Day: December 25, 2022

Vietnam is one of the top tourism destinations for Thai visitors in the upcoming New Year holiday, according to Yuthasak Supasorn, director general of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

The Thai official said the number of Thai tourists visiting foreign tourism sites is on the rise as many popular destinations have been reopening without restrictions, adding that weaker currencies in those site compared to the Thai baht is also supporting the outbound tourism market.

The top destinations for Thai tourists during the New Year period are Japan, the Republic of Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, and Laos, he noted, adding that the growing number of flights to these sites had also helped to expand the outbound market this month.

According to statistics of TAT, in October and November this year, as many as 28,000 Thai tourists made flights abroad every day. This number increased slightly to 28,800 per day during the period from December 1-20. The peak time is predicted to be from December 21-31, with about 33,400 per day.

Citing data by booking.com, Yuthasak stated that Thai tourists booked more hotels in Asian destinations this month./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ha Long Winter Carnival 2022, themed “Colours of the Wonder,” took place in Ha Long city, the northern province of Quang Ninh on December 24 evening, drawing thousands of participants.

The carnival was expected to become a unique tourist product of Quang Ninh during Christmas, helping promote the local tourism in low tourist season during winter.

During the carnival, art performances and parades were combined with a music festival called Ha Long Carnaval EDM Party.

The art performances highlighted the national traditional cultural values and modern and vibrant musical styles.

Dinh Huu Chung, Vice Chairman of Tuan Chau Group, one of the organisers of the event, said that the highlight of this year’s carnival is the mobile stage and a professional sound and light systems and the modern technology wireless connectivity solutions.

Many sidelines activities were held, including a street art programme and paragliding, airplane and seaplane performances.

So far this year, Quang Ninh province attracted about 11.6 million visitors, 2.6 times higher than that in 2021 and 21.7% higher than planned. Its tourism revenue reached nearly 25.2 trillion VND (approximately 1 billion USD), 3.2 times higher than that in 2021 and 32.5% higher than planned./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Singapore’s core consumer prices in November 2022 rose 5.1% year on year, according to a report by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).

The figure was unchanged from October, which marked the first dip since February 2022. September’s rate was 5.3%.

Core inflation excludes costs of private transport and accommodation and reflects the expenses of Singapore households more accurately.

November’s headline consumer price index (CPI), or overall inflation, also stayed flat from the previous month, at 6.7%, but it was slightly higher than the 6.5% forecast by analysts.

MAS and MTI said on December 23 that demand conditions in major economies have softened, while supply chain frictions continued to ease. Prices of energy and food commodities have come off the peaks reached earlier in 2022 but remained firm given ongoing supply constraints, they said.

Overall inflation is expected to average around 6% for the full year, while core inflation is projected to come in around 4%, unchanged from MAS’ October forecasts.

For 2023, the overall inflation forecast is also unchanged at between 5.5% and 6.5% with core inflation between 3.5% and 4.5%. These estimates take into account the upcoming increase in the goods and services tax.

Core inflation is expected to stay elevated in the next few quarters before slowing more discernibly in the second half of 2023 as the tight labour market here eases and global inflation moderates, said MAS and MTI./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Thai government is implementing a series of development projects as “New Year’s gifts” to ensure a solid foundation for the southern region’s economy, especially southernmost provinces, according to Deputy Government Spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek.

Rachada said a number of major projects will be implemented “immediately” by relevant state agencies in coordination with administrative centres of southern border provinces in order to improve the quality of life for local residents.

Four out of the 14 projects underway are part of an effort to transform southern border provinces into hubs providing food and services for Muslims in the world.

Other projects focus on increasing crab farming areas and expanding fruit tree planting areas.

Rachada, who is also the Government’s special representative for southern affairs, said four other projects are directly addressing urgent needs of local residents, including improving nutrition for mothers and children, providing free lunches to approximately 170,000 students at 1,875 religious schools, teaching foreign languages, and helping at least 1,200 households escape from poverty./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Indonesia aims to export natural gas to Vietnam starting 2026 from the Tuna offshore block located near the Indonesian and Vietnamese maritime border, according to Indonesian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif.

Indonesia may deliver 100 to 150 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of gas through a gas pipeline from the Tuna block operated by Harbour Energy and ZN Asia Ltd – subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned oil company Zarubezhneft, Arifin said.

Arifin said that Vietnam’s energy demand is very huge, especially for industry. In addition to gas exports, Indonesia and Vietnam have signed a cooperation agreement in terms of renewable energy.

Vietnam currently operates hydroelectric plants with a total capacity of up to 70 TWH, so the cooperation between the two countries will complement each other, he noted./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency