Updates
 
20-Dec-05
: Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi Chiangmai
: D2. Hotel Chiangmai
: Bann Tazala Exclusive Residence
: Low Cost (No Frills) Airlines
: Virtuoso Symposium Singapore in March 2006
 
11-Nov-05
: Telephone Number Change.
: Thai Airways International Non-Stop Flights New York <> Bangkok & Los Angeles<>Bangkok.
: Four Seasons Tented Camp, Golden Triangle
: Anantara Resort & Spa Golden Triangle
: Virtuoso Symposium Singapore in March 2006
 
12-Oct-05
: Anantara Resort & Spa Golden Triangle.
: Maison Souvannaphoum Hotel, Luang Prabang Laos.
: New Bangkok International Airport (Suvarnabhumi Airport)
: Thai Airways International Non-Stop Flights : New York <> Bangkok – Now Daily
: Virtuoso Symposium Singapore in March 2006
 
03-Aug-05
: Myanmar Visas .
: Hot Air Ballooning in Chiangmai.
: The Chedi Chiangmai
: Virtuoso Travel Mart
 
29-Jun-05
: Another Airline Fuel Surcharge.
: Hotel Updates.
: Pandaw Cruises in Myanmar
 
29-Mar-05
: Another Earthquake.
: New Bangkok International Airport (Suvarnabhumi Airport).
: The Chedi Chiangmai!
: Vehicle Fuel Costs.
 
1-Mar-05
: Jungle Survival Day Trip
: Airline News
: Virtuoso Symposium
 
11-Feb-05
: Phuket, Khao Lak & Krabi - 6 Weeks after Tsunami.
: Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, Chiang Mai.
: The Chedi Chiangmai!
: The Sukhothai Bangkok.
 
13-Jan-05
: Indian Ocean Tsunami – In Relation to Thailand Today...
: New Bangkok International Airport (Suvarnabhumi Airport).- Advance Warning !!
: Insurance.
: A Short Vacation… 
 
- 2004 items...


29 March 2005.

Greetings from Chiangmai - And Hope you all had a Happy Easter...

Apart from Easter...It is soon to be the Thai New Year Festival of Songkran from 11-16 April and as always everything here will be closed – We will monitor e-mails, whenever possible during this period – but as responses may well be slower than usual !! So please excuse any delays in responses from here during this period. !!

Another Earthquake
As most of you will have seen in the media there was an Earthquake off the coast of Indonesia last night (Monday), and while we understand there has been damage and loss of life on the Sumatra island of Nias. We are happy to report that there has not been any affect in Thailand from the Earthquake.

Understandably everyone was "on Alert', last night, but as the BBC & CNN have reported - No tsunamis were reported along Indonesia's island coasts, and India, Malaysia and Thailand canceled tsunami warnings early Tuesday morning - just 3 hours after the earthquake.

So while our thoughts go out to the people affected by this in Indonesia, nothing has happened here in Thailand that should cause your Clients any problems.

New Bangkok International Airport (Suvarnabhumi Airport).
As we have advised some of you already the New Bangkok International Airport has delayed its opening until March 2006. (Copy of News extract from Dow Jones Wire Service)

New Bangkok Airport To Operate March 2006; Delayed 6 Months.

BANGKOK (Dow Jones)--State-owned Airports of Thailand PCL said late Friday that commercial operations at Bangkok's new international airport will begin in March 2006, six months later than its previously scheduled Sept. 29, 2005 opening.
Srisook Chandrangsu, AOT's chairman, said construction of the Suvarnabhumi Airport would be completed by September, but it may take around six more months to test all the systems.
"On Sept. 29, there will certainly be tests by aircraft," he said, referring to take-offs and landings. "However, we need to have tests of all systems. If we can complete all the tests sooner, it's possible that we may start commercial operation before March," Srisook said, responding to reporters questions.
A source at AOT said overall construction work at the new airport is currently 86% complete.
The new airport is designed to accommodate up to 45 million passengers a year.
Italian-Thai Development PCL (ITD.TH), together with Japanese partners Takenaka Corp. (TNA.YY) and Obayashi Corp. (1802.TO), hold the contract to build the passenger terminal and concourse buildings of the airport.
AOT operates five airports in Thailand, including Bangkok's existing international airport and the facility, officially called New Bangkok International Airport.

We will keep you advised as soon as we have any further information on this and of course, when it does happen, we will have to review Programs and Costs, etc. to take this into consideration.

In other related News, Accor has won the contract for the Airport Hotel at the New Bangkok International Airport ( Copy thanks to TTR Daily)

Suvarnabhumi International Airport Company signed a contract with Universal Hospitality Company representing Accor Group to manage the Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel.

The contract runs for 20 years to manage 600-room hotel that costs Bt2.7 billion. Room rates will starts at Bt5,000 per night.
The hotel is located between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of Bangkok’s new international airport and expects for first year an income at Bt500 million. It will target passengers at Suvarnabhumi and MICE business around the airport.
Universal Hospitality Company managing director, Chittimas Ketvoravit said that his company is a joint venture with Accor Group to bid for this project.
“We expect hotel occupancy for the first year to be at 65%. Business travellers will supply 30% of guests, businesses in the area 40% and tourists 30%.” she said.
Currently, hotel construction is 80% complete. It is the 60th airport hotel and the third larges in the world that Novotel manages.
“I think that the main reason of choosing Novotel was that it manages many airport hotels and is expanding very fast in this region,” Ms Chittimas said.
Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel is owned by three shareholders: Airports of Thailand Public Company 60%, Thai Airways International 30% and Krung Thai Bank10%. It is scheduled to open 29 September.
Suvarnabhumi International Airport Company chairman, Bancha Pattanaporn and Universal Hospitality managing director, Chittimas Ketvoravit signed the contract 1 February at the Novotel Siam Square with approximately 100 media and tourism industry representatives as witnesses.

 

The Chedi Chiangmai.
Work here is still progressing ….slowly – and they have now delayed the opening until July 2005.

 

Vehicle Fuel Costs.
As we have mentioned in our November News Items: The Price of Diesel Fuel in Thailand has to date been subsidized by the Thai Government. Unfortunately last week, The Government decided to reduce this subsidy, which has caused the price of Diesel Fuel to increase 20%. Since most of our vehicles are have Diesel Engines, this will definitely affect our costs. Therefore it may become necessary to increase costs slightly. We will of course try to give you as much notice as possible, but as we indicated in all our quotations...

“All prices quoted are NETT (non-commissionable), assuming prepayment by your Company's Check or Bank (wire) Transfer to our US$ Account in and may be revised subject to major currency fluctuations, air fare changes or other items beyond our control”

... and this is certainly be beyond our control !!

I think that’s about it for now… so until the next letter


Take care and best wishes
David, Wanna, Vachira and all of us at Wanna Tours…


Please note that our E.mail list for these Updates is quite specific and as we do respect your decision about receiving these updates - If you do NOT wish to be notified about these News Updates - please advise us by replying to this e.mail and we will take your e.mail address out of the Mailing List.

PO Box 80 Chiangmai 50000 Thailand.
TEL: (053) 115651& (053) 115650
FAX : +66 53 115652
Email: wanna.tour@usa.net or: info@wannatours.com
Website: www.wannatours.com