Today’s issue of The Nation newspaper carries a story about the launch of a ‘Tourist TV’ channel to promote destinations around Thailand to visiting tourists. As noted in the article, the ‘channel’ is actually up to 10 hours a day of programming to be provided to existing broadcast and cable channels in Thailand.

Now, there are certainly a lot of interesting places in Thailand, that many foreign tourists probably don’t know about, but does promoting these destinations to people who are already here really make sense? Most people plan their trips well in advance, and aren’t likely to want to make major changes in the itenerary at the last minute, especially with some of the penalties charged by airlines these days for changes.

Of course, there is a class of tourist that does usually have a flexible schedule - the backpacker pack. But most of these folk won’t even spring for a room with a shower (or is it that they just don’t use it?) so I’d be surprised if they even had access to a television, and even more surprised that, if they did have a TV, it wouldn’t be tuned to some sports channel.

The program sounds more like a government ‘feel good’ campaign rather than something that will produce real results, but who in this world really expects their government to produce real results?

Full text of The Nation article:

‘Tourist TV’ launched
Published on December 28, 2005

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will launch the country’s first tourist television channel today, aimed at promoting local destinations and encouraging foreign visitors to return to the Kingdom. The channel – the government’s latest strategy to lure more tourists back – will show domestic attractions to foreign visitors while they are here.

Programmes are set to commence on January 9 on government-run Channel 11 and UBC’s sub-channel nine. Both stations have a one-year contract to run the programming for 10 hours each day. The channel will feature all kinds of tourism information, including daily news, travel documentaries, highlights of tourism activities, new services and people in the industry and other relevant topics. The government passed the project on to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in the middle of the year.

The TAT will spend Bt100 million on the project. The authority had initially planned to work with MCOT Plc, but the Budget Bureau did not approve the plan due to a lack of returns. The TAT instead opted to work with RTN Television Plc to produce programming. Thaksin is conducting an opening ceremony for the channel at the Hua Mark Indoor Stadium today.

Currently, Channel 11 broadcasts Andaman News, which features local news, interviews and weather forecasts in English in Phuket, Phang Nga, and Krabi. The programme runs from 8.30am to 9am, Monday to Friday. The same content is also broadcast on Radio Thailand FM 90.5.

Suchat Sritama, The Nation

Well, it’s the end of another calendar year here in Bangkok. I can tell by all the calendars arriving in the mail.

In Thailand, this is the second most important of three new years celebrated throughout the year. The most important is the Thai new year known as Songkran, celebrated as a water festival in April with a bit of mayhem. For this holiday, Thais get three days off work, not including any weekends, so it often ends up as a five day celebration.

The ‘western’ new year is celebrated along with most of the rest of the world. Both 31 December and 1 January are public holidays. In Bangkok, the biggest celebration is held in front of the World Trade Center shopping mall, in the heart of Bangkok’s main shopping area. There is a stage show and fireworks, and the whole area is packed with people. Many people have commented that the place is so crowded that they didn’t really enjoy the event. Of course, it should go without saying that you shouldn’t even think of going there by any means other than the Skytrain. It will be very crowded as well, but at least it will get there in a short period of time, while a taxi or private car could well be stuck in traffic for hours.

The western new year is also a time of gift-giving for Thais. I suspect this is a parroting of the western Christmas tradition, rather than a home grown cultural thing. The gifting practice is especially strong in business, where almost every company makes it a practice of providing gifts to their customers. Common gifts include calendars, of course, as well as business diaries, desk clocks and other office related merchandise. Businesses will also almost always have an office party - with exchange of gifts - around this time of year as well. Office parties are generally held at large restaurants.

The last of the three new years celebrated in Thailand is the Chinese New Year, which next falls on 30 January 2006. Although some business offices do close on this day, it is not a national holiday.

This was my third trip to Myanmar since 2004. As with the previous trips, the reason for this one was business, but as always, I managed to squeeze in some sight-seeing along the way.

Unlike previous trips, I did all the planning myself and was accompanied only by my friend, rather than someone who was more familiar with the country. Myanmar is not the easiest place for the independent traveler. First, you need to get a visa, which in Bangkok is a fairly time-consuming process, although it can be done in a day if you’re in a hurry. Just get to the embassy before 9:00 and plan to be there until 3:00 in the afternoon.

The next trick is internal flights, which are expensive and difficult to book outside of Myanmar. Getting the tickets is only half the battle. Once you get to the airport, it’s important to know that flights generally aren’t announced, at least through any public address system. You’re lucky if they even hold up a sign with the flight number on it. Myanmar airports are definitely not the place for people with limited attention spans!

Despite the chaotic surroundings, Air Mandalay proved remarkably efficient. They generally spent less than 20 minutes on the ground at each stop. Passengers and baggage were off-loaded and loaded in just minutes before we were back in the air on our way to the next stop.

Since my main business for this trip was in Mandalay, I took the opportunity to stop in at Bagan. I’ve already posted my impressions of Bagan separately, so I won’t say more than that this is a very impressive place. Although I had seen much of Mandalay before, I did manage to add a couple more sights that I hadn’t visited before. The same was true of my last stop, Yangon.

Detailed descriptions of each site in Myanmar, as well as information on hotels, airlines, etc. can be found in my on-line travel guide to Southeast Asia, Asia for Visitors.

Each time I visit Myanmar, I find myself reflecting on what to advise people about this country. The question one always has to ask about Myanmar is: Should you go, or is it ‘wrong’ to travel to Myanmar?

I firmly believe that everyone has to answer this question for themselves. The argument against going is that you are somehow ‘endorsing’ the current military government by going, and not only that, you are puting money — and US dollars at that — in their pockets, since the army controls many tourist businesses.

Personally, I believe that this argument was more true before than it is now. A few years ago, every foreign visitor had to exchange a minimum of US$250 (or something like that) for so-called “Foreign Exchange Certificates” (FECs), a sort of alternate currency. The trouble was, nobody wanted to take FECs; they wanted US dollars or the ‘real’ local currency, so you were in effect making a cash donation to the military government each time you entered the country, since the FECs could not be changed back into dollars.

The exchange requirement has now been eliminated, although FECs are still to be found here and there. You’re no doubt still providing some funds to the army indirectly, through businesses that they control, but these businesses also employ a lot of local people, who may otherwise be without a good job if it weren’t for these companies.

As far as legitimizing the government is concerned, I think this argument is weak, although not without consideration. I doubt foreign visitors to the USA would like to think they were ‘legitimizing’ the policies of President Bush. In my view, this argument is outweighed by the positive effects that exposure to outsiders can have on the people. The more people that are exposed to outsiders, the more they may begin to question their government and the country’s lack of development under it’s current rulers.

Of course, the big reasons for going are to see people living a way of life that the rest of Southeast Asia left behind nearly 30 years ago, as well as some still relatively unknown ancient sites.

I had yet another occasion to visit Myanmar from 20 to 25 December. The trip was mostly business, but as I had some warning, I made plans to visit Bagan for the first time on the way to Mandalay

Bagan was a complete surprise. I’d read a lot about it, but simply wasn’t prepared for the scale of the place. We arrived at around sunset, and on the short drive to our hotel, my friend and I were constantly tugging each others’ sleeves to bring their attention to the spectacular monuments whizzing by outside the windows on either side of the car

It’s one thing to read about the 3,000 or so pagodas and monasteries that dot this bluff in central Myanmar, it’s quite another to actually see them for real, and see how packed in they are. Mind you, Bagan is no Angkor complex, but what it lacks in scale it makes up for in numbers. I set aside just one whole day to see the sights, and this was sufficient to see the main ones, but I definitely have to plan on returning for more someday soon!

Travel information about Bagan can be found at my updated on-line travel guide, Asia for Visitors.