A 360-degree panoramic views of Thailand

Check this out ... a website dedicated to 180 and 360-degree panoramic photos of Amazing Thailand.

http://www.sawasdeevr.com/sawasdeevr

Better still, if you need these images to enrich your website, project or sales kit, you are apparently free to embed them as you please, for FREE.

Free? That suits my budget perfectly, jing jing.

Amazing Thailand's value compared to Singapore

I just returned from Singapore where I paid SGD$100 per night for a shoebox cleverly disguised as a boutique hotel. Forget about room to swing the cat -- I would've bludgeoned the poor thing to death on the walls accidentally on the first revolution.

It was pleasant enough, with an OK location in an interesting Chinatown neighbourhood, but it was a shoebox all the same – complete with rooms without windows. And breakfast was sachets of 3-in-1 coffee and a do-it-yourself peanut butter toasted sandwich, burned while the grinning Chinese duty manager stood there burping in the corner, jing jing.

Now, dear readers, SGD$100 is equal to about 2600 baht per night.  I know places in Chiang Mai where you get an airy room with views of the mountains, a bath tub, and a full American breakfast, all for 650 baht (that's a ridiculous $30 or so). And 2000-2500 baht a night boutique hotels in Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok, which include designer chic inclusions, near-BTS locations, a wonderful cooked breakfast selection, and all the smiles you can possibly handle.

If you want to see what you can get for around 2500 baht per night in Thailand (around 80 or 90 real dollars), go to any of the popular hotel booking sites like agoda, asiarooms.com, bookings.com and put in that price range for the destination of your choice, then stand back as the avalanche of choice floods out of your screen.

Just think: what do you get for $80-90 a night in your country? See, travel to Thailand is cheaper than staying home.

That, dear readers, is Amazing Thailand’s amazing value …

Hear the Sunshine of Amazing Thailand here ...

Take a couple of minutes to watch the video Hearing the Sunshine at www.mostamazingshow.com

Go on, do it. Amazing Thailand jing jing.

Good news on travel to Thailand ...

The Prime Minister chose to wear his floral tie ...

Good news seems to be flowing thick and fast out of Thailand again ...

I spent today sitting in the e-ASEAN eTravel Forum and have come away with some inspiring news about tourism in the Kingdom to share:

Prime Minister Abhisit told the assembled mass of regional tourism luminaries, hoteliers, and freelance travel hacks looking to freeload another buffet lunch (hey, hold on, I resemble that remark), that Thailand tourism is kicking in 7% of the country's GDP, and -- whereas around 15 million visitors came to Thailand last year -- this year they are expecting more like 17 million. Jing Jing. Pop the champagne and tap the keg!

"With tourism we're able to bring people together in friendship," he told me over a quiet cup of tea in the corner, adding that Thailand is moving in a much 'greener' direction overall. With that, I had to excuse myself, apologising that I had many other things to cover this morning even if his schedule was rather free ...

Khun Apichai of the Tourism Technology Association built on the same positive theme: "At ITB 2011, the World Tourism Council released a research paper which ranked Thailand #5 in the world in tourism growth prospects or the next 10 years." Another body (sorry, I wasn't paying 100% attention, dear readers!) ranked Thailand #4 in global growth potential.

And Thailand hopes to make a LOT of new friends when it bids for World Expo 2020.

Etc etc. And, well, what do you know, it's lunchtime already. Sorry got to rush off and beat the buffet queue
...



Are you surprised by the bullish growth projections above? 
More on travelling to Thailand: www.thailandtourism.org