| Thailand's southern tourist resort island of Phuket is to hold a Halal food festival in a bid to capture the lucrative Middle Eastern market, a senior local official announced today.
With their high purchasing power, Arab tourists are seen as the perfect group to help revive the island's tourism industry, which was badly dented by the December tsunami.
According to Mrs. Anchalee Wanich Thepabutr, head of the Phuket provincial administrative organization, the local authorities are now working seriously to capture the Middle Eastern market, and the 'Halal Food, Hillal Town' festival in July is seen as a key component of the organization's marketing strategy.
The local authority is also keen to promote Phuket as a destination of historic importance, pointing to the fame of the island's two female heroines who successfully repelled an invasion from Myanmar in the late 18th century.
By: MCOT, Thailand
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