Laguna Resorts & Hotels (LRH) has held its first function in its new Latitude convention and exhibition facility – a demo for the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (M.I.C.E.) industry of what’s possible in the giant tent.

In the blue corner, Absolute Resort Management. In the red corner, the other Absolute, from Bangkok, Absolute Hotel Services.

There can be little doubt that AirAsia has had an effect on the bottom line at Thai Airways International, offering discounts that the Thai flag carrier has not even tried to match. Now Thai has a plan to fight back.

Twang. Thunk. Robin Hood was good at it. So was William Tell – he could split an apple at 100 paces. Henry V of England won the battle of Agincourt 600 years ago in great part due to his archers. Closer to Thailand, Phra Narai in the Ramayana was an astonishingly good archer.

Here’s an oddity: despite the politically-inspired Red Shirt violence in the Thai capital just a couple of months ago, Bangkok is, according to a poll of readers of Travel+Leisure magazine, the best city in the world.

Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, Asia, has officially settled on Phuket as its Regional Operating Headquarters (ROH) and has also been approved by the Thai Government’s Board of Investment (BoI).

After tourism and rubber, property is the third-biggest industry in Phuket, so sellers of homes on the island – who have been looking at blank order books thanks to the global financial crisis and the Red Shirt violence in Bangkok – will be happy to know that Thailand’s ranking for the transparency of its real estate market has improved, giving buyers increased confidence.

Around 100 people turned up at the Royal Phuket Marina last night for the official opening party of the 2010 Phuket Film Festival. Most were the usual suspects from Phuket, but there was also a sprinkling of movie people from Bangkok, specially invited for the event, along with Italian, American and Indian movie people whose films are showing during the festival.

The Phuket International Academy’s Sports and Leisure Club (PIASLC) recently made two key appointments, hiring David Roberts as Director of Operations, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the club, and Muay Thai fighter “Thanootong”, Prasert (Nok) Intanoo, a former national champion, to handle all Thai boxing instruction.

Michael Ma’s getting pretty fit these days. It’s all that climbing up and down steps at his latest acquisition, the hillside Indochine Resort in Phuket, formerly the troubled Villa Santi property development.