Top officials at the signing ceremony in Dubai on Wednesday. Photo by John Varughese/Gulf Today

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Jamil Khan, Gulf Today

Thailand, which reopened its borders to the fully- vaccinated international tourists, recently has projected to welcome 13 million foreign visitors in 2022 in time for the “Visit Thailand 2022.”

Visiting Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)-Marketing Communications Deputy Governor Siripakorn Cheawsamoot disclosed the figure to the press on Wednesday when the “Letter of Intent Signing Ceremony” between the state-owned organisation under Bangkok’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports, and the United Arab Emirates’ national carrier Etihad Airways, took place at the Dusit Thani Dubai.

Signatories to the LOI were TAT-International Marketing Governor Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya and Etihad Airways-Brand, Marketing and Sponsorship Vice President Amina Taher. Witnesses were TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT-Board of Directors Chairman Thosaporn Sirisumphand and Thailand Ambassador to the UAE Waravuth Pouapinya.

The LOI strengthens further the long-term strategic partnership between the two entities, for the development and promotion of quality tourism experiences in Thailand for travellers, not only from the Gulf but from other parts of the globe.

Taher said: “We are pleased to continue our partnership with (TAT) to showcase this beautiful destination of the world. This is particularly important as the tourism industry recovers and Thailand develops its niche tourism offering. We have been working together for more than six years on joint marketing campaigns and we will continue to leverage our network to support this long-term strategic partnership.”

Supasorn said: “This (LOI) will pave the way for strategic tourism collaboration efforts between TAT and the Etihad Airways with an emphasis on revenue-generating quality tourists. We expect this partnership to help strengthen the position of Thailand as a popular destination for Arab travelers from the Gulf.”

TAT records revealed that of the 39.8 million foreign guests to Thailand in 2019, 702,000 were from the Middle East with over 130,000 Emiratis. Moreover, July 1 to Oct. 30, 2021 TAT data on the “Sandbox Approach” showed that among the 100,000 visitors were Emiratis and other UAE expatriate residents, aside from the top five namely the USA, Israel, UK, Germany and France. The “Sandbox Approach” is the careful selection of provinces such as Phuket (generating 59,689 international visitors) aside from Bangkok as the tourism destination relative to the pandemic.

On the sidelines, Supasorn told Gulf Today that TAT endeavours to create as well as reinforce partnerships with stakeholders like  airline companies as the global tourism industry re-ignites post-Novel Coronavirus: “We already signed an LOI with BA (British Airways) for our European market.”

From the open forum and asked on the benefits Thailand and TAT shall gain from the LOI with Etihad Airways, Cheawsamoot said: “We have to work with airlines (which play a major role in the tourism industry). Eithad Airways is a reliable partner which connects the entire world to Thailand especially from Europe.”

From the LOI and in order to promote Thailand as the country to go to and to be in, seen are  familiarization and medical tourism tours as well as trips to the UAE (and the entire region) for Thai businessmen to promote their products and services.

As of Oct. 31, 2021, allowed entry to Thailand are the fully-vaccinated as well as children accompanied by fully-vaccinated adults from 63 countries including the UAE,  Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman. As generally practised worldwide since the pandemic, they must present the negative Polymerase Chain Reaction test result upon aircraft boarding.

In his presentation, Cheawsamoot also announced the availability of the mandatory paperless Thailand Pass System mobile phone app. Embedded in this app are all the necessary documents for entry such as the  Certificate of Entry issued by any of the 63 Thailand diplomatic and consular missions—for now--out of 103 embassies and consulates worldwide: “This makes travel convenient because you will just show this app at the airport instead of the (voluminous paper). There will be an update on the number of countries (soon). We are continually working to further ease the travel requirements.”

Meanwhile, prominent Malaysian real estate firm have joined hands with Dubai firm to explore more investment opportunities in the country and signed a MoU ceremony was held at the Malaysian Pavilion, Expo 2020 Dubai.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by General Director of IBN Corps Dato´ Seri Michael JW Yang and owner of RB Homes Dr. Ossama Alasmar.

Multinational enterprise IBN is one of the leading real estate developers with its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Intending to find new investors for their local projects in Southeast Asia, Dubai overpowered the possibilities for new business.

On their side as a local specialist Dr. Ossama Alasmar with his partners Angelika Egoschin and Lilli Pfannenstiel – better known as the Real Estate Blondies. Besides commercial and residential Developments, IBN established internationally benchmarked healthcare facilities and enrolment into world-renowned colleges and universities. The focus in Dubai is on innovation projects and looking out for joint venture partnerships.

For these plans, the RB Homes will be by their side as local partners in the Emirate of Dubai. The former neurosurgeon Dr. Alasmar owns multiple startups with RB Homes being one of them. This fast-growing company offers off-plan developments up to access to exclusive projects all over Dubai.

As representatives of the biggest developers of Malaysia, both, RB Homes and IBN are looking forward to close cooperation.

Meanwhile, top officials from Pakistan’s Board of Investment (BOI) in a seminar encouraged the investors to explore the country’s housing sector offering huge potential with abundance of opportunities.

The seminar “Construction & Housing for Sustainable Development” held at held at Terra Auditorium Expo 2020 Dubai and attended by the representatives from FWO, Accor Hotels and IHC Group of Companies besides a large number of guests and distinguished speakers of the seminar.

Secretary Fareena Mazhar in her address discussed the opportunities in housing sector. She said that Pakistan’s annual demand of housing is estimated to be about 700,000 units, while only about half of this demand is currently being met. She encouraged investors to explore the Housing sector of Pakistan which offers tremendous tax-based rebates under tax laws amendment Ordinance 2020 and the incentives and facilitation in project approvals through one window operation by Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority (NAPHDA).

The Secretary further added that the Income Tax Ordinance has been amended to declare construction sector as an industrial undertaking, making it eligible for benefits and concession available to other industries. Further elaborating on the tax incentives, she said that eligible developers and builders shall be exempted from withholding taxes on purchase of building materials and any tax payable on the income, profits and gains of projects of low-cost housing under NAPHDA or EHSAAS programme shall be reduced by 90%.

She highlighted that despite being challenged at economic and geo political front, Pakistan has made considerable improvement in restoring economic stability and economy is moving on a positive growth trajectory.

Further apprising the audience about the initiatives undertaken by the government to facilitate investors, she mentioned the 22 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that are designed to become high-end commercial, technology and manufacturing hubs, four of which are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and business ecosystems and are ready for investment as Early Harvest projects.

Underscoring the strategic location of the country, the Secretary said that Pakistan is a promising regional hub and an important destination for trade and investment. She further added that a wide-based population pyramid and an expanding middle-class further make it a robust consumer market for foreign investors.

Dr Erfa Iqbal, CEO Punjab Board of Trade Investment while talking to the Gulf Today at Expo 2020 Dubai said that the mega event is a great opportunity for Pakistan to promote it’s huge potential of investment in the sectors like tourism, industrial, housing and others. “The Government of Pakistan has announced a number of incentives for investors and we through a series of seminars and activities aim to attract the international audience,” she said.

The officials are promoting investment opportunities in Punjab province under the banner of “PunjabEase” as the country has secured 28th position during 2019-20 to provide ease in investment opportunities.

“Our focus is to highlight the ‘ease’ in the doing business in the province to promote business opportunities especially in the dedicated economic zones where the federal government has already announced a number of incentives. We are also working on zero-NOC policy to attract investors,” she added.

She further mentioned that the Expo 2020 Dubai is a great opportunity to present the existing business opportunities in the province as 16 departments are participating in the month-long campaign to present their projects and activities. Besides this, various business organizations and chambers of commerce across the province will also be participating to conduct meetings with different business organizations around the world at Expo,” she added.