Message from Skal International Thailand President Andrew J. Wood

THAILAND – It has been a long time since we were able to talk Skal in Pattaya, and I am delighted to announce that we will be re-starting Skal International Pattaya and East Thailand.

THAILAND – It has been a long time since we were able to talk Skal in Pattaya, and I am delighted to announce that we will be re-starting Skal International Pattaya and East Thailand. There has never been a better time in my mind for Pattaya’s travel and tourism executives to have a forum to network and discuss common issues on a regular monthly basis.

Why now? Simply, Pattaya is expanding rapidly. Hilton, Sheraton, Accor (4), Centara (4) are here and many new hotel projects planned; a wide and diverse number of new Pattaya tourism executives stationed in and around Pattaya; the advent of the new โ€œSuperparkโ€ and โ€œMillion Islandโ€ projects; a projected 3 million visitors annually to Pattaya and a record 20.5+ million international visitors to Thailand and improved road; rail and airline access: all add up to make a professional association that links all branches of the tourism industry in Pattaya an urgent necessity!

In 2006, Pattaya hosted a most successful 67th Skal World Congress which, with the help of Pattaya City’s sponsorship, helped to showcase the very best that Pattaya had to offer.

Why should I join? With access to a database of almost 20,000 members in 87 countries in 500 clubs you are never far away from a friend who can help and guide you in developing your business with like-minded professionals. Just ask โ€œold-handโ€ Peter Malhotra, a founding member of Skal in Pattaya, what โ€œdoing business with friendsโ€ really means. And not just in Pattaya (we have 5 clubs in Thailand, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Koh Samui, Hua Hin, and Bangkok. Click http://www.skalthailand.org/ but also with friends in Europe, America, China, South Africa, Australia, Hong Kong, India, Cambodia… if you can name it, we probably have a club there. In addition we have local, regional, and international congresses. The Annual Skal World Congress, for instance, is for members to meet, network, and socialize at attractive โ€œall inclusiveโ€ fees, where you will be afforded the red-carpet treatment at a venue that’s bound to impress you.

What does it costs? Membership for January-December 2013 will be Bt 4500 per year, per member (this is similar to our other clubs and will be reviewed by the Pattaya Executive Committee once formed by the Pattaya members), which is payable at the same time as you apply (see the membership application form by going to the following link): http://skal.org/forms/pdf_forms/form.pdf

What happens next? Quite easy really… of the 10 pax that have already expressed interest in getting the club up and running again we will ask them to find one more colleague each, and they in turn one more. My target is 30 pax in 2013 growing to 50-60 pax by 2014, in plenty of time for AEC2015. Have you joined SKAL yet?

To help this process we already have a SKAL website and area dedicated to the Pattaya Club (Thailand’s sixth). Meetings will kick off in late January/early February after peak season, Christmas, New Year, Russian Orthodox Christmas, and ATF2013 (Laos January 21-24). Around this time, Skal International Thailand (SIT) will also organize an evening event/cocktail in Pattaya so you can learn more, meet your industry colleagues, and hear of our future plans.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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