Magazine N°151

BANGKOK THE CHALLENGES OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM

A year of mourning. A long year of commemorations following the death on 13 October of Thailand's much-loved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, sovereign for... 70 years.

A year of mourning for the people, but only a month for businesses.
It is possible to be attached to age-old traditions without neglecting the triumphant pragmatism of the 21st century. Business circles make no mistake about this, trusting General Prayuth Chan-ocha's government to ensure the country's economic stability. The result is a "business as usual" attitude in Bangkok that is as assertive as it can be in New York. And that's saying a lot.

In fact, the atmosphere in the Thai capital resembles that of American Babylon, with the added bonus of heat and tropical showers. The result is an urban network suffocated by monstrous traffic jams and hurried crowds that pay little heed to other people's gaze, wooden houses on stilts along ancient canals and luxury condominiums in futuristic towers, improbable stalls in certain neighbourhoods and big names in ultra-sophisticated shopping malls...

Bangkok is jam-packed and exhausting. But you have to make the best of it, give up any desire to stand still, stay on the lookout non-stop for every possible opportunity, and above all take inspiration from the zeitgeist and the best in international innovation. In this respect, it seems that the former kingdom of Siam is firmly on the high-tech bandwagon, and hopes to have 10,000 start-ups in two years' time, most of them in Bangkok, of course. As a result, and as everywhere else in the world, new districts are springing up, inventing a lifestyle that is far less polished than that of the traditional business district high-rises.

In Bangkok, the district of choice is Sukhumvit. An enclave, almost an oasis in the city, with everything you need in the way of coworking spaces, new bohemian restaurants and, just recently, a thousand light years away from the old-fashioned glamour of the city's legendary palaces, infinitely more cosy hotels, resolutely turned towards 2.0 ways and the real challenges of the third millennium.

Serge Barret, Editor-in-Chief
In this issue

Travel diary Tahar Ben Jelloun: "To write is to travel
NEWS : aircraft, railways, hotels, meetings/businesses, throughout the world
TECHNOLOGIES - Health the connected revolution
NOMADE - Digital shopping
AIR - airports A time for hedonism
HOTELS - Prestige What kind of clientele for suites?
BUSINESS DISTRICT Strasbourg, the European link
BUSINESS DESTINATION BANGKOK
SURVEY - Trend rejuvenating cabaret
INCENTIVE :
Wide Angle Caribbean: white sails on the Windward Islands
Chronicle Berlin: an open city
Theme Corsica: the villages that make up the soul of the country
MANAGEMENT
High-tech tools connected traveller: the age of anticipation
Loyalty New pledges of loyalty
DECIDEUR Alfred Ong, Managing Director Europe, The Ascott Limited