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Published on November 27, 2007

Viet Nam News and Asia News Network late last week reported that Vietnamese sports fans are travelling to Thailand to cheer for their football squad during the upcoming 24th SEA Games in Nakhon Ratchasima.

While Thai tourism authorities tend to spend millions of baht in a series of extravagant events, sports on the other hand have been underrated. A small budget has been allocated to promote local sports events. Meanwhile, the Thai football league is nowhere near the national league in Vietnam, which has managed to attract Thai stars such as midfielder Dassakorn Thonglao.

Viet Nam News reported last Friday that Vietnamese had booked tours to Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima.

But these football fans won't just stop there. They will also visit the ancient capital of Ayutthaya and the floating market of Damnoen Saduak.

The Vietravel website reports that about 50 visitors in Ho Chi Minh City have already booked SEA Games tours, with the firm planning to bring a total of 800 tourists to Thailand.

The Thai tourism authorities have helped local tourism companies survey Nakhon Ratchasima and provide reasonably priced tickets for the football matches.

The tours are priced from US$350 (Bt11,840) to $395 per person for five days, including tickets to two matches. Transviet offers a three-day, one-match ticket tour for $299 per person.

Visitors from other Southeast Asian nations are also planning trips to Thailand to witness the biggest sport event in the region.

Sports can bring people closer.

The US Embassy understands the soft power of sports.

Today the Embassy is bringing New York Yankee star Johnny Damon to several charity events in Bangkok. Damon is a half Thai-half American baseball hero.

If you ask people on the streets of New York who is Zinedine Zidane, they'll reply, "Who?" But every New Yorker will react enthusiastically if you mention Johnny Damon.

While Thai-US diplomatic relations may be somehow tainted by the coup, Damon serves as a goodwill ambassador at the people-to-people level.

Busdsk@nationgroup.com

The Nation