Business

Thailand Elite Card aims to lure expats seeking virus haven Immigration officers stand in front of an empty arrivals hall at Suvarnabhumi airport on June 3, 2020. (Reuters photo) Thailand’s “pay to stay” visa programme for wealthy foreigners is seeing an expansion opportunity, with visions of the country becoming a haven for expats thanks to its relative success in containing the coronavirus. The Thailand Elite Card is a residential-visa programme for affluent expats, investors and long-stay groups. Membership, which ranges from 500,000 baht to 2 million baht, provides for a renewable five-year visa. It also comes with perks, which at the top end include limousine transport, jet and yacht charters, medical checkups and golf at championship courses in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. With b

In late January, Tina Lee was on her way to a gala in downtown Toronto when she heard the news on the car radio that would change everything. The first case of the novel coronavirus had been reported in Canada at Sunnybrook Hospital in a man who had travelled from Wuhan, China. Lee, CEO of T&T Supermarket, skipped the event that night, already suspecting that being in a crowded space shaking hands with strangers was quickly becoming dangerous. “This is it,” she remembers thinking. “It’s here.” The chain of 26 grocery stores that sell mostly Asian products in B.C., Alberta and Ontario, would by mid-March put a mandatory mask policy in place for employees and institute quarantines for staff coming back from impacted countries. By early May, amid shifting evidence from public health offic

CHI MEAKH, Cambodia - Animal rights activists in Cambodia have gained a small victory in their effort to end the trade in dog meat, convincing a canine slaughterhouse in one village to abandon the business. Buth Pith and his wife Khath Hach this week shut down the small abattoir they had operated for about seven years after animal protection groups agreed to provide them an alternate living by building a small convenience store for them. Animal activists are taking the 15 dogs that had been caged at the slaughterhouse to an animal shelter in the capital, Phnom Penh, for rehabilitation, after which they will be offered for adoption, either in Cambodia or abroad. The closure Wednesday in Chi Meakh village in Kampong Thom province follows a bigger victory in the northwestern province of Si...

JLL urges hotels, retailers to cut costs, seek backups Skyscrapers fill the Bangkok skyline. JLL Thailand says hotels and retail should brace for at least a two-year recovery period. (Photo by Somchai Poomlard) The hotel and retail sectors should prepare for stringent cost-cutting and find alternative income sources for as long as there is no coronavirus vaccine, as it will take two years for businesses to resume as usual, according to property consultant JLL Thailand. JLL managing director Suphin Mechuchep said the hotel sector has borne the brunt of the impact of the outbreak because it is reliant on the tourism industry, particularly inbound arrivals. "Covid-19 has created an extreme negative impact on the hotel business, which worsened in the second quarter as occupancy dipped to a...

Prayut applauds 'crucial' new Bangkok motorway Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha presides over the opening ceremony of a new motorway from Bangkok to Ban Chang and from Pattaya to Map Ta Phut in Rayong on Monday. It is hoped the route will serve to expand trade and investment, boost transport and logistics and benefit tourism. (Government House photo) A new motorway from Bangkok to Chon Buri and Rayong provinces was opened by the prime minister on Monday. "The route is Thailand's first-ever inter-city motorway connecting land, water and air transportation systems," said Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha. "The route also connects tourist sites, industrial estates and agricultural areas in the eastern region." Gen Prayut said the motorway would be "crucial" to the country's export sector since it lea...

From a women’s rights perspective, 2020 was supposed to be the year the world would reflect upon all the ways gender equality had advanced in the 25 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a groundbreaking conference that outlined bold feminist strategies to remove barriers to equality. Instead, this year risks witnessing all those gains unravel, say the authors of a new report released Tuesday. “It took a pandemic for the country to see what was already broken,” write the authors of the report titled A Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for Canada. COVID-19 has claimed more than half a million lives and affected at least 16 million people around the world. Another serious repercussion is the toll it exacted on the millions of already marginalized without even infecting

WHAUP to see healthier figures in second half SET-listed WHA Utilities and Power (WHAUP) expects to rack up more revenue in the second half after lower earnings in the first six months, when the utilities and water segments were hit by drought. From January to June, revenue dropped 10.7% year-on-year to 834.2 million baht, mainly due to lower utilities sales at industrial estates. "Revenue from water business fell 12.7% year-on-year to 813.6 million baht, while earnings from power plummeted 616% to 20.6 million baht," said WHAUP chief executive Niphon Bundechanan. Unusually low rainfall prompted the government to ask industrial estates to reduce water use by 10%. But the situation improved with the start of the rainy season, and Mr Niphon expects businesses to return to their normal o...