Chiang Mai, Thailand - Forget about elephants, Buddhist
temples and exotic hill tribes. The great hope for tourism in Chiang
Mai, the 'Rose of the North' and fountainhead of Thai culture, is a
small, mouse-like baby panda of Chinese descent.
On May 27 Lin Hui, a female panda on loan to the Chiang Mai Zoo
from China, gave birth to a tiny, rat-like pink female panda. It has
since gained its distinctive black and white colours.
The birth was the result of artificial insemination, which the zoo
had to resort to after Chuang Chuang, an 8-year-old male panda also
on loan from China, refused to copulate with Lin Hui.
Chiang Mai Zoo vets at one point resorted to showing Chuang Chuang
panda pornography, but to no avail.
Thailand is the only South-East Asia country to have been provided
a panda pair from China.
With Chiang Mai's tourism industry in a slump, the birth is being
milked for all it is worth.
'The baby panda is Chiang Mai's big hope,' Chiang Mai Zoo's
assistant director Wanchai Tunwattana said.
The city is planning 'welcome baby panda' parades on July 4-6,
with marching bands from various Chiang Mai schools, and in
mid-August will sponsor a special naming event for the little cub, to
be held in Bangkok.
The cub, which is still kept in a nursing room with its mother,
will be put on public display by October.
The panda-naming ceremony will be in Bangkok because most
government ministers would not dare come to Chiang Mai, a
political stronghold of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, who was born in the northern city.
Thaksin, who was prime minister between 2001-06, went out of his
way to promote Chiang Mai, 700 kilometres north of Bangkok, as a
major tourist attraction for Thailand.
His deputy prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh persuaded China to
lends Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui to Chiang Mai Zoo in October 2003.
During Thaksin's premiership Chiang Mai also launched the Night
Safari attraction in 2005, and held the International Horticultural
Exposition in 2006.
Thaksin was ousted by a coup in September, 2006, but that did put
an end to the Chiang Mai promotion.
In December 2008, a short-lived pro-Thaksin government led by his
brother-in-law, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, planned to hold a
summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in
Chiang Mai, before the event was cancelled by anti-government
protests that shut down Bangkok's two airports.
Since last year, tourism in Chiang Mai has been hard-hit by a
number of factors including the global economic crisis, H1N1 and
Thailand's political crisis which has been particularly acute in
Chiang Mai.
'The people from Bangkok don't come to Chiang Mai because they
want to punish us,' said Vorapong Muchaotai, secretary-general of the
Chiang Mai Tourism Business Association.
While Chiang Mai is known to be pro-Thaksin, Bangkok is the main
stronghold for the anti-Thaksin movement.
Thaksin's red-shirted supporters in Chiang Mai haven't helped
matters. Whenever a minister from the current cabinet under Prime
Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva travels to Chiang Mai for an event, he is
likely to be pelted by rotten eggs and hounded out of town.
The reception has cut into Chinag Mai's convention activities.
'Many of the big conventions want ministers for their opening
ceremony, but none will come up here because of the red-shirts,' said
Kanog Suvannavisutr, president of the Thai Hotels Association
Northern Chapter.
The once-charming city of temples, cultural attractions and quaint
riverside guest houses has developed rapidly over the past two
decades. It now boasts 700 hotels with about 30,000 hotel rooms,
heavy traffic and fast-food outlets.
Over-pricing and over-building during the Thaksin years scared
many foreign tourists away.
'We've used up all our merit,' Vorapong said, referring to the
Buddhist concept of amassing merit for the next life.
While Chiang Mai used to earn about 40 billion baht (1.16 billion
dollars) from tourism five years ago, similar to amount then earned
by Phuket and Pattaya beach resorts, last year the city's tourism
revenues fell to less than 30 billion, compared with Phuket's 100
bullion baht and Pattaya's 70 billion, Vorapong said.
In the first five months of 2009, arrivals have been down 20 per
cent, he said. Hotels are operating at occupancy rates of less than
20 per cent.
Chiang Mai's great black-and-white hope now rests with a baby
panda.
'This is our marketing tool to bring people back to Chiang Mai,'
Kanog said. 'This might spark the mood for people to travel here.'
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