Suvarnabhumi APM train to open in time for return of international travellers

Bangkok’s Gold Line electric rail route will begin operating in October as planned, despite a delay in construction caused by the coronavirus outbreak, its developer Krungthep Thanakom (KT) said on Thursday.

The assurance came on the same day the first of three trains being imported for use on the route arrived from China.

Now that the Covid-19 pandemic situation has eased significantly, the import of equipment required under the Gold Line project has resumed, said Manit Techa-apichoke, managing director of KT — the business arm of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

The overall project is 89% complete, with the construction work almost done and the train operation system about 81% complete, he said.

The first Bombardier Innovia APM 300 electric train imported from China arrived on Thursday at Laem Chabung Port in Chon Buri, while two other trains are expected to arrive in August, said Sumit Srisantithum, chief operating officer of the Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc (BTSC).

BTSC was hired by KT to procure trains for the Gold Line, operate the service and handle maintenance work in a 30-year contract.

Produced in China’s Anhui province, the trains have two carriages, with each carriage capable of carrying a maximum of 138 passengers, he said.

Their maximum speed is 80km/hr.

In the first phase of operations, the Gold Line, will have three stations along a 1.8-kilometre route, he said, adding that it is expected to serve about 42,000 passengers daily

The second part of the project, running along Somdet Chao Phraya Road will add a fourth station and is expected to open in 2023.

In total, the route will be 2.8km in length and is designed to serve as a feeder line for passengers wanting to use other routes, namely the Green, Red and Purple lines, Mr Sumit said.
It is hoped the new line will help improve public transport in the Thon Buri district of Bangkok, especially in the fast-growing areas along the Chao Phraya River, he said.

The public-private investment project doesn’t require any state funding, he said.

Mr Manit had said previously that money would come from fares and revenue from advertising at the Gold Line’s stations.

Advertisement sales had created around 2 billion baht in funds for the construction of the route, maintenance and the hiring of the consultant.

Source - Bangkok Post

Our VISA AGENT

China - Hainan resorts to visa-free access for tourism payoffs

China's southern resort island of Hainan, which has benefited from its visa-free access by reaping local tourism boom and greater connectivity, is set to further open up, according to local authorities.

Hainan will introduce more open visa-free entry policies and further simplify entry procedures for cruise ships and yachts, according to a provincial government plan announced last month.

China aims to build Hainan into a high-quality pilot free trade zone by the end of 2020 and a free trade port with Chinese characteristics by 2035.

Since May 1, 2018, group and individual tourists from 59 countries, including Russia, Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, have been given visa-free access to Hainan on condition that they would book their tours through travel agencies.

"More than 80 percent of foreigners come to Hainan through visa-free policy, which has benefited more than 770,000 foreign tourists so far," said Liu Zhichun, an official from the Haikou General Station of Immigration Inspection in the provincial capital.

Tommy Hunter, an English teacher from the US, worked for more than 10 years in various parts of China and finally decided to settle down in Hainan.

"It is really easy to visit and travel to Hainan. Visa-free policy is very convenient, which can save a lot of time and costs for my family," said Hunter.

Apart from facilitating work, the visa-free policy has promoted Hainan as a popular tropical resort among overseas tourists.

The island attracted 1.42 million tourists from overseas in 2019, up 12.4 percent from a year earlier, while the tourism revenue totaled 105 billion yuan ($14.81 billion), according to the provincial department of culture and tourism.

The convenient access policy deepened the connectivity, economic, trade and cultural exchanges between Hainan and the countries enjoying visa-free policies, Liu said.

In July 2019, Hainan's visa-free policy was further optimized as foreigners are allowed to enter Hainan visa-free for a wider range of purposes, including business, visiting relatives, medical treatment, exhibition, and sports.

Thanks to the policy, the new BMW Hood to Coast relay was held in Hainan for the first time In December 2019. The event attracted more than 2,000 runners from 40 countries and regions.

"The event has benefited from the visa-free policies and the large number of overseas routes, which provided convenience for international runners," said Wang Liming, an official from Hainan's sports bureau.

The province aims to attract 2 million overseas tourists by the end of 2020, according to a three-year action plan released in 2018.

Sun Dahai, an official with the Hainan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, said the province would roll out more favorable visa-free policies and gradually expand to a wider range of purposes and countries.

Source - TheJakartaPost

THAI resumes flights to Europe via China airspace

THAI AIRWAYS International (THAI) yesterday resumed its flights from Bangkok to Europe after cancelling some the previous day due to Pakistan’s closure of its airspace. 

The national carrier also plans to provide special flights to some select countries in Europe in order to |help passengers get to their destinations.

Around 4,000 passengers were stranded as 16 flights arriving and 20 departing from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport were cancelled after tensions with India led Pakistan to close its airspace. 

Of the cancelled flights, 21 were of THAI, to and from Europe, and six to and from Pakistan. 

THAI usually flies over Pakistan’s airspace when going to or returning from Europe, but after the closure, the carrier had asked for authorisation to fly over China’s airspace, the airline said yesterday. 

Flight Lieutenant Pratana Patanasiri, THAI’s vice president for aviation safety, security and standards, said the national carrier has received permission from authorities to fly over China. However, he said, the permission was granted on a daily basis, so the airline needs to update the situation daily.

Also, he said, flying over China actually cuts the flying time down by 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, a source from THAI said the national carrier has unofficially been given permission to provide special flights to substitute the flights to Frankfurt, London and Moscow that had been forced to return to Suvarnabhumi on Wednesday.

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 THAI is also seeking cooperation from its allied airlines to transfer passengers, and has asked for permission to arrange special flights to London, Paris and Frankfurt, from where passengers can easily head to other destinations. 

Thousands of passengers were stranded at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Wednesday night, as they had not been given advance notice of the cancellations. Some only learned their flight had been cancelled when they showed up at the check-in counter. 

Officials were worried if it could be a PR disaster for THAI with passengers complaining about the lack of communication about the situation.

It will take about three days to clear Suvarnabhumi of stranded passengers, said Thera Buasri, director of the Airport Authority of Thailand’s Ground Service Control.

As for flights to Pakistan, THAI re-routed its TG507 and TG508 flights yesterday by flying directly to and from Muscat and not stopping over in Karachi. The Bangkok-Lahore-Bangkok flights on TG345 and TG346 yesterday were also cancelled.

In a related development, Auramon Supthaweethum, director-general of the Commerce Ministry’s Department of Trade Negotiations, said talks on a Thailand-Pakistan free trade agreement (FTA) will not be affected by the India-Pakistan conflict.

The Kashmir border crisis between the two countries recently resulted in both countries claiming to have shot down each other’s jets and an Indian pilot being captured by Pakistan. India has since demanded the safe return of the pilot, AFP reported. 

Thailand has an FTA with India, and a pact with Pakistan has been in the pipeline since 2015. 

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 “Up to 99 per cent of the FTA chapters have already been negotiated, and we believe the pact will be concluded and enacted by the end of 2020,” Auramon said. 

She added that the FTA negotiations with Pakistan had been delayed due to its general elections, which took place in July. She also noted that negotiations between the two countries would resume this year as a video conference.

“The remaining issue that needs to be discussed is the level of market access in goods that both sides will offer,” she explained. 

Banjongjitt Angsusingh, director-general at the ministry’s Department of International Trade Promotion, said the impacts of the Kashmir conflict are still unclear, but if there were to be any negative impacts on Thai trade, they would only be for the short term. 

In 2018, the total value of trade between Thailand and Pakistan stood at Bt54.045 billion, growing by 2.77 per cent year on year. 

Of the total trade value, Thailand exports Bt47.411 billion and imports Bt6.634 billion worth of goods, giving the Kingdom a trade surplus of Bt40.776 billion, the Commerce Ministry said. 

Source - TheNation

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China - Joint plan to encourage tourism

Photo taken on June 3, 2018 shows Wusi Square in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province. The 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit is scheduled for June 9 to 10 in Qingdao.

Member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are expected to sign a joint action plan for 2019-20 during the two-day summit in Qingdao to further boost tourism, a senior Chinese official said on Friday.

The new plan aims to offer more abundant tourism products, improve services, better secure the legal rights and safety of tourists and introduce new technology, such as big data analysis, said Xue Yaping, director of the tourism promotion and international cooperation department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

"SCO member countries are close neighbors," he said. "Their tourism features complement each other and thus create huge potential for the market."

Great achievements have been made in tourism in recent years. In 2017, China attracted 3.61 million international visits from citizens of other SCO member countries, up by 11.75 percent year-on-year. That included 1.67 million from Russia and about 800,000 from India, ministry data show.

On the other hand, Russia received 2.3 million visits from China last year, and India and Kazakhstan each received about 200,000, according to the ministry.

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With the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese tourists have shown an increasing interest in Central Asia, which is along the primary route of the ancient Silk Road, Xue said.

However, the relatively complicated visa application procedures of Central Asian countries are sometimes a bottleneck, he said.

"More measures will be taken in the coming years to simplify visa application and customs procedures under the joint action plan," Xue said. "And we'll develop more tourism products to 'connect the dots', enabling Chinese visitors to travel to multiple Central Asian countries within one trip."

In addition, more "package products" that include the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan will be promoted in other SCO countries.

Since the China Railway Express to Europe has become a freight artery connecting many Chinese and European cities in terms of logistics, the rail network, which crosses Central Asia, can also be used for tourism to offer visitors abundant experiences.

"Such a cooperative platform (under the SCO) is mutually beneficial," he said. "We can understand each other's actual needs through more dialogue."

In May, top tourism administrators of SCO member countries met in Wuhan, Hubei province, where a draft was made for such a joint action plan.

Though Xue said there will be no specific target for the number of mutual visits within the next two years, he emphasized that comprehensive cooperation in tourism will have long-term effects.

Source- ChinaDaily

Chinese tourists just can't get enough of #Thailand

Tourism is the gift that keeps on giving in Thailand, thanks especially to China.

Visitors from the world’s most-populous nation surged to a record 1.2 million in February, swelled by the Lunar New Year holiday period, Tourism Ministry data released Wednesday in Bangkok showed. The kingdom expects 38 million tourists overall this year, including more than 10 million from China.

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Thailand’s relationship with Chinese tourists has sometimes been rocky. Visitor numbers collapsed toward the end of 2016, when the Thai administration cracked down on operators bringing in large groups from China on cut-price holidays. Those curbs were eventually eased and numbers have since rocketed.

Tourism is worth about a fifth of the Thai economy and has been an important growth driver for the military government that took power almost four years ago. But the boom is clogging infrastructure and threatens to take a bigger environmental cost on the beaches attracting so many visitors.

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Source - TheJakartaPost

#Thailand - TAT seeks China’s help to stop damage by Chinese tourists

                             Frequent cases of Chinese tourists damaging coral reefs and other fragile sea natural resources have prompted the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to seek help from its Chinese counterpart.

Phanu Woramitr, director of the TAT office for Hat Yai, Songkhla and Satoon said on Tuesday that TAT has sent a letter to the Chinese tourism agency asking it to warn Chinese tourists to behave while visiting Thailand.

The Chinese tourism agency was asked to tell Chinese tourists to strictly observe Thai laws and regulations when they visit national parks, temples, seas and coral reefs to avoid damaging fragile natural resources.

Chinese visitors have been asked not to touch anything while visiting such places so they won’t cause damage, Phanu said.

He said park and provincial officials have also been alerted to help warn visiting Chinese tourists against damaging the places they visit.

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 The chief tourism and sports officer for Satun, Atcharin Muangchan, said she has been compiling information about environmental damage caused by tourists, especially Chinese tourists, to coral reefs.

The information will be raised during a meeting to develop Satun tourism on March 2, which will be chaired by the Satun governor and will be attended by representatives from all relevant sectors, Atcharin said.

She said the provincial administration would produce pamphlets in the Chinese language to distribute to tourists to warn them against destroying fragile sea natural resources during their visit.

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Source - TheNation

#Tulips attract numerous tourists in SW #China's Yunnan

Photos  shows tulip blossoms at a wetland park in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province. About 1.2 million tulips here entered blooming season, attracting numerous tourists.

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#China - Duoye, traditional celebration of Dong ethnic group

Women of Dong ethnic group attend Duoye, a traditional celebrating activity, in Congjiang county, Southwest China's Guizhou province, Feb 19, 2018. Duoye is a traditional celebration of Dong ethnic group, during which people gather around in a circle to sing for praying. 

Source - ChinaDaily

Chimelong to open panda-themed hotel

Chimelong Group, a conglomerate that owns and operates theme parks, luxury hotels and leisure entertainment businesses, will soon open a panda-themed hotel in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, to meet growing domestic demand for leisure hospitality from families.

Sources with the Guangzhou-based company said that the Chimelong Panda Hotel, located in the Chimelong Tourist Resort, will open on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

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The hotel was designed in accordance with the giant panda triplets, which were born in July of 2014 at the Chimelong Safari Park, providing 1,500 guest rooms and other business and entertainment facilities and services.

The giant panda triplets - Meng Meng, Shuai Shuai and Ku Ku, will be featured in the hotel rooms, according to the company.

As part of Chimelong Tourist Resort's future upgrade program, the Chimelong Panda Hotel, along with Chimelong Hotel and Chimelong Xiangjiang Hotel, constitutes the resort's hotel cluster which offers guests a diversity of choices.

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Source - TheJakartaPost

Lunar New Year shines across Asia - The Year of the Dog

From Beijing to Jakarta, dragon dance and dog lanterns ring in the colorful spring festival.         

Folk artists perform a lion dance ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, or Spring festival, at Taierzhuang Ancient Town scenic area in Zaozhuang, Shandong province, China.

People visit lantern decorations for the upcoming Chinese New Year in Yu Yuan Garden in Shanghai, China.

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People walk past lantern decorations for the upcoming Chinese New Year in Yu Yuan Garden in Shanghai, China, 

Men perform a dragon dance ahead of Chinese Lunar New Year in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

A man prepares lanterns and decorations for sale at a market ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year in central Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Source

Chinese New Year 2018

Tomorrow start the Chinese New Year 2018

The Year in the Dog