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Andaman locations popular
Report from Bangkok Post dated Friday 24 February 2006 :-
Andaman locations popular
Phuket - Three Andaman coastal provinces have become popular locations for foreign film shoots, which brought in almost one billion baht in revenue last year. The number of foreign film productions in Krabi, Phangnga and Phuket provinces increased to 500 last year from 452 in 2004, said Thanittha Maneechote, director-general of the Tourism and Sports Ministry's Office of Tourism Development. The productions included documentaries, advertisements, music videos and films.
Japan made most film shoots in the Andaman provinces with about 170 productions last year, followed by India with 50. The rest were from the United States and other countries.
Last year, Thailand earned around 1.14 billion baht from foreign film shoots, about two billion baht from pre-production work and about six billion baht from post-production work.
The office will hold a meeting with relevant agencies in the next few months to map out plans to draw more foreign film-makers, said Ms Thanittha.
She said on-location pre-production and post-production facilities would also be promoted. Popular tourist destinations such as Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Samet would be advertised as film locations.
Film-makers from England and America are now using the Andaman areas in their tsunami-themed films. In January this year alone, foreign film shooting generated around 400 million baht for the country.
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