lonelywombat
June 7th, 2009, 14:37
Sunday breaking news,
The Age
Bangkok offers in-transit travellers four-hour stopovers
Katrina Lobley
June 6, 2009
Passengers who find themselves cooling their heels at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport while waiting for a connecting flight can now escape the airport for a few hours. Starting this month, passengers on stopovers of less than 12 hours can sign up for a four-hour city tour.
Options include seeing the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha, boating along the crazy canals (known as klongs), watching a cultural production at the Siam Niramit theatre or being pampered with a massage and spa.
Other tours include shopping, golf and seeing animal life (crocodile farm and aquarium). It's hoped the tours will not only encourage transit passengers to come back another time for a longer visit but inject much-needed funds into the city's tourism industry.
The chairman of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Weerasak Kowsurat, says: "Certainly, the money they spend during this whirlwind transfer will go some way towards helping some of our travel and tourism enterprises, especially small- and medium-size companies, and keeping Thai people in jobs."
Tours, which can be booked at the Suvarnabhumi transfer hall, cost from 1850 baht ($68.45) to 6050 baht.
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Looks like an opening for a massage parlor just outside the airport.
The Age
Bangkok offers in-transit travellers four-hour stopovers
Katrina Lobley
June 6, 2009
Passengers who find themselves cooling their heels at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport while waiting for a connecting flight can now escape the airport for a few hours. Starting this month, passengers on stopovers of less than 12 hours can sign up for a four-hour city tour.
Options include seeing the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha, boating along the crazy canals (known as klongs), watching a cultural production at the Siam Niramit theatre or being pampered with a massage and spa.
Other tours include shopping, golf and seeing animal life (crocodile farm and aquarium). It's hoped the tours will not only encourage transit passengers to come back another time for a longer visit but inject much-needed funds into the city's tourism industry.
The chairman of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Weerasak Kowsurat, says: "Certainly, the money they spend during this whirlwind transfer will go some way towards helping some of our travel and tourism enterprises, especially small- and medium-size companies, and keeping Thai people in jobs."
Tours, which can be booked at the Suvarnabhumi transfer hall, cost from 1850 baht ($68.45) to 6050 baht.
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Looks like an opening for a massage parlor just outside the airport.