Officials exhaust entertainment budget in Hua Hin

[buksida]

Officials in Hua Hin on Wednesday said they have already spent almost their entire 2013 budget meant to welcome "study trips" by administrative bodies from other provinces, showing charming Hua Hin is a prime destination for taxpayer-funded trips.

Prachuap Khiri Khan municipality mayor Kriangkrai Kraithong said Hua Hin has welcomed many study tours this year, organised by members of municipalities, tambon administration organisations (TAO) and government agencies across the country.

Some 200,000 baht had been earmarked for organising and hosting banquets for such guests, but the province and its popular resort town had more visitors than expected, meaning the entertainment budget had shrunk to only 10,000 baht, with half the year still to go.

Mr Kriangkrai said he had informed all municipalities nationwide that his agency could no longer host normal banquets for colleagues choosing Hua Hin for their excursions until it receives the next fiscal year's budget. Fiscal years begin on Oct 1.

The province welcomes such study tours, he said, but would only be able to serve snack foods and light refreshments for visiting guests for the immediate future.

Nopporn Wuthikul, mayor of Hua Hin munuicipality, said the town was one of the country’s top tourist destinations, and all visitors want the municipality to host a welcome banquet for them, he added.

Source: Bangkok Post

Thought: Good to see those hard working politicians enjoying themselves instead of dealing with the important stuff ...

[moja]

Saw one of these visiting groups from Chiang Mai, I think, eating at Oy restaurant; so they were no exactly pushing the boat out to entertain them. All seemed to enjoy their meal. It was a mixed group of men and women and included several Muslims.

[centermid7]

This simply tells all of the politicians and govt agencies that want to enjoy a HH junket and banquet to book their trip early after October 1st.

[migrant]

Similar to politicians world wide

[Bristolian]

It must be a slow news day at the Bangkok Post if they fave time to write a story of a 5,000 Euro budget that has been all but spent already. You would not manage to entertain too many visiting politicians with that kind of budget

[usual suspect]

My invite to these banquets must have been in the (Hua Hin) post
If there was more rice-storage facilities around here the local municipality would have had no worries about having sufficient funding..simply cream-off a Million or Two same as other areas