Author Archive
1 Jan, 2001
New Malaysian Resort Launches Marketing Pitch in Thailand
The launch of a marketing campaign by a Malaysian highland resort in Bangkok last week has opened a new chapter in the promotion of intra-regional ASEAN travel, expected to be a big winner if global tourism does not plunge into crisis next year. Mr Zulkifly Said, Director, Tourism Malaysia, hailed it as the first time […]
more…1 Jan, 2001
Rising Food Prices Set to Impact on Hotel F&B Costs
Rising food prices are unlikely to affect Thailand’s attraction as a tourism destination, but are forcing change amongst both hotel food & beverage outlets as well as independent restaurants, according to Sanjog Modgil, President of the Food & Beverage Managers Association of Thailand. As a rice-exporting country that is largely self-sufficient in food, except for […]
more…1 Jan, 2001
Asian Highway One Step Closer to Taking Shape
Regional road-transport officials have taken yet another step forward on the Asian Highway by clearing a first reading of the proposed Intergovernmental Agreement designed to harmonise the technical and legal aspects of this far-reaching infrastructure project. With funding help from the Japanese government, representatives of 26 Asia-Pacific countries met in Bangkok early last November to […]
more…1 Jan, 2001
Huge Post-Attacks Swing Seen in Asian, Arab Travel Away from U.S., Europe
The Managing Director of a major tour operator in Saudi Arabia has forecast a sharp shift in business and leisure travel away from the US and Europe to Asia but warned that future choice of destinations by the lucrative Middle East market will depend on where Arab and Muslim guests feel welcome. Mr Zawfir Ziard […]
more…10 Dec, 2000
How Marketing Gurus Tap the Persuasive Power of Religious Conversion
Originally Published: Dec 10, 2000 Research done in South Africa into why people convert from on religion to another is now being used by modern-day marketing gurus to get customers to switch from one product to another, or to remain loyal to one product. Operating on the premise that any theory which one works in […]
more…28 May, 2000
Why are Some Prayers Granted, and Others Not?
Originally Published: May 28, 2000 Have you ever noticed how often, when all the chips are down and none of the conventional solutions work, people turn to prayer? Even more often, if the prayer produces the desired result, it is dismissed as a “miracle”? This predilection not to give credit where it’s due has long […]
more…5 Mar, 2000
My mother-in-law’s last days: One woman’s misery was another’s profit
Originally Published: 05 Mar 2000 My mother-in-law died last week after an 18-month battle with cancer. That was about 12 months more than the doctors had given her after she was diagnosed. She was 73, the third elderly person in my family to move on in the last six years. Shuttling her in and out […]
more…20 Feb, 2000
UNCTAD Conference Shines Light on Alternative Paradigms
Originally Published: 20 Feb 2000 Last week’s UNCTAD conference was dominated by discussion of the machinations and manipulation of global players in pursuit of power and riches — and the consequences thereof. Certain global players already have both power and riches. Others are in pursuit of it. The domination of the weak by the strong […]
more…6 Feb, 2000
Has Thailand Lost the Virtues of the Middle Path?
Originally Published: 06 Feb 2000 There can be few better representations of a country that has long forgotten its spiritually-mandated middle-path than Thailand’s recent spats with the Burmese. In the first case last year, the alleged terrorists who took over the embassy were given a comfortable exit to the border, courtesy of our deputy foreign […]
more…23 Jan, 2000
Globalisation Will Make Religion Even More Relevant
Originally Published: Jan 23, 2000 When the United Nations Human Development Report for Thailand was issued in late 1999, various commentators leaped upon it with great gusto for post-mortems on the causes and consequences of the recent economic crisis. But on Page 17 of the HDR was a comment that caught my eye, one that […]
more…26 Dec, 1999
When Will Humanity Heed the Unseen Signs That Abound On the Road to Spirituality?
Originally Published: 26 Dec 1999 As the world stands poised on the threshold of a new millennium, numerous publications have paid tribute to the growth of human knowledge that has led to extraordinary discoveries in medicine, chemistry, physics and other sciences. But two inventions come closest to resembling the link between humanity and the message […]
more…12 Dec, 1999
Secrets of Success for Personal and Professional “Partnerships”
Originally Published: 12 Dec 1999 Of all the many social trends taking place in the modern world these days, perhaps the most evident is the rising rate of divorce. A friend of mine sent me some newsclips which reported that 50% of American marriages end in divorce, and many of those that don’t are mere […]
more…19 Sep, 1999
Warning: Beware The Consequences of Not Heeding Warnings
Originally Published: 19 Sept 1999 We live in a world full of warnings. Read any newspaper on any given day, and you will see the word “warning” at least once in a headline, especially in the business and environmental sections. Now that the Asian economic crisis is sort-of over, we are hearing warnings about the […]
more…19 Sep, 1999
Weighing the causes and costs of global wars and conflict
Originally Published: 19 Sept 1999 Between the lines of the inspiring rhetoric on the International Year of the Culture of Peace that rang out at the UN Conference Centre this past week, there was one sobering conclusion: There is no consensus on precisely why global peace is proving so elusive, nor how precisely to start […]
more…8 Aug, 1999
When Will Global Religions Show More Tolerance and Less Parochialism?
Originally Published: Aug 8, 1999 As the turn of the millennium approaches, everyone is in the midst of conference-mania. At every street-corner hotel, there is a high turnout of big brains, egos, economists, futurists, and an assortment of techno-pundits, all with a solution to the world’s problems. Each of them identifies a particular problem facing […]
more…25 Jul, 1999
Key Question for Globalisation Gurus: Is Life Getting Any Better?
Originally Published: 25 July 1999 Buddhist scripture suggests that before taking any action, we should listen, think, question and then act. In a world that has become almost totally mesmerised with globalisation, a growing body of social scientists, environmentalists, researchers and indeed economists themselves who have both listened to and thought about the conventional wisdom […]
more…16 Mar, 1999
ITB Berlin: “An Event With No Limit”
Prof Dr Manfred Busche, chairman of Messe Berlin, launched the ITB Berlin in 1966 and watched it grow into the world’s largest trade show. In this interview with Travel Impact Newswire Executive Editor Imtiaz Muqbil he indulges in a little nostalgia, discusses the secrets of ITB’s success and his plans after retirement in June 1999.
more…21 Dec, 1998
World Faces Spectre of U.S. Dictatorship in 21st Century
Originally Published: Dec 21, 1998 The events of December 15-19, 1998, namely the bombing of Iraq and the US impeachment debate, have set the stage for an extremely dangerous final year of the 20th century. All indications are that it is going to get worse, not better. If Saddam Hussein has lied about the presence […]
more…29 Nov, 1998
Situation Wanted: Neutral, Trustworthy Peacemakers
Originally Published: 29 Nov 1998 I am poring through a book called ‘Who’s Who of Religions.” Edited by Professor John Hinnells, former Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Manchester, the book is a detailed compilation of the lives, writings and philosophies of hundreds of prophets and popes, disciples and apostles, imams […]
more…12 Jul, 1998
All Religions Seek to Light the Lamps and Illuminate the Way Forward
Originally Published: 12 July 9998 The link between what the eye sees and the mind instructs is one of the central themes of every religion. Modern management’s adaptation of it is the statuette of the three monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. Every religion instructs us in the art […]
more…17 May, 1998
The U.S. Will Run out of Steam Sooner or Later
Originally Published: 17 May 1998 It’s been a good past fortnight for the global religious movement. The coinciding of Easter, the Haj and the Kumbh Mela festivals brought together peoples of three of the great global faiths in a unified display of prayer and spiritual rejuvenation. They reminded us that night is always followed by […]
more…1 Mar, 1998
America should stop playing judge, jury and executioner
Originally Published: 1 March 1998 Though the recent diplomatic effort by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to avert the US bombing of Iraq is being touted as a victory for him and the UN, it was first and foremost a victory for the power of prayer. No doubt, millions of people world-wide, and especially within Iraq, […]
more…
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