I wonder if anyone else read the article in yesterday's Bangkok Post entitled "Tourism bonanza earmarked for coastal western provinces" which discusses the "Riviera Thailand" project.
The article talks about a 680km road along the coastline. An accompany map shows the road, hugging the coastline most of the way from Samut Songkhram through Chumphon and then on to Ranong. According to the article, 200km of the road has already been constructed with 49km currently underway.
Does anyone know where the completed portions of this road are? Is this the "scenic route" north of Cha Am?
What sort of hugging-the-coastline route could there be, say, from Cha Am to Hua Hin?
According to the article, the 1.8 Billion Baht plan includes "...high-end attractions within 50km of Hua Hin airport, which includes a marina, hotels, the renovated Hua Hin train station, tourism campaigns and walkways at the mouth of the Pranburi River as well as whale and dolphin observation activities…."
Ratsima wrote: ↑Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:37 am
I wonder if anyone else read the article in yesterday's Bangkok Post entitled "Tourism bonanza earmarked for coastal western provinces" which discusses the "Riviera Thailand" project.
The article talks about a 680km road along the coastline. An accompany map shows the road, hugging the coastline most of the way from Samut Songkhram through Chumphon and then on to Ranong. According to the article, 200km of the road has already been constructed with 49km currently underway.
Does anyone know where the completed portions of this road are? Is this the "scenic route" north of Cha Am?
What sort of hugging-the-coastline route could there be, say, from Cha Am to Hua Hin?
According to the article, the 1.8 Billion Baht plan includes "...high-end attractions within 50km of Hua Hin airport, which includes a marina, hotels, the renovated Hua Hin train station, tourism campaigns and walkways at the mouth of the Pranburi River as well as whale and dolphin observation activities…."
This is an old idea dated more than 25 years ago. Due to all condos, hotels and private houses build along the coast this is not possible anymore. Couple of years ago I enjoyed a drive on a coastal road from Lang Suan to Tha Chana.
A proposal to turn a stretch of coastline southwest of Bangkok into a "Thai Riviera" was approved in principle at Tuesday's cabinet meeting along with a raft of other projects.
The Tourism and Sports Ministry's call to build a so-called "Royal Coast" around the sleepy town of Hua Hin, home of a royal residential retreat, was met with enthusiasm and approved as part of the government's 20-year development plan running until 2020.
The government plans a high-end tourism campaign in the western coastal provinces which it hopes will boost income among locals in the region. The cabinet also approved in principle 45 projects with 170 million baht from the fiscal 2019 budget. All of them are small projects to support community tourism.
Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said the "Thailand Riviera" development will be expanded from the previous plan to cover Petchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon and Ranong.
Unveiling ‘Riviera Thailand’ & the ‘Royal Coast’
The government plans to unveil a high-end tourism campaign, ‘Riviera Thailand’, to boost tourism in the western coastal provinces with Hua Hin front and centre.
According to a March Bangkok Post report; Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat has been instructed by the Deputy Prime Minister Dr Somkid Jatusripitak to unveil the “Riviera Thailand” campaign. This follows a Cabinet retreat in Phetchaburi last month when a proposal to turn a stretch of coastline southwest of Bangkok into a Thai Riviera was approved in principle.
The Minister said that Dr Somkid wants the project to boost tourism on the Andaman coast of Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon and Ranong; a coastline of some 500 kilometres. Dr Somkid noted that holidaymakers often visited seaside tourist destinations east of the Gulf of Thailand without paying attention to the Andaman Sea on the western side.
The ‘Rivera Thailand’ project aims to boost tourism to communities along the Andaman coast, said Minister Weerasak. “Riviera would highlight the beauty and luxury of the tourist attractions,” Weerasak said. The Tourism and Sports Minister’s call to build a socalled “Royal Coast” around the town of Hua Hin was also met with enthusiasm and approved by Cabinet according to the Bangkok Post report.
The Prime Minister said that the government plans to push for Hua Hin to become a connecting point for tourism to other provinces in the region. Spokesperson of the Prime Minister’s Office Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd, said that the Ministry of Tourism and Sports has drafted a tourism plan that includes developing car and train accessibility, and unique regional branding, with an emphasis on attracting high end tourists. The plan spans a 20 year timeline with a 5-year shortterm phase, a subsequent 5-year mid-term phase, and a 10-year long-term phase to develop high quality, and diverse ecological tourism.
In addition, the 20-year national transportation plan includes projects aimed at providing easy access to the region, with electric trains between Bangkok and Hua Hin, a dual track railway between Nakhon Pathomand Hua Hin, and various road extension programs to connect with communities. The first ‘Riviera Thailand’ project originated under the Thaksin Shinawatra government and was approved by cabinet in 2005, then shelved after the government was ousted in the 2006 coup. In June 2013, a previous Minister of Tourism and Sports Mr. Somsak Phurisrisak announced a tourism promotion campaign, named the ‘Royal Coast’, to promote Phetchaburi and Prachuab Khirikhan. In June 2016 the “Amazing Thailand Royal Coast Road Show”, was held in Singapore by the Tourism Authority of Thailand with the participation of provincial entrepreneurs.
Hua Hin Today
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
To match the Riviera they'll have to bring in a lot of pebbles to cover the beach, outfit the local girls in bikinis, and have a nude section. A 20 yr. plan eh? That should be enough time to shelve it after spending millions of baht to develop the plan.