Hua Hin hotels launch marketing campaign

HUA HIN – Nine of Hua Hin’s luxury hotels, plus a golf club and a vineyard, have launched a publicity campaign called “It’s in Hua Hin.”

The initiative is aimed at promoting the accommodations and activities available in and around Thailand’s 100-year-old city of Hua Hin and neighbouring beach town of Cha Am, less than three hours’ south of Bangkok by car.

“We want to get the word out about this destination — a destination that’s been the choice of royalty for decades — and we think by banding together, and speaking to the world with one voice, we can do just that,” said Boyd Barker, general manager of Hua Hin Marriott Resort & Spa, one of the programme’s founding members.

Hua Hin became a popular retreat among Thai sovereigns in 1921, when a railway station and hotel were erected to service elite train travellers between Bangkok and Singapore.

Today, it’s the full-time residence of the world’s longest serving monarch, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. This year, the town celebrates its centennial.

Other hotels with membership in the group include:

AKA Resorts, Anantara Hua Hin, Banyan Resort, Courtyard by Marriott Hua Hin, Hilton Hua Hin Resort & Spa, Hyatt Regency Hua Hin, Sheraton Hua Hin Resort & Spa, and Veranda Resort & Spa Hua Hin,

The region boasts seven golf courses, including Banyan Golf Club, and the Hua Hin Hills Vineyard, which visitors can tour by elephant, or watch others do so while sipping Monsoon Valley White Shiraz, a gold medal winner at the 2008 AWC International Wine Challenge in Austria.

The region also hosts the Hua Hin Jazz Festival, a three-day event which last year attracted 35,000 visitors.

For more information about “It’s in Hua Hin,” visit www.itsinhuahin.com