UPDATE
AP The US Anti-Doping Agency says it will strip Lance Armstrong of his unprecedented seven Tour de France titles after he declared he was finished fighting the drug charges that threaten his legacy as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.
smh.com.au Anders Behring Breivik, who has spent 10 weeks in court defending his massacre of 77 teenagers and government workers last year, is mentally fit to serve a sentence, according to the Oslo District Court. Breivik, who smiled as a judge read out the verdict, was sentenced to a 21-year jail term and must serve a minimum of 10 years.
PhuketWatch Daily Media Wrap
PHUKET: A daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media.
bangkokpost.com The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department issued a warning for people in the North, Northeast, East and the South to prepare for widespread scattered rain with heavy falls with the danger of floods and forest run-off over the next few days.
travelrends.biz Booming Phuket arrivals from China and Russia are something of a double-edged sword, warns analyst Bill Black. ''Mass tourism is the elephant in the room of every major resort destination in Asia,'' he says, as Phuket faces ''a mounting infrastructure dilemma''.
bangkokpost.com Finance Minister Kitiratt Na-Ranong admitted the 2012 export growth target of 15 percent would not be achieved. He said he had been aware that the target would not be reached, but he needed to tell a ''white lie'' to create confidence.
bangkokpost.com The general public and businessmen give the government a passing score for its one-year administration, a failing grade for solving corruption and an incomplete for flood management, says a survey.
nationmultimedia.com The opposition Democrats will focus on the Yingluck government's alleged failures at a Bangkok media event - prepared at a cost of seven million baht - one day before the government announces its ''achievements.'' But the Democrats have said they will save their best information for a censure debate.
bbc.com On September 1, German law firm Urmann plans to publish the names of individuals whose computers have been identified as having downloaded pornography. The firm offers those that it contacts the chance to pay a one-off fee of around $815 to recompense copyright holders.
nationmultimedia.com Many Thai male cross-dressers get legitimate jobs in Oman as masseuses but choose to also offer sexual services on the side, a Thai embassy official in Muscat said. Only men were allowed to work at massage parlors for male customers.
heraldonline.com Singapore Airlines is spending $20 million to develop a new design concept for the airline's airport lounges worldwide. The SilverKris Lounge at Sydney Airport will be the first fitted out.
smh.com.au Some frequent travellers say they are suffering bill shock after parking fees at Sydney Airport rose by as much as 100 percent to cost more than a plane ticket.
bbc.co.uk Photos of Prince Harry naked during a reported game of strip billiards - published on a US gossip website - have been defended as being merely "letting off steam". The prince was just behaving like a typical young British man, says Kate Fox, who is a social anthropologist at the Social Issues Research Centre.
AP while Ireland's Evening Herald ran the stark-naked prince on its front page, British newspapers made do with pictures of holiday Harry in bathing trunks and fedora hat. The Sun is to publish the naked pictures of Prince Harry, making it the first British newspaper to do so.
guardian.co.uk Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth has praised the BBC and attacked News Corp values, saying profit without purpose is ''a recipe for disaster''. Three years ago brother James opined that ''the only reliable, durable and perpetual guarantor of independence is profit.''
mirror.co.uk John Lennon's killer failed in his seventh bid for freedom when a New York parole board dismissed 57-year-old Mark Chapman's latest appeal. At a previous hearing, he said he had considered shooting Johnny Carson or Elizabeth Taylor but chose Lennon because he was more accessible.
nationmultimedia.com Norwegian health service providers are now sending patients for treatment for psoriasis to Phuket, Krabi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, and Chon Buri because of the sunshine. Public Health officials hope to break the mass Thai massage world record at a medical expo in Bangkok next week.
whatsomxiamen.com Thailand has become the first choice of outbound travel destination for Xiamen holidaymakers during summer vacation, which mainly gains popularity for its famous tourist resorts Bangkok and Phuket Island.
wsj.com Intolerance toward Muslim Rohingya in Burma (Myanmar) has dented some Americans' perceptions of the country, but hasn't significantly altered Washington's views on easing sanctions, the new US ambassador in Yangon said.
cnn.com When Facebook went public in May it became the biggest stock launch of the year, but the two next biggest initial public offerings had something in common - they were both Malaysian companies. Key investors came from the Middle East.
ft.com Qantas has scrapped an $8.5 billion order for Boeing 787 Dreamliners for its troubled international arm after the group reported its first loss since it was privatised almost two decades ago.
afp Singapore's two casinos have been fined more than $1 million since they opened in 2010, mostly for violating laws aimed at deterring locals from gambling, official data showed.
thejakartapost.com According to last year's records from the Bali branch of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association, Bali now has a total of 2260 starred hotels, 88.5 percent of which are in south Bali.
financialmiror.com Number Nine in the Top 10 boutique beach breaks is 'Just-remote-enough indulgence: Wanakarn Beach Resort & Spa, Phang Nga, Thailand'. To the north of Phuket his hideaway has a relaxed, unpolished vibe and a choice of two beaches: a calm riverside cove and the deserted stretch along the Andaman Sea, reached only by boat.
dailymail.co.uk People who are economically better-off are increasingly shunning unhealthy habits such as smoking and binge drinking, new research has revealed. Poorer people were also more likely to eat a poor diet and do little exercise, according to a study from the thinktank The King's Fund.
Phuket World Sports Wrap
goal.com Barcelona drew first blood against Real Madrid in the battle for Spanish supremacy this season, narrowly defeating their great rivals 3-2 in the first leg of their Supercopa clash.
independent.co.uk Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers revealed the reason Andy Carroll was missing from the 1-0 win over Heart of Midlothian in the Europa League was the result of a hamstring problem.
independent.co.uk Ryan Taylor produced a trademark free-kick to ensure Newcastle return to Tyneside for the second leg of their play-off against Greece's Atromitos with a potentially valuable away goal.
afp Usain Bolt eased to victory in the 200m at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting as Jamaican teammate Yohan Blake became the second fastest 100m performer of all time. Only Bolt has run faster.
reuters Several subsidiaries of Travelers Companies Inc are suing the US National Football League and a host of other insurers, seeking to avoid paying to defend the league against a wave of brain-injury-related claims by thousands of former players and their families.
philboxing.com Filipino fighter Fernando Ocon arrived in the paradisaical resort town of Patong Beach in Phuket to challenge undefeated WBO Oriental flyweight champion Kwanpichit 13 Rien Express (16-0, 6KO's) at the Bangla Boxing Stadium. The weigh-in ceremony was due to take place at the plush Chang Residence Hotel at 156/1 Nanai Road, Patong Beach.
bbc.co.uk Three wheelchair-bound members of the Jordanian powerlifting squad facing sex charges have been pulled out of this year's Paralympic Games. At least two of the alleged assaults were against children.
Phuket Coming Events 2012
September 12-15 Quiksilver Thailand Surf Competition, Patong
September 24 Mahidol Day
October 14 Vegetarian Festival
November 25 Laguna Phuket Triathlon
November 28 Loy Kratong Day
December 1 World AIDs Day
December 1-8 King's Cup Regatta
December 5 HM The King's Birthday
December 10 Constitution Day
December 15-20 Patong carnival
December 25 Christmas Day
Phuket Coming Events 2014
November 14-21 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket
Since the 1970s, in man y countries with low services costs and abundant sunshine, tourism development has been based on the three Ss: sea, sand and sun. This is also known as mass tourism: large numbers of tourists coming to stay in cheap resorts located in coastal areas. In Thailand, this type of tourism has been developed in areas such as Pattaya, Phuket and along many of the pleasant beaches in southern Thailand.
Unfortunately, mass tourism provides little contribution to the local economy. It creates low-paid employment, and 80% of the profits are made outside the tourism area by foreign tour-operator, hotel owners and suppliers of imported goods for tourist. Moreover mass tourism, if not adequately controlled, destroys the environment. It can cause the depletion of water resources and the contamination of rivers and beaches. It can also lead to a rise in prices that put land and other resources out of reach for the local people. Mass tourism also encourages acculturation, social disruptions and, often, prostitution.
The environmental damage is quite visible in Thailand. High productions of waste with little collection systems, especially on the southern islands, have led to the creation of huge dumping sites in the middle of the forests. Plastic garbage covers the beautiful beaches where tourists enjoy bathing, and are affecting the coral reef and marine fauna (causing turtles to become endangered). Cultural damage is perceived in some hill-tribe villages in the northern mountains, where tour companies have turned these villagers into ''zoo'' characters.
In the long run, mass tourism can snowball into a vicious circle, destroying its very assets - a friendly culture, rich biodiversity, pristine beaches, beautiful landscape - that attracted visitors in the first place. There is also risk of lowering the quality of service, which will lead to the need of lowering prices to attract more tourists from less demanding segments of the market.
Posted by Whistle-Blower on August 24, 2012 08:36