TOURISM SECTOR IN PATTAYA COULD BENEFIT FROM FORMATION OF NEW GOVERNMENT

8 July 2011
Sources: Hvidsten Public Relations / Pattaya Mail

Signs indicate that Pattaya is set to score a big win as Thailand prepares for a new government. The Chonburi Power (Palang Chon) party – to which current Pattaya Mayor Ittiphol Kunplume belongs – won 6 of 8 seats in Chonburi province and is set to join the Pheu Thai party as Thailand’s presumed incoming Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, added the party to her ruling coalition.

Over time the Kunplome family has become the gatekeeper for the entire Eastern Seaboard. The party is likely to go after the control of the Tourism and Sports Ministry, with Sukumon Kunplome, who will represent Pattaya in parliament, being the wife of Sonthaya Kunplome, a former Tourism and Sports Minister under Yingluck’s brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Securing the Tourism and Sports Ministry is important for Chonburi Power’s political goals as the party focused much of its campaign on boosting tourism to the Eastern Seaboard, promising to establish a tourism university and tax breaks for tourism-related businesses.

Hvidsten Group is watching the formation of a new Thai government closely, as they prepare to enter the market with a new beachfront project in Pattaya later this year. “It is not our role to comment on politics. We are however following developments carefully and can only state that any process leading to a better business environment for tourism and its related spinoffs will be beneficial to Thailand and our own long-term growth,” said Mr. Arne Hvidsten, the company’s Chairman.