its aim is to double income and tourists by the year 2014.

The international golfing community will descend on the popular tourist city of Pattaya from 31 October until 6 November, turning it into a major golf hub in Southeast Asia. During this period, there will be no fewer than four conferences and a major golf merchandise exhibition.

An article published recently the Telegraph, UK ranked Pattaya in the top twenty cities where foreigners should consider purchasing a second home. The article was written by The Telegraph’s senior journalist on real estate and tourism, Christopher Middleton. He conducted a survey to find which of the top choice of cities by foreigners for their second home and Pattaya was placed in the top twenty.

The income categorisation of Thailand has been upgraded from lower-middle income economy to upper-middle income economy by the World Bank this year. The classification revisions of the world’s economies are an annual event performed by The World Bank. They use the Atlas method and base their calculations on the gross national income (GNI) per capita estimates.

Pattaya officials were optimistic that the proposed building of a tunnel at the intersection of Central and Sukhumvit roads would be given approval by November 2011. The Department of Rural Roads Office 3 representative, Arun Sangchai, spoke at the public hearing held to discuss the Sukhumvit bypass on 1 August 2011. He said that there was every possibility that if the project was approved, the most probable start date would be early November. It is likely to take around two years to complete.

The organisers of the fastest growing and most environmentally friendly beauty pageant have chosen Pattaya, one of the world’s top tourist destinations, to host Miss Earth 2011. The glamorous event will be held on Nov 12, 2011 at the state of the art Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall and is sure to focus international attention on the city as millions worldwide tune in on live television.

After several years’ uncertainty in the Thai property market, the peaceful transfer of power following July’s General Election has led to a renewal of interest from international investors. Previously, market uncertainty was generated by years of turmoil which witnessed a military coup, the closure of the main airport, mass street protests and political bloodshed.

A plan has been approved by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) aimed at tourism growth in the ever-changing global operating environment. The TAT held their annual marketing plan for 2012 between 23-26 June 2011, where an agreement was reached on the marketing plan to take advantage of technological innovation and ever changing demographics.

The secretary general of the Board of Investment (BOI), Ms Atchaka Sibunruang stated that in the first seven months of 2011 there had been 1,030 applications for BOI incentives with a total value of THB299.5 billion. This represented an increase of 37.9% compared Y-o-Y and an investment value growth of 45.5%.

There was a full house at the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH) for the closing ceremony of the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) 2011.The 151 winners stepped up to receive their gold, silver and bronze awards amid rapturous applause from the audience. Throughout the award ceremony, there were some amazing Thai cultural shows to keep everyone happy.

From 18 to 21 August, Pattaya will play host to some of the world’s finest karate experts when the city hosts the 12^th Funakoshi Gichin Cup World Karate-Do Championship. The event, which will be held at the Ambassador Hotel, marks the latest world event to choose Pattaya as a host city - strengthening the city’s ever growing reputation as an international venue for sporting competitions. The event is being organised by the Japan Karate Association, the JKA World Federation and the growing Japanese Karate Association of Thailand. The choice of Thailand as host nation is a huge boost for the Japanese Karate Association of Thailand which only began overseeing national competitions in the year 2000.

There is a new campaign launched by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), called “Best Deal”  which it hopes will attract visitors to Chiang Mai and other northern Thai provinces from the regional markets.

After last year’s drop in tourism precipitated by the global financial crisis and domestic political disruption caused a fall in business, the latest news from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is that tourism is back on the up. Visitor numbers for the first five months of the year increased by an impressive 24.36% with a grand total of 8.2 million international visitors flocking to the country from January to the end of May.

How a TAT Social Media Initiative is Promoting Thailand Across the World

Pattaya will host one of the world’s most prestigious computer science competitions later this month when it plays host to the 23^rd International Olympiad in Informatics. The competition will be held between the 22nd and 29th July at the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall part of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort Hotel and will feature competitors from 84 countries around the world.