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Thailand's tourism industry draws on a wealth of experience in greeting global dignitaries — including royalty, celebrities and Fortune 500 corporate leaders — to provide tourists who are culturally aware and environmentally responsible
with the best destination experiences Asia has to offer.
This expertise was on display in 2006 with the grand celebrations to mark the auspicious occasion of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s Diamond Jubilee, the 60th anniversary of his accession to the throne. In December 2007, there were nationwide celebrations to mark King Bhumibol’s 80th birthday. And in 2003, Bangkok was host to an APEC Summit which included a rare and magnificent royal barge procession along the Chao Phraya River.
With 64 per cent of visitors making return trips, the Thai tourism industry is continually challenged to create innovative and fresh tailor-made packages for individual clients and their families, many of whom are already well acquainted with the kingdom.
Thai tourism operators continually strive to raise the bar and set new benchmarks. Recent innovations include exclusive "meet and greets" that start within minutes of touching down at Suvarnabhumi International Airport.
Discerning travellers are met off the plane, fast-tracked through immigration to where a number of customized services await. Direct helicopter transfers are available to select hotels.
Thailand is long-experienced in leading the way in the hospitality industry. The Mandarin Oriental Bangkok is a classic hotel with a gilded history. The Bangkok riverside property has pioneered and defined superlative levels of service specifically aimed at refined world travellers since it first opened 132 years ago.
Focus on impeccable service is essential for guests with a keen eye for detail.
Staff, who stay an average 15 years, know guests by name, and their personal preferences in terms of food, drink and even choice of bed linen. Special care is taken with VIP guests to ensure a seamless stay.
Many of the kingdoms leading hotels and resorts embody the same mantra of going beyond guest expectations, including Thailand’s trendsetting green resorts and hotels. Energy efficient architecture, shored up by habitat protection programmes, combine with renewable energy sources and proactive community support initiatives, to reduce each guest's environmental footprint.
Canal tours and river-cruises demonstrate the close affinity that many of the kingdom’s inhabitants retain with the water and traditional Thai river life.
Special river cruises aboard converted rice barges, with sleeping cabins and bathroom, offer a greater depth of experience.
Unique modes of transport, such as horse-drawn carriages, long-tail boats and elephant processions create inimitable experiences.
While the kingdom features many of the world's best spas, it is the genre-defining products that continue to win international plaudits.
Chiva Som International Health Resort Hua Hin paved the way as the centre of excellence in Southeast Asia's spa boom in the late 1990's, helping to position Thailand as the destination of choice for many wellness-focussed travellers.
The Dheva Spa and Wellness Centre at Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, in Chiang Mai, provides authentic Indian oil treatments made from plants grown in the resort's 3,100 square-metre Lanna palace-inspired grounds. Traditional European Vichy-style treatments compliment therapies from Asia and Africa.
Outside of the destination spa segment, leading-edge developments are being driven by holistic medical centres which employ Western scientific developments with Asian therapies.
TRIA Integrative Wellness enables clients to go beyond simple pampering. Western medical consultations can be combined with psychotherapy, emotional release counselling and eastern holistic treatments. The state of the art facility offers visitors the ability to access integrated treatments currently unavailable in a spa or general medical practice.
S-Medical Spa also provides western and eastern medical services, but specialises in using the latest technological innovations to push the envelope of stress-busting and anti-aging treatments. The in-house team of specialists work collectively to pinpoint specific causes of a visitor's problems and tailor an individual intensive lifestyle program to redress the balance.
Internationally accredited hospitals providing worldclass medical services have built Thailand into Asia's number one medical tourism destination.
Thailand's destinations offer visitors a wide choice of activities from indulging themselves at a spa and playing golf or yachting, to exploring the kingdom's five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, or embarking on eco tours.
Private executive jets, charter airplanes and helicopter services open up access to the widest range of places possible.
Hua Hin, Thailand's oldest resort town overlooks the Gulf of Thailand and is King Bhumibol’s second residence after Bangkok.
Phuket has evolved into a world-class hub for marine tourism including yachting, diving and fishing excursions in the Andaman Sea.
The island's annual King's Cup Regatta has won the coveted Christofle Asia Yachting Event of the Year for the past two years. Royal Phuket Marina also recently received international recognition when it was awarded the Marina Five Gold Anchors Award from the British Marine Federation, one of only five marinas in Asia to be granted the accolade. Land lovers can enjoy some of Asia's best golf, with more than seven courses in the surrounding area including Blue Mountain Country Club and Mission Hills Phuket Gulf Resort & Spa.
Fully crewed luxury charter yachts allow high-end tourists to relax in privacy and to access remote islands and beaches away from crowded resorts, with accommodation arranged at the most exclusive villas overlooking the Andaman Sea.
Northern Thailand is one of the kingdom's most ethnically diverse regions, where numerous hill tribe groups, including Shan, Karen, Lahu, Hmong, Lisu, Akha and Mien, coexist with the region's distinct Lanna culture.
Beyond the traditional artisans producing the silverware, textiles and woodcarving that northern Thailand is justly famours for, Chiang Mai has more recently emerged as a centre for contemporary creativity. Environmentally sustainable artist's villages exist, where creative individuals from around the world come to stay and explore the city's unique ingenuity.
The Royal Project Foundation's northern projects provide culturally interested tourists with excellent information on the kingdom's thriving ethnic diversity, and the promotion of a subsistence economy.
Established in 1969 by King Bhumibol, Doi Angkhang in Chiang Mai has initiated crop replacement schemes to provide a sustainable legal economy for the area's hilltribe people who traditionally produced opium.
Similar inspirational projects initiated by HRH The Princess Mother's Mae Fah Luang Foundation include the Doi Tung Development Project and Mae Fah Luang Art and Cultural Park in Chiang Rai, and the Hall of Opium at the Golden Triangle Park in Chiang Saen.
The region is also home to two of Thailand's truly unique destination resorts, Anantara Golden Triangle and Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle.
"At Anantara, we have many wonderful activities and cultural immersion activities. Perhaps one of the most poignant is the Elephant Camp at Anantara Resort Golden Triangle," says William E Heinecke, CEO of the Minor Group, Thailand's biggest hotelier. He is Thailand’s tenth richest man, according to Forbes which valued him at US$395 million last year. "Guests can interact with elephants that have been rescued from the city streets. They can even learn how to 'drive' an elephant like the local caregivers,” Heinecke tells TAT Newsroom.
"This experience is in the heart of Thailand’s northern hill-tribe country, where the countries of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand converge. Such an exotic encounter could not be experienced anywhere else."
The Tented Camp is a luxury tent experience with 15 residences, and the only travel product of its kind in Southeast Asia. Guests arrive at the resort's Mekong River location by long-tail boat.
Thailand's position as the amazing gateway to the greater Mekong subregion is emphasised by a number of exclusive products on offer.
The Oriental is reviving the Legends of Indochina, first introduced in 1999. This is an elite collection of Southeast Asia's finest hotels offering a series of recommended and tailor-made itineraries that allows the discerning travellers of today to enjoy their own, individual "grand tour" of this fascinating region.
Bangkok Airways' World Heritage Network provides exclusive air access to Southeast Asia's World Heritage Sites in Sukhothai, Thailand; Luang Prabang, Laos; Danang and Hue, Vietnam; and finally Siem Reap, Cambodia, and the Angkor Wat temples.
Returning to Bangkok's luxury shopping malls can take a unique twist for elite travellers. Exclusive services include providing access to Thai designers for custom orders and express tailoring services. Expert multilingual lifestyle consultants are on hand to provide advice on all things from cuisine to fashion to wellness. Private previews from the world's leading fashion brands can be arranged at the visitor's hotel suite. Exclusive after-hours, closed-door shopping tours can be organised for elite groups
Specialist 24-hour concierge services are also available for seasoned world travellers to the kingdom.
Antiques specialists are on hand to provide expert advice on buying antique pieces and ascertaining their real value for visitors.
The ultimate Thai dining experience can be arranged anywhere in the country, including flying in exclusive chefs from Bangkok, who normally only serve one table per day, to cater the event. Conversely, adventurous travellers seeking the ultimate in culinary cultural immersion can be taken to traditional hole-in-the-wall restaurants to experience authentic local dishes in venues they would otherwise never hear of.
Medium to long-term leases for villas and apartments are now available for tourists wanting to stay longer term, particularly in the key resort destinations of Phuket, Pattaya and Koh Samui.
The fact that those living in the fast lane choose to live in style in Thailand was demonstrated last March when Finnish F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen snapped up a luxury villa at Serenity Terraces on Rawai Beach, Phuket.
Strategically-located at the crossroads of trade and culture, the Thai kingdom has centuries of experience in welcoming foreign visitors. Forever ready to welcome guests from abroad, the Thai people have perfected the art of hospitality. Service excellence it taken to new heights. It’s a spectacle and a custom-made experience of a lifetime.
What international visitors experience during their time in Thailand is the natural grace and charm, friendliness and warm hospitality of Thai people. This is in essence the Thai way — the well-practised observance of centuries-old, time-honoured traditions. A warm welcome is simply a part of the Thai way of life. Thais are taught to offer nothing less than the very best when receiving guests. When presenting someone with a gift, it is the best they have to offer and it always comes from the heart. That is the Thai way. Hence it’s no surprise that Thailand is regarded as one of the leading world-class travel destinations and members of the Thai hospitality industry are consistently voted among the ‘World's Best’.
ACKNOWLDEGEMENTS
The TAT News Room sincerely thanks Mr William E Heinecke, The Mandarin Oriental Bangkok, Ban Taling Ngam Koh Samui, Four Seasons Resorts, Asia Marine, Asian Trails (Thailand), Advance Aviation Co Ltd, Quintessentially, Anantara Resorts, Conrad Bangkok, Gaysorn Plaza, CBRE (Thailand), Serenity Terraces, Raimon Land, S-Medical Spa and TRIA Integrated Wellness for the kind support and assistance in providing information for this feature.
THAI HOTELS ON THE TRAVEL + LEISURE 2008
WORLD’S BEST HOTELS 2008 – TOP 100 OVERALL
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#14 The Mandarin Oriental Bangkok |
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#17 The Peninsula, Bangkok |
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#19 Four Seasons Resort, Chiang Mai |
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13th ANNUAL TRAVEL + LEISURE WORLD’S BEST AWARDS
WORLD’S TOP 20 HOTEL SPAS IN THAILAND
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Four Seasons Resort, Chiang Mai, Thailand |
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The Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, Thailand |
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2008 ‘World’s Best Hotel Spa’ for the Asia Pacific
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Four Seasons Resort, Chiang Mai, Thailand |
Eight of the Top 50 hotel and resort properties in Asia in the Travel + Leisure 2008 World’s Best Hotels category are in Thailand.
TOP 50 HOTELS IN ASIA
| Rank |
2007 |
Name |
| 4 |
2 |
The Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, Thailand |
| 5 |
5 |
The Peninsula, Bangkok, Thailand |
| 7 |
6 |
Four Seasons Resort, Chiang Mai, Thailand |
| 19 |
17 |
Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand |
| 26 |
25 |
JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa, Thailand |
| 36 |
49 |
Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Bangkok, Thailand |
| 39 |
35 |
JW Marriott, Bangkok, Thailand |
| 41 |
* |
Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok, Thailand |
* means that the property was not among the top-ranked in this category last year
Source: http://www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest/2008/
OFFICIAL HOTELS FOR THE 11th APEC ECONOMIC LEADERS’ MEETING HELD IN BANGKOK (19-21 October 2003)
QUINTESSENTIALLY
Global private members' club and 24 hour concierge service, part of the world's leading Luxury Lifestyle Group
http://www.quintessentially.com
Quintessentially Thailand
Quintessentially Hotels in Thailand
http://www.quintessentiallyreserve.com/hotels-in-thailand
Quintessentially Pure — a new collection of the world's top spas in Thailand
http://www.quintessentiallypure.com
EXHIBITORS FROM THAILAND PARTICIPATING IN THE 2007 INTERNATIONAL LUXURY TRAVEL MARKET (ITLM) IN CANNES, FRANCE
Other related links
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Greg Lowe is a Bangkok-based British journalist with ten years of publishing experience. This includes a stint as Features editor for Metro magazine (Thailand) and 3.5 years as Managing editor for the Asia Books magazine (Thailand). Currently, in addition to being editor of the critically acclaimed literary website www.spikemagazine.com, Greg also contributes regular articles to numerous publications including Bangkok Post, Business Times, South China Morning Post, Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, Fah Thai, Sarika, ZDNetAsia.com, TravelHappy.info, and Tiger Tales.
Source of Reference:
Thailand’s low cost and scenic beaches have enabled it to become the largest medical tourism market in Asia.
Source: Asian Medical Tourism Analysis (2008-2012) http://bharatbook.wordpress.com/2008/06/16/asian-medical-tourism-analysis-2008-2012 |
