​Onitsuka Tiger, a premium lifestyle brand in the fusion of Japanese heritage and modern flair announces the opening of its global flagship store at Siam Square One.

Conveniently located on the first and second floor of Siam Square One, a popular and trendy lifestyle shopping mall. The nearly 509 square-meter store stands out with symbolic elements, blackened metal plates incorporating the ideas of Craftmanship and Modern Japanese Style, each metal plate used for the façade has its unique tone and texture. They are thoughtfully placed and interlocked on the surface, as if they are lattice or shoe laces that are crossed, giving three dimensional effect. This finish provides a beautiful and delicate look which changes its expression depending on the sunshine and which side store is viewed from.  
 
The interior on the first floor is defined by symbolic red sofa, grey marble floor, sumi mortar, a distinctly unique material that has the texture of wood, amplifying the store’s intricate yet edgy look, and the photography of a famous Japanese photographer, Nobuyuki Kobayashi. While black, the Onitsuka Tiger brand color, is beautifully expressed on the second floor which creates the different atmosphere between two levels.

The Bangkok’s flagship store also comprises a VIP suite on the second floor. This inviting space with its plush Italian sofa, offers shoppers an sophisticated and elevated experience while persuing the collection.

Global retail destinations Siam Paragon, Siam Center, Siam Discovery and ICONSIAM reopened for the first day on 17 May 2020, bringing back Siam smiles to the country.

Innovative and integrated health & safety measures are implemented, setting a retail benchmark to ensure safe journey to all visitors - tenants, shoppers and employees, to serve the “New Normal Innovative Lifestyle.” Visitors are required to check-in and check-out via the government-mandated “Thai Chana” platform. The four shopping centers also expressed an appreciation to Thais for the whole nation’s quarantine collaboration, a joint force that helps bring back the Siam smiles to our faces and our nation.   
 
Naratipe Ruttapradit, Senior Executive Vice President, Operations, Siam Piwat Co., Ltd., the operator of Siam Paragon, Siam Center, Siam Discovery and a joint venture partner of ICONSIAM, said “Siam Paragon, Siam Center, Siam Discovery and ICONSIAM are fully prepared to reopen. We resume operations according to the Thai government’s announcement to further ease disease control restriction. To ensure safety and confidence for all visitors including  shoppers, tenants and  staff, and to best serve the “New Normal Innovative Lifestyle,” we have integrated innovations into our 360◦ health & safety measures such as a patrolling robot that can detect and immediately report unmasked visitors, perform temperature scan and report real-time in case of high temperature. UV-C technology has been used for all-area deep cleaning, indoors and outdoors. Air conditioning system and air handling units have been ozone-purified and coated with enzyme to prevent bacteria growth. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA)’s  platform Thai Chana is used for every visitor check-in and check-out. In addition, we have implemented many others health and safety measures at maximum levels, to ensure our visitors are confident in their safety, all through their journey. We dedicatedly support the authorities at our best, to encourage the public to strictly adhere to the Covid-19 prevention measures. Together we will drive Thailand out of this world-changing crisis.”

PaM++ is a leading branding & marketing communications agency with hotel, resort and restaurant clients of both domestic and global brands on its portfolio.

The firm’s founder and also a veteran in the hospitality industry, Panasporn Pam Nopasri, takes a proactive swing and strikes on the ‘comeback’ strategy to get hotels and restaurants back on track as quickly as possible. Panasporn talks here about the firm’s tips and guidance for hotels and restaurants to take a well-planned and tactical branding and marketing communications approach to make a ‘comeback’. 
 
Covid-19 pandemic had affected everyone globally; Thailand was no exception.  Undeniably, tourism and hospitality industries were the first to experience significant drop in business from very early stage of Covid-19.  According to Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MOTS), the number of inbound travelers in February 2020 dropped from the year before by 42.78%.  Contributed to the decline reported by MOTS were the top 15 countries for inbound travelers with China dropping the most by 59.4%, Japan 28%, Russia 0.6%, Singapore 37%, India 33.6%, South Korea 44.2%, Malaysia 38.3%, Hong Kong 49.8%, Vietnam 26.5%, UAE 20.1%, Qatar 5.0%, Taiwan 32.5%, Cambodia 23%, Myanmar 26.3% and Indonesia by 29.3%. Information was revealed by The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand for records during the first quarter of 2020. 
 
All restaurants were prohibited to offer seated dining.  Hotels were greatly affected as a result of the decline in travel business but also Food & Beverage, Recreation as well as MICE businesses were under the Government Executive Announcement to shut down.  Result was the closure of the hotels entirely on the first week of April 2020.    Some hotels stayed on to fight and offered their rooms as part of Isolated Accommodation at much lower rates than normal.    This impacted the overall national GDP, as stated by BBC Thailand that Travel industry has substantial power over Thailand’s economy at 16% of entire GDP. ​

Travel might be on pause in these unprecedented times, but data from Booking.com reveals that this hasn’t stopped people across the country from dreaming about its possibilities.

Delving into the millions of travel wish lists created by hopeful travelers on its platform over the last two months, with properties wish-listed across over 100,000 different destinations since the start of March, Booking.com shares the top destinations and properties on peoples’ minds as they wait for when the time is right to travel again. ​

While international destinations like Bali, Andalusia, London, Florida and Paris continue to inspire travel dreams for people across the world, it’s no surprise that in-country stays feature in over half (51%) of all those wish-listed globally during this time of uncertainty, a jump from the same time last year when domestic properties accounted for a third (33%) of those wish-listed. In Thailand this was similar with the share of domestic wish-listings by travelers up to 72%, whilst in 2019 that figure stood at 54%.
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Since the start of March, the top wish-listed domestic destinations for Thais are Bangkok, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, Ko Chang and Jomtien Beach, suggesting that dynamic and rich-in-culture city and beach escapism are at the forefront of travel imaginations after weeks of confinement. Endorsements left for these destinations by past Thai travelers on Booking.com suggests that their share appeal lies in night markets, choices of food, and outdoor activities from snorkeling to horse riding, indicating perhaps the experiences that Thais are most excited to embrace again. 
 
When it comes to international adventures featuring most heavily in Thai travel dreams, it’s a similar picture with all-time popular city among Thais taking centre stage alongside major Asian cities and some European cities.