European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 9, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Att Tatiom of Bangkok 400 temples should be Nuit on vol tort itineraries in the capital of Thailand. Thailand s year of tourism by Ted Chan United press International hat tourist officials say 1687, which has been proclaimed As the year of tourism is High Lima to clean up the negative image produced by Thailand s infamous sex Industry and tourist rep offs a Host of attractions ranging from spectacular beaches to Vine covered Temple ruins have already made tourism Thailand s biggest source of foreign Exchange far out distancing Rice and textiles exports. Authorities Hopa special promotions this year will draw As Many As 3 million visitors who will spend More than $1.5 billion. Bul tourism sources say a vital first step is for government officials to do More to eradicate some negative images. Tourism officials have complained for years that one of the first impressions visitors to Bangkok receive is of hustling touts and illegal taxi Drivers who ambush Airport arrivals. The problem continued unabated As the year of tourism began. Also in need of repair local critics say is the image created among the predominantly male tourist population that Thailand has Little to offer beyond a widespread sex Industry of Massage Parlours go go bars and escort services. We cannot abruptly change the image and say we Are clean but we can promote Many positive things said harm noon Prachuab Noh governor of the tourism authority of Thailand More and More foreign grave companies realize Thailand has Many other  among those attractions Are the Pristine beaches Cool Hills spicy food gilded temples bargain prices and gracious people that have already put Thailand formerly known As Siam firmly on the Asia tourist Trail this year even More festivals and spectacles Are planned the Centrepiece being the 60th birthday of King hum Biol Adu Radej marking the completion of his auspicious tilth 12-year Zodiac Cycle. Special lest Vilies Rich 9.1s37 for the dec. 5 today will last three Days. We would like to Honor the King and fee this is the Best Lime to also invite All potential travellers said dharm noon All the annual festivals will be improved and there will be ancient traditional ceremonies that even thais May not have seen  tourism minister Hirayu Iga Sangkun a Ayu Tathya started the year by personally greeting the first visitors of 1987, a plan Load of sleepy but delighted europeans. New year s Day also saw a visit Thailand float in the tournament of roses Parade in Pasadena California. The biggest thai Parade Ever followed three Days later in Bangkok. More than 4,000 people from All reaches of the kingdom converged on he capital with costumes Llo als displays music and dancing depleting various festivals and lifestyles. Other events this year will include fruit lower and rocket festivals marathons and boat races Royal Barge processions religious ceremonies and an elephant Roundup. Special Light and sound shows Are being oftcre.1 among the Golden Spires of the Royal grand Pace in the ruins of the ancient thai capital of ayirtti., a and at the storied Span of the world War 11 Bridge Over the River Kwal. Reinforcing Thailand s reputation for War Rulh and hospitality officials in the so called land of smiles Are launching a smile a while Campaign among the so million thais. Tourists will be invited to nominate the person or people who provided the Best service during their slay. Under a family visitation program thais also will be encouraged to invite tourists to their Homes Lor a meal and dose of traditional hospitality. The United Stales Japan Britain Franco Australia West Germany and the scandinavian countries Are primary marketing targets for Thailand s $1.2 million promotion budget which includes videotapes in five languages and 12 overseas tourist information centers promotion also will be done in Hong Kong Taiwan Malaysia Singapore Canada India and saudi Arabia those countries contribute a smaller share of tourists than Europe America and Japan but Aro considered to have greater growth potential. Austrians go Power shopping in Hungary by Henry Kamm new York times Ift it lift it said a elderly austrian challenging by. Pointing 1o a shopping bag at his feel he smiled in satisfaction arid look a lick from his ice Cream Cone when a passer by pronounced the bag heavy indeed. And yet everything in it Cost Only 300 schillings. She Man said proudly about $25. The bag contained Salami cheese butter crackers wine and Vodka to recited As it rehearsing his shopping list then he heeded a tour bus Driver s Call and shortly a column of three buses set out for the return trip id Vienna 40 Miles northward com Sopron. Hungary. At a time when Many hungarians speak so optically of the capacity of their communist system to Moat the nation s needs hundreds of shoppers from prosperously capitalist Austria Cross daily to Sopron. The own they cell Odenburg. Armed with bags they. Lum Lenin Boulevard the main Street Inlo hair favorite discount store. Austrians can visit Hungary without a visa. Buses by the dozen and swarms of private cars bring them to the Wall preserved Renaissance Lown near Esterhazy Castle where Haydn was the court composer. They crowd into the supermarket order shoes Mads to measure pick up fashion bargains acquire a permanent wave and have their books bound pictures framed and knives sharpened. But the principal bargain comes from Sopron s dentists. When i woke up at 3 this morning there were already three austrians standing waiting for the dentist across the Way one of the few hungarian customers in the Jam packed supermarket said. About a dozen hungarian dentists multiply Small earnings from Ihal compulsory jobs in state clinics by maintaining private practices Lor austrians the Cost to the patient according to one practitioner is Aboul one third to one fourth that of treatment in Austria. To have this Crown put on my tooth Cost me in hungarian forints the same amount As i would pay in schillings a viennese said As he stowed three bottles of soviet crimean Champagne one of Vodka and a length at Salami in the Funk of his car. I come Here for my Teeth but i always Lake a few bottles  a Schilling is officially Worth 3.36 forints bul the Man suggested with a Wink that his savings May have been even greater that forints were available at a much lower rate on the austrian Black Market. To protect lha hungarian state which badly Neads convertible currencies against the Black Market and the Competition of private practitioners a government owned hotel on Lenin Boulevard has just added a three dentist clinic to its other services. Pamphlets in German distributed in the lobby offer a wide scale of services using american West Gorman and austrian Brand name materials at prices thai Range irom about $7 for a filling la $200 for a Complete upper or lower plate. Most shop signs throughout the town of 55,000 inhabitants ate bilingual and Ollen the writing in German is larger than that in hungarian. Knowledge of German which had been waning As the older. Bilingual generation died out is coming Back bul is limited to answering shoppers queries we All know right left and Exchange office " the manager of a state owned fashion shop said pronouncing the words with a heavy accent whatever harsh feeling have set hungarians against austrians in the past no such sentiments appear to remain comments in Budapest and Vienna and the towns and villages in Between Are favourable to the Point of Alt Clion. While no one would seriously look toward a restoration of lha binational Union which collapsed Wilh the end of the hapsburg in 19 in. Subsequent tragic history has deposited a Rosy Palina on the common past 11 is discussed with Al Lection bordering on nostalgia on both sides of the Border on Many Levels of society. In Sopron during shopping hours nostalgia arcs on an illusion of reality. A Border seems to have faded at least