Five golf courses in Nakhon Ratchasima, Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Saraburi, and Kanchanaburi have initially registered as the ALSQ accommodation. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports aims to add more than 30 golf courses nationwide, with approximately 5,000 rooms, to join the ALSQ accommodation.
The research, conducted by YouGov, found that as many as 45% of consumers in the country use a TV box which can be used to stream pirated television and video content.
Such illicit streaming devices (ISDs) were found to often come pre-loaded with pirated applications allowing 'plug-and-play' access to pirated content.
Mango TV, HD Playbox and U Play were highlighted as among the most popular pirate applications (a Bangkok Jack Report) amongst Thai consumers.
Of the 45% of consumers who purchased a TV box or dongle for free streaming, more than two-thirds (69%) stated that they cancelled all or some of their subscription to legal pay-TV services.
Specifically, almost a quarter asserted that they cancelled their subscriptions to a Thai-based online video service as a direct consequence of owning an ISD.
International subscription services, which include pan-Asia online offerings, were impacted the most – nearly a third (30%) of Thai users have abandoned subscriptions in favour of ISD purchases.
Of those consumers who own an ISD, about half of respondents (47%) claim to have purchased their ISD from two of the largest Southeast Asia-based ecommerce stores.
Close to one-third (31%) of ISD owners say they acquired their devices via one of the world's most popular social media platforms.
In addition to the short-term problem of cancelled subscriptions is what CAP says is a longer-term problem – namely, many of the people using ISDs are young.
The survey found that ISDs are particularly favoured among 18-24 year-olds, with more than three in four (77%) cancelling legitimate subscription services as a result of owning ISDs, especially international online subscriptions (40%).
Cancelling legitimate subscription services and paying less for access to pirated content is fraught with risks, said Neil Gane, the general manager of AVIA's Coalition Against Piracy (CAP).
"The damage that piracy does to the creative industries is without dispute. However, the damage done to consumers themselves, because of the nexus between content piracy and malware, is only beginning to be recognised," he said.
"Piracy websites and applications typically have a 'click-happy' user base, and, as such, are being used more and more as clickbait to distribute malware.
Unfortunately, the appetite for 'free' or cheap subscription pirated content blinkers users from the very real risks of malware infection."
A Buddha statue 69m in height with a 40m lap width is in the midst of finishing up its construction in Bangkok, Thailand to be ready by 2021.
The Dhammakaya Thep Mongkol Buddha statue was scheduled to be completed in 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic put a halt to construction.
The foundation stone laying ceremony was held in 2017.
The 20-storey statue is located near the banks of the Chao Phraya River.
– The statue is built for Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, a royal temple located in the Phasi Charoen district of Bangkok.
The large and popular temple is supported by prosperous patrons.
When completed, the statue can be seen from miles away as it overlooks the surrounding district.
Made of copper and a tribute to Buddhism
Despite looking as if it is completely crafted out of the gold, the Buddha statue is made of copper, and corresponds with the image the former abbot saw in his dream.
The vice abbot explained that the construction of this Buddha statue was devoted to Buddhism in Thailand and to celebrate unique Thai sculpture.
Paknam Bhasicharoen Temple was shut amid the pandemic, and reopened partly after the Thai government announced the third phase of lockdown relaxation. – Mothership
Anti-government protesters issue a statement at Sanam Luang on Wednesday, rejecting the parliament's proposed political reconciliaton committee as a move to keep Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in power. (Photo by Nutthawat Wicheanbut)
The future of the proposed reconciliation committee aimed at resolving the political conflict still hangs in the balance as the anti-government movement has refused to take part while the position of opposition politicians remains unclear.
A protest group under the banner of the People's Movement announced on Wednesday it would not join parliament's proposed panel, calling it a ruse to keep Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in power.
It reiterated the demands for the prime minister's resignation, a charter rewrite and monarchy reform.
King Prajadhipok's Institute (KPI), which was commissioned by parliament to provide suggestions on who should sit on the committee, has come up with two models for the panel.
The first would comprise representatives from seven groups while the second would see the panel made up of "neutral" representatives proposed by those involved.
Stithorn Thananithichot, director of the Office of Innovation for Democracy at the KPI, told the Bangkok Post the make-up of the committee under the first model would likely lean toward the government, particularly with the anti-government group having opted out of the process.
Also, it is unclear who would represent the student-led protesters, he said.
As for the second model, Mr Stithorn said the advantage is that parliament would be the forum for solving the conflict.
However, the outcome of talks among the "neutral'' representatives would be futile if they bore little relation to the war of ideologies being waged across the nation by those on either side of the divide, he said.
He pointed out that it is unlikely that the anti-government group would send representatives to sit on the committee if they were not given assurances the issue of the monarchy could be tabled too.
However, he said he was convinced the reconciliation process would go ahead and it would be down to the speaker, Chuan Leekpai, to make it relevant to the wider context.
Woothisarn Tanchai, secretary-general of the KPI, said the institute has drawn on its experience in working on reconciliation proposals in the wake of the political unrest in 2009 and 2010, and used this information to apply to studying the current conflict.
He also said that the KPI is preparing to talk to all stakeholders and gather their opinions on what they actually want.
Former premier Abhisit Vejjajiva, ex-Democrat Party leader, told the Bangkok Post that Parliament President Chuan Leekpai had sought his advice about a way forward.
He said that the two demands from the protest group -- charter amendments and monarchy reform -- should be separated.
If the protesters want reform, they must stop being hostile to the monarchy first, he said, adding the protesters must accept that the institution is respected by the majority of people in the country.
These two very distinct issues need different approaches and thus should be considered separately, Mr Abhisit said.
He also said that the protesters' demand for Gen Prayut's resignation is not a solution because whoever follows him would still be chosen under the rules of the current contested constitution.
Therefore, the first step should be to amend Section 272 of the charter, which allows the coup-appointed senators to join MPs in voting for a prime minister, Mr Abhisit said.
Although Gen Prayut has said he will not stand in the way of this, Mr Abhisit said, the prime minister must be stronger in urging members of the coalition and Senate to support amending the constitution.
Mr Abhisit said that redrafting Section 272 itself would not require a referendum, although revising Section 256 to set up a charter drafting body would, and this could take two years. Mr Abhisit also pointed out that senators have disagreed with amending Section 256, arguing this would give the charter drafting body "a blank cheque'' to write a new charter.
Chief opposition whip and Pheu Thai MP Sutin Klungsang told the Bangkok Post that if a reconciliation panel is set up, the scope of its power should be specified, such as whether it could recommend the prime minister resign to pave the way for charter amendments. He also said the second model would, on the surface, appear to be a more practical solution as it would be made up of people acceptable to all sides, while the first-model could easily be dismissed as partisan by the pro-democracy faction.
Thailand's Prime Minister said Thursday he would be happy to have a better person replace him claiming he is tired of using his authority.
Bye bye then..
He also told reporters that he had never expected or wanted to be prime minister.
"If in the future, there is a person who is better, more capable and more honest than me, similarly honest, [he or she] would continue the work and be in charge of the country," Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said.
"But being in power is not a fun matter. Furthermore I've exercised a lot of power when I was the army chief for four years. I am fed up with using power. I used the power to take care of good people and consequently punish people who do bad things. Only two [kinds of exercising power] are difficult enough already."
He made his remarks as a keynote speaker at a course-opening event at the Thailand National Defence College. He said he had never expected to be prime minister and was surprised he had been in the post for six years.
"Many people accused me of using the power illegally, I also don't know where I have broken the laws. I comply with all the laws," he said.
He asked for the people to help promote national unity and said the 20-year national strategy does not mean he intends to stay in power for 20 years. "I might die today or tomorrow, nobody knows," he said.
Thai Airways says it "only has enough financial reserves to last until December."
80% of the carrier's 19,000 employees took pay cuts or unpaid leave. 5000 employees agreed to early retirement buy outs. However the carrier says it has yet to figure out how to pay for the employee buy outs.
Thai Airways is currently in bankruptcy. It was on the verge of shutting down a year ago, prior to the pandemic.
So blaming its troubles on Covid-19 makes little sense. And there remain four basic problems at the airline more fundamental than a need to reduce their workforce.
Corruption: Procurement, whether of planes or light bulbs, has often been done for reasons other than serving the airline's interests or at prices that aren't the best the airline could get. And this leads to suboptimal decisions, like a fleet of 80 widebodies that lacks more than 14 of a single type, leading to scheduling challenges and higher maintenance and training costs and an inability to reach cost efficiency through scale.
Incompetence: Company executives in many cases have owed their position to patronage rather than skill.
Bureaucracy: While they want very badly to lean on technology for ancillary revenue they've underinvested in tech (perhaps, given their other challenges, this has been a saving grace in terms of waste avoidance). Thai law and custom often places form over sound decision-making as well.
Competition: Thai could manage in spite of being so poorly managed when the Thai economy boomed, tourists came in droves, and there wasn't nearly as much competition from low cost carriers. They no longer have anything close to a monopoly on domestic operations, and they face competition on most routes with strong traffic and yields.
The airline is trying to raise cash to make it through restructuring in part by selling older aircraft, though of course the value of used planes – especially older used planes – has fallen markedly due to the pandemic with planes around the world parked in desserts.
Manufacturer
Aircraft
Quantity
Age
Airbus
A300-600
1
27
Boeing
B737-400
2
27-28
Airbus
A340-500
3
13-15
Airbus
A340-600
6
12-15
Boeing
B747-400
10
17-27
Boeing
B777-200
6
22-24
Boeing
B777-300
6
20-24
The airline will sell you flight simulator time, teach you to be a flight attendant, or serve you a meal on the ground but without fresh capital and real reform Thai Airways will remain a zombie (or a frozen food brand). – ViewFromTheWing.Com
WHO picks Thailand among 4 countries as example of effective Covid-19 handling
Anutin Charnvirakul
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has picked Thailand among four countries who have demonstrated efficient management of the Covid-19 outbreak to share their experiences and policies with other countries via video conference, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Friday.
"Thailand, Indonesia, South Africa and Uzbekistan were selected by WHO as countries that had successfully handled the Covid-19 situation using public health measures such as aggressive testing, contact tracing, patient investigation and intensive quarantine," he said.
"In the case of Thailand, we also have received positive cooperation from the public in following public health measures. This resulted in Thailand having a relatively low number of domestic cases, while most of the infections have come from overseas."
Anutin added that Thailand has been strictly following WHO's Guidance for Conducting a Country Covid-19 Intra-Action Review (IAR), which was developed to guide countries to conduct periodic review of their national and subnational Covid-19 response, so countries do not miss critical opportunities for learning and improvement to better respond to the Covid-19 outbreak in their countries.
"The IAR that we performed on July 20-24 revealed that Thailand's success in handling Covid-19 derived from the government's decisive policies based on a strong public health foundation, as well as cooperation from all sectors that helped minimise the spread of Covid-19 in Thailand," said Anutin.
Chinese tourists will be spending up to 400K each in their short time in Thailand, TAT chief
Image: Channel 7
The governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand told Channel 7 that the group of Chinese tourists that arrived from Shanghai and are now visiting the seaside after passing through a 14 day quarantine would be spending between 300,000 and 400,000 baht each.
They will be here for a month in total.
Yuthasak Suphasorn said there were 39 of them.
This was roughly the originally reported number and different to other reports that suggested there were 33, notes Thaivisa.
The tourists were the first group on the STV (special tourist visa) and arrived in Bangkok where they underwent the two week quarantine at a luxury hotel. It was unclear whether the cost of their quarantine was part of the governor's assessment of their spending power.
Yuthasak said it was just a matter of a few days before the next group of more than 100 tourists from Gwangzhou are released from quarantine.
He said that people need not worry about them - they are Covid free and like Thai returnees have gone through all the necessary measures.
Travel bubbles are back on the table as countries in the region battle to find some safe solution to their tourist shortfall. Thailand, in particular, earns such a high proportion of its GDP from travel and tourism, that it is seeing a major financial shortfall after closing its borders. This, in the context of no new Special Tourist Visa applications so far in November.
So the TAT, Public Health department and Sports and Tourism minister, are now talking up the possibility of travel bubbles, aka. green lanes, between similar low-risk countries without quarantine requirements. They say it's a crucial step to help the Thai tourism industry. They also recognise a pent-up demand for outbound travel, according to the Thai Travel Agents Association.
But even the TTAA president, Suthiphong Pheunphiphop, recognises that any progress will be slow and that, initially, it would only be low-risk countries in the immediate region that would be able to take advantage of a no-quarantine entry, even if it is approved by Thai authorities. Yesterday a Covid Taskforce proposed to the CCSA that a travel bubble be establishedwith 22 low-risk provinces in China. That proposal is yet to be discussed.
Suthiphong say that the first step would be for a reciprocal arrangement that would allow Thai outbound travel operators to start filling up departure flights. Speaking to the Bangkok Post, he noted that quarantine remains an obstacle to tourism.
"If people can travel without concerns about quarantine, both in destination and origin countries, more trips will be made, even without a vaccine available."
He also recognised that the magic pill, a viable and safe vaccine, is not likely until at least the middle of next year, but travellers are ready to adapt to safety measures and to protect themselves while outside Thailand.
For now the prospect of travel bubbles, changes to the current Special Tourist Visa, conflicting information from Thai government departments and a dynamic Covid situation globally, make the situation very fluid. The Thai Public Health and Foreign ministries acknowledge that situation "is uncertain" and most countries are preferring their citizens to support local tourism for now.
400 outbound tour operators, TTAA members, remain temporarily closed due to a lack of customers.
Yesterday the Thai government said they will consider a no-quarantine travel bubble plan with some provinces in China. Officials hope that, if approved, the scheme could be put into operation in time for Chinese New Year in February. China currently has 22 low-risk provinces, as they have not recorded a Covid-19 case in over 150 days. The proposal will now have to be discussed in the CCSA where the Thai PM remains as chairman.
PM to share lessons from Thailand's success in containing Covid-19 with Paris forum
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Friday that he would share the lessons Thailand had learned from its success in containing Covid-19 at the third Paris Peace Forum, which will be held on November 12 via online video conferencing.
In his statement, Prayut said, "The third edition of Paris Peace Forum is an important opportunity where I join other leaders, international organisations and civil society, in a brainstorming session to draw lessons learned and bring about resilient and sustainable solutions in the post-Covid world.
"Like every other country, Thailand has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, we successfully controlled the situation with the number of infected persons in only four digits and the number of the deceased less than 60. I would thus like to speak on:
"1. People centrality is the major pillar to handle this challenge as well as to create a new normal consistent with Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030, leaving no one behind.
"2. Effective medical system, strong public health sector, and competent healthcare professionals are the important contributing factors to Thailand's success, in particular the support given by over one million health volunteers stationed in villages throughout the country to ensure the accessibility to public health of all people."
Thai Airways seeks buyers for 34 used planes as part of restructuring plan
FILE PHOTO: Workers service a Thai Airways Airbus A380-800 aircraft at Bangkok International Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand September 3, 2019. Picture taken September 3, 2019. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Thai Airways International PCL said on Friday it was looking for potential buyers for 34 used Airbus SE and Boeing Co planes as part of its restructuring plan.
The sale of the planes, which are narrowbodied and widebodied aircraft that range between 12 and 28 years old, would require the bankruptcy court's approval, the airline said in a statement.
Thailand's bankruptcy court in September allowed Thai Airways to proceed with a plan to restructure 245 billion baht ($7.98 billion) of debt as fallout from the coronavirus pandemic added to woes at the airline, which has been struggling since 2012.
The airline said the sale of the planes would be consistent with its reorganisation plan, which would cut its fleet size as part of an effort to manage costs.
It is accepting expressions of interest in the 34 jets on a website. They include four-engined Airbus A340s and Boeing 747s that are less fuel efficient than newer models and are not in high demand from buyers.
Other types for sale include Boeing 777s, 737-400s and an Airbus A300, with delivery available in the first or second quarter of 2021 on an "as-is, where-is" condition, according to the website.
($1 = 30.7000 baht)
(Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
Excise Tax Reduction on Jet Fuel and Measures to Help Tourism and SME Operators
6 November 2020 (Readers 34)
The Cabinet on 3 November 2020 approved the reduction of the excise tax on jet fuel from 4.726 baht to 0.20 baht per liter. It also approved more measures to help tourism-related businesses and SME operators.
The excise tax reduction on jet fuel, effective after 24.00 hr on 3 November 2020 and in effect until 30 April 2021, aims to reduce production costs for airline operators, so that they will be able to cut air fares for passengers. This will help boost the tourism industry and encourage people to travel more in the country.
As for measures to help tourism-related businesses and SMEs, the Government Savings Bank (GSB) will raise the ceiling of government soft loans from 20 million baht to 100 million baht, which financial institutions may extend to each tourism business operator.
More SME operators will be eligible for loan guarantees, worth 57 billion baht, provided by the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation, under the Portfolio Guarantee Scheme Phase 8 (PGS 8) soft loan plus. The guarantee period is eight years, with an annual rate of 1.75 percent.
GSB will extend the period for accepting applications for its five-billion-baht soft loan project for micro businesses engaged intourism businesses and supply chains until 30 June 2021.Under this project, the annual interest rate is 3.99 percent, and the repayment period is five years.
The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand will extend the period for accepting applications for its10-billion-baht extra cash loan scheme until 30 June 2021.
Of the 45% of consumers who purchased a TV box or dongle for free streaming, more than two-thirds (69%) stated that they cancelled all or some of their subscription to legal pay-TV services.
