The one-week trip, which groups representatives of Kien Giang provincial authorities and 25 tour operators from southern provinces, will tour Rach Gia town and Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam, Sihanoukville in Cambodia and Chanthaburi and Trat provinces in Thailand.

Le Minh Hoang, director of the Kien Giang Tourism Department, said the sea route would offer a new tour and also help tourists curtail the time for travel between the three countries. - The Nation.

Rubber summit

The International Rubber Study Group announced that the Thai government has offered to host its 43rd Assembly of Nations at the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel in Bangkok on May 16-18 next year.

This will be preceded by the World Rubber Summit next May 14-15. The theme for the summit is "Global supply and demand challenges: what to aim for and how to meet them?"

A meeting of the industry advisory panel is planned for the afternoon of May 15.

The official opening of the assembly will be on May 16, followed by meetings of the economic committee, deciding on the secretariat's work programme, the statistical committee agreeing on statistics for rubber and the heads of delegation mainly focusing on administrative and management matters.

The official closure of the assembly will be on May 18 when a field trip is also planned. - The Nation.

India-BKK flights

Jet Airways, India's premier airline, will launch its direct daily flights from Delhi and Calcutta to Bangkok, the 50th destination of the airline's network, on January 23.

Following the induction into its fleet of a new Boeing 737-800 aircraft, Jet Airways, which has been designated by the government of India to operate services on the India-Thailand route, will introduce two daily flights to Bangkok.

The new aircraft will be used on the Bangkok route and takes Jet Airways' fleet size to 59.

This is the first time that the airline will operate inaugural flights between two metro cities in India and an international destination on the same day. - The Nation.