Hat Yai Conference to attract tourists

[dirtydog]

THE SOUTH
Conference centre plan to attract tourists
WICHAYANT BOONCHOTE

Hat Yai _ Tourism officials want to turn Hat Yai into a major conference venue, hoping to draw visitors back to the province and revive its tourism industry, which has been severely hit by the southern insurgency. The plan is the latest effort to stimulate tourism activities in the business district.

The Office of Tourism Development believes the plan could work, even though the violence continues in the three nearby provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.
''We need to promote Hat Yai as a new conference hub for the seven southern provinces,'' said office director Tanitta Manichot.
Her office thought of using conference and seminar programmes as a magnet for visitors after it was noticed that many government and state enterprise seminars and training programmes are organised in provinces on the Andaman coast.
Although Songkhla sits on the opposite coast, facing the Gulf of Thailand, the province is full of tourist attractions including resort beaches and small islands. Mrs Tanitta said Hat Yai could draw thousands of visitors by offering facilities for conferences and seminars, in addition to its tourist attractions.
There are 167 hotels in the province, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Hat Yai office.
Many, with a high standard of service, are in Hat Yai city and they have the potential to provide customers with conference facilities, Mrs Tanitta said.
Success would depend on additional measures being carried out by the state and private sectors.
Hat Yai is currently struggling to rebuild its tourism industry after insurgent attacks, including two major bomb blasts and the sabotage of railway tracks, deterred many tourists from visiting the province. The occupancy rate in hotels in Hat Yai dropped from an average of 65% to 20% after the bombs in September last year which killed four and injured 82, according to the Thai Hotel Association of Hat Yai. The hotels need the rate to stay above 50% in order to survive, the group said.

Bangkok Post

[watterinja]

They'll all be dieing to come...

[Spin]

Success would depend on additional measures being carried out by the state

Presumably that means the goverment will have to stop people being blown up each day?