Europe Travel Worry; Fords Sell Well; Pilot 'Punched Neighbor'; Phuket Events

bangkokpost.com The tourism industry in Asia-Pacific is expected to be affected by an increase in the UK's air passenger duty as it will drag down the number of European tourists travelling to the region, said the Pacific Asia Travel Association. Chief executive Martin Craigs said the increase of the air passenger duty would hurt sentiment and result in higher costs for outbound tourists to Asia-Pacific.

nationmultimedia.com Thai Smile, the new light premium regional sub-brand of Thai Airways International, has taken delivery of its first aircraft, an Airbus A320, in Hamburg, Germany.

nationmultimedia.com Thai Smile is intended as a tool to ''protect and expand'' the THAI network when the Asean Economic Community is fully implemented in 2015.it will promote its provincial base outside Bangkok, such as routes from Chiang Mai to Phuket to connect to other international cities.

paddocktalk.com Ford Thailand announced its all-time best monthly sales performance with overall June retail sales jumping 71 percent year-over-year to 5031 units. The record performance, which topped the company's best-ever sales in May, was driven by best monthly sales for the Ford Ranger pickup and Ford Fiesta subcompact.

property-report.com Some in the Phuket property industry have voiced concerns that along with other Bangkok property giants, Sansiri may be disrupting the local economy by implementing its plans to release several hundred low-end homes onto the market all at once. There has even been talk of the project creating an unintentional Phuket property bubble.

asiaone.com The Straits Times reported that 48-year old Ajmer Singh Ajit Singh, the chairman of the SilkAir branch of the Air Line Pilots Association Singapore, was said to have punched his neighbor, Mr Chua Hock Kwee, 58, at the coffee shop in Changi Garden Condominium at Upper Changi Road North at 7pm on May 8, 2010. Singh is appealing against the conviction and the sentence.

aap Authorities in Indonesia have arrested a man suspected of organising the asylum-seeker boat that sank en route to Australia last month, killing about 90 people.

smh.com.au Malaysia Airlines has become the latest carrier to start flying the largest airliner in the world, the Airbus A380 superjumbo. The airline last week unveiled its first A380, delivered by Airbus from its plant in Toulouse, France.

thewest.com.au West Australians holidaying in Bali are putting their health, safety and finances at risk by binge drinking, riding scooters without helmets and failing to take out adequate travel insurance. Nearly half of WA travellers in Bali said they were more likely to binge drink while visiting Bali than when they were at home, while a quarter said they were more likely to take part in extreme sports.

globaltimes.cn The number of foreign holidaymakers coming to Bali, the center of the Indonesia tourism industry, increased by 5.59 percent to 208,800 people in May.

Phuket World Sports Wrap


To the growing number of surfers in the region, this period of strong waves is the best time of year to hit the beach on Phuket.The Quiksilver Thailand Surf Competition 2012, organised by the surfwear brand with support from Nok Air and other partners, is set to take place at Patong from September 12-15.

smh.com.au While Maria Sharapova crashed out of the Wimbledon tournament she had been favored to win, Novak Djokovic, the men's favorite, could scarcely have advanced more emphatically.

dailymail.co.uk He may have been crying after his country lost to Spain but Mario Balotelli already received some consolation before the game had been played. The Italy striker's ex-girlfriend Raffaella Fico had told him that she was pregnant with his child.

Sourced: phuketwan