Phuket Minister of Tourism and Sport investigates Asian Beach Games problems

[Lite Beer]

Phuket Minister of Tourism and Sport investigates Asian Beach Games problems

Saran Mitrarat

The Asian Beach Games closing ceremony will take place tonight (November 23).

PHUKET: The Ministry of Tourism and Sport vowed to investigate the problems that have taken place during the Asian Beach Games.

On Thursday evening (November 20) the Ministry of Tourism and Sport called for the local media to discuss the problems that occurred.

The problems explained by representatives of Phuket Reporter Club, who received many complaints, are as follows:

“Everyone, including both locals and tourists, would like to see the opening and closing ceremony. However, they are not even sure they’ll be able to get hold of a ticket, the competition schedule keeps changing minute by minute,” said Phuket Reporter Club leader, Boonrat Apiwantanakorn.

“The Public Relation of authority spent around B2.5 million so it seems that things should be moving faster. Only two photos of the opening ceremony were uploaded throughout the day, while the rest came later,” he explained.

The Minister answered that she prepared the plan for the closing ceremony, just as good as her officers would do.

“We did the best we could to manage the quota of the people attending. However, I would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused,” said Ms Kobkarn Wattanawarangkul.

“The reason we limited the number of seats available was to maximise the safety and security of the VIP guests who were invited to the ceremony,” she explained.

“We prepared a large screen in front of the entrance with seats – so people could see the ceremony end,” she added.

For the closing ceremony, Phuket officials had a total 650 tickets; 300 tickets for tourists and locals, prepared by the Sports Authority of Thailand, while 350 tickets belong to the Phuket City Municipality.

Anyone who planned to attend the closing ceremony had to register for a ticket yesterday (November 22).

“The purpose of the games is to promote Phuket as a safe respectable country – even world sports competitions are held without any safety problems,” said Ms Kobkarn.

“Moreover, the result of the games will also boost tourism for Phuket and provinces nearby,” she added.

Sert Tongdee, another Phuket local reported, explained that the locals, who performed in the opening ceremony, all received different rates.

“The locals who performed Rong-Ngeng in Rassada, all got a different rate. The first one to 10 people received B800, the next 11 – 30 received B700, while others received B600. Everyone should be hired at the same rate. Local people want an explanation,” he said.

After, Ms Kobkarn said, “I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before. Usually I aim for everyone to receive the same amount, no one should get more or less than another – we have set the same standard for everyone.

“All of the problems that have taken place, will act as a lesson for us to improve in the future,” she added.

“However, I will investigate as to why and how things went wrong,” she noted.

The letter from Minister Kobkarn to investigate into her staff will be revealed to the media as soon as possible.

The closing ceremony of Asian Beach Games will be held at Saphan Hin Park on tonight (November 23), starting from 6:30pm.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-minister-of-tourism-and-sport-investigates-asian-beach-games-problems-49779.php

-- Phuket News 2014-11-23

[BigBadGeordie]

The phrase about breweries and getting pi**ed comes to mind.

[Suffinator]

The phrase about breweries and getting pi**ed comes to mind.

Exactly.

[Carrerakiss]

Did anyone really expect anything better?

[Ulic]

Just the normal bumps in the road when hosting a large sporting event. Always a shortage of tickets

for popular events. Often changes to the schedule as sh-t happens, and communication can always

be improved. This is not the Olympics and the budget is modest. Learn and move on.

[stevenl]

I agree that the communications could have been better, but all in all it seems to go very smoothly.

There will always be some people moaning.

[ggt]

“The purpose of the games is to promote Phuket as a safe respectable country!"

I was unaware that Phuket had become a country...

[arrowsdawdle]

Did anyone really expect anything better?

Vanessa Mae did.

[falkan]

How about non existent audience even at ladies beachvolleyboll it was very empty?

Next time get some prize money and Arabs considered Asian c'mon son...

[joebrown]

Let's hope M. Tourist Minister makes a better fist of the Tour de France? Maybe it'll be re-titled 'The Magical Mystery Tour of Thailand'?

[stevenl]

How about non existent audience even at ladies beachvolleyboll it was very empty?

Next time get some prize money and Arabs considered Asian c'mon son...

So which countries are Asian in your wise opinion?

[iReason]

"Phuket officials had a total 650 tickets; 300 tickets for tourists and locals, ... while 350 tickets belong to the Phuket City Municipality."

$$$$$

[Sviss Geez]

“The purpose of the games is to promote Phuket as a safe respectable country!"

I was unaware that Phuket had become a country...

You were also unaware that the OP is a translation from a Thai language report.

[Sviss Geez]

Did anyone really expect anything better?

Vanessa Mae did.

She wasn't competing.

[BigBadGeordie]

“The purpose of the games is to promote Phuket as a safe respectable country!"

I was unaware that Phuket had become a country...

You were also unaware that the OP is a translation from a Thai language report.

Thankyou 3 times for bringing that to our attention, I thought at first she had been speaking to a reporter from an English language paper in English, or it was poor reporting or proof reading. I stand corrected.