Thailand promising to crack down on miscreants

Bali recently jailed a badly-behaved Swiss tourist who disrespected Nyepi, the Balinese day of silence, and now Thailand is vowing to crack down on badly behaved tourists.

Thai authorities have warned that tourist visas could be revoked as they move to protect the country’s tourism image, The Nation newspaper reported.

The warning comes amid reports of inappropriate behaviour by foreign visitors in popular destinations including Pattaya, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Phuket.

Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul said Thailand remains open to visitors of all nationalities but expects them to respect Thai laws, local culture and communities.

He said authorities would not ignore misconduct or allow isolated incidents to escalate into wider problems affecting tourism.

"Thailand is ready to welcome every tourist who respects Thai law and culture, but we will not allow the country to become a venue for symbolic expressions of conflicts that have nothing to do with Thailand,” he said.

The government is prepared to co-ordinate with immigration and other agencies to take immediate action, including visa revocation, against foreign tourists considered to be causing serious trouble.

The issue has received particular attention on Koh Samui, where local concerns have been raised about the behaviour of some Israeli tourists. 

Israeli visitor numbers to Samui and neighbouring Koh Phangan have increased, putting the destinations under greater scrutiny as authorities seek to manage tourism growth.

A Thai activist group submitted a letter outside the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok on August 24, urging Israeli tourists and residents in Thailand to "respect the country’s laws, customs and culture," Khaosodenglish.com reported.

Authorities in Koh Phangan said 13 foreign tourists had already had their visas revoked in recent weeks for inappropriate activities, highlighting the increasingly tough stance Thailand is taking toward unruly visitors.

Thailand has made clear that its tourism destinations should not be used as venues for political or symbolic activities linked to overseas conflicts.

Asked whether visas issued to visitors from particular countries would be reviewed, Surasak said authorities would consider each case individually.

Image: Bangkok, Suparerg Suksai, Scop.io

Two major Hunter Valley destinations to be re-imagined

All change at Hunter Valley resort Cypress Lakes.

Minor Hotels will launch Avani Cypress Lakes Resort in phases from October, ultimately creating Australia’s largest integrated resort wellness precinct across 340 acres.

The completed resort will offer 204 rooms and suites, mark the Australian debut of AvaniWell, and feature an 18-hole golf course, 24 meetings and events spaces, family experiences and new leisure and dining facilities.

The revamp is scheduled for completion late next year.

The development will bring together the existing Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort and adjoining Elysia Wellness Retreat.

Avani Cypress Lakes Resort will become the largest Avani property in Australasia.

The resort’s phased transformation will introduce three pickleball courts, an outdoor cinema, a pool bar with a DJ booth, Pilates reformers (sounds dangerous!) and outdoor cold-plunge pools. New dining concepts will include Chakraya, a restaurant inspired by the flavours and culinary traditions of Sri Lanka.

The resort will also offer a range of flexible packages for hotel guests and Hunter Valley residents, bringing together AvaniWell programs, AvaniKids activities, golf, hot-air balloon experiences and resort accommodation.

Craig Hooley, Chief Operating Officer of Minor Hotels Australasia, said the Hunter Valley had the attributes to become Australia’s home of wellness.

“We believe the Hunter Valley has all the hallmarks necessary to establish itself as Australia’s home of wellness,” said Hooley. “From winery visits and long-table lunches to Pilates classes, cold plunges and educational seminars, modern wellness is personal, flexible and increasingly integrated into everyday travel.

“Avani Cypress Lakes Resort has been designed around this shift, allowing guests to incorporate wellness into a family holiday, corporate retreat, golf escape or weekend break.

"The launch reflects Minor Hotels’ confidence in the continued growth of wellness-led and experiential travel across Australia, particularly in regional destinations.”

Rates and packages for Avani Cypress Lakes Resort will be available from October 1.

Avani properties in Australasia include Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel in May 2026 and the upcoming launch of Avani Queenstown next month.

For more info see avanihotels.com.

New restaurant offers an authentic taste of Tasmania

Tasmanians and visitors to the Apple Isle have a new venue in which to taste the state.

The Pooley family, among Tasmania's leading wine producers, this week launched a new restaurant identity in their Prospect Country House hotel in the Coal River Valley. 

   

The eatery has been re-named Buscombe’s Restaurant, in tribute to the estate’s historical origins and builders James and Elizabeth Buscombe, who established the elegant Georgian homestead around 1830 and were regional farming pioneers.

“The new name reflects Prospect’s commitment to honouring its heritage, while continuing to deliver elevated, regionally focused hospitality in the heart of the Coal River Valley,” hotel manager and family member Lisa Pooley said. 

Chef James Paul Miller (ex Peppina and Van Bone) leads the kitchen brigade at the historic and gracious mansion with an aim to showcase flavours from around the Apple Isle to be served alongside award-winning Pooley wines. 

Most of the ingredients will be sourced from local farmers, and some from the property's own kitchen garden.

Starters may include Tasmanian scallops on the half shell with celeriac cream, nori butter and toasted almonds.  

Think mains like local orange roughie with saffron potato fondant, confit cherry tomato, snow peas and fish veloute, or mouth-wateringly tender Central Highlands of Tasmania venison backstrap with parsnip cream, roasted root vegetables, toasted walnuts and chocolate jus. 

“With over 17 years of experience in some of Australia’s most respected kitchens, [chef] James brings a refined yet grounded approach to contemporary dining,” said hotel owner John Pooley.

Lisa Pooley (pictured above with chef Miller) said the restaurant menu aims to showcase a farm-to-table experience that reflects both the estate’s heritage and Tasmania’s seasonal bounty.

“Buscombe’s is not only a tribute to our past, but it also showcases the very best of our state," she said. 

The wine list features not just Pooley Wines, but also a selection of bottles from across Tasmania. 

Buscombe's at Prospect Country House, Richmond, and is open seven nights for dinner and Friday-Sunday for lunch. It is 20 minutes from Hobart CBD and 15 minutes from Hobart Airport. 

The hotel has 11 rooms but dining is open to non-residents all year round. See https://prospectcountryhouse.com.au/buscombesrestaurant 

Travelling with peptides? Be very careful

If you are a bodybuilder, biohacker, weight-loss enthusiast or looksmaxxer travelling with peptides then you might want do some research.  

What is perfectly legal in your own country could get you into trouble at your destination. 

Travellers carrying or personally using non-prescribed products could face medical bills, customs action and criminal penalties abroad, new research shows. 

Carrying research peptides across international borders could result in having products confiscated, related travel-insurance claims rejected and, in serious cases, criminal prosecution, Licensed Peptides reports. 

It says Dr Samuel Sarmiento, a physician and medical content reviewer for Licensed Peptides, reports  that travellers may wrongly assume that being able to purchase a peptide online means it can be legally carried abroad or will be covered by travel insurance.

Buying or carrying a research peptide would not necessarily void an entire travel-insurance policy but a claim connected to someone carrying or personally using a non-prescribed or unapproved product could be investigated and potentially rejected under the policy’s drug-use, illegal-activity, experimental-treatment or pre-existing-condition exclusions.

The traveller could then face two separate problems: action from customs authorities and an insurer refusing to pay the resulting costs.

Licensed Peptides says it supplies "research materials strictly for laboratory use. Its products are not approved for human consumption or therapeutic use".

Dr Sarmiento says anyone who personally uses a product carrying that label could find it particularly difficult to argue that it was a normal prescribed medication.

“A ‘research use only’ label is not a prescription, medical authorisation or guarantee of human safety.

If the product explicitly states that it is not intended for human consumption, but someone decides to inject or consume it, a travel insurer may examine whether the resulting medical event falls within one or more exclusions.

Buyer beware. Traveller be aware. 

* Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration has issued a specific warning about importing unapproved peptide products. The Australian regulator says products imported unlawfully may be seized and destroyed, while serious cases of illegal medicine importation can result in fines or imprisonment.

Autumn brings art to Sapa hotel

As autumn breaks in northern Vietnam, a leading hotel in the mountains will be showcasing local artists.

Hotel de la Coupole Sapa – MGallery Collection will present Upon the Mountain, Down on the Hill from September 25 to October 25, 2026, featuring 28 works by five contemporary Vietnamese artists.

Presented in collaboration with Hanoi Studio Gallery, Upon the Mountain, Down on the Hill will feature works by Pham Thai Binh, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, Nguyen Quoc Trung, Pham Tra My and Pham Thuy Tien in the hotel’s lobby-level Art Gallery Area.

Rather than treating the landscape simply as scenery, the exhibition explores its relationship with people, memory and emotion. 

The five featured artists bring experience across painting, sculpture, traditional lacquer, silk and large-scale installations. 

“At harvest time, Sapa’s landscape changes almost by the day, encouraging people to pause and look more closely,” said a representative of Hotel de la Coupole Sapa – MGallery Collection, who mysteriously was not identified in the media release. Very strange. 

“This exhibition extends that experience into the hotel. Visitors can encounter the mountains and terraces outside, then see the different memories and emotions they inspire in the work of five Vietnamese artists. It feels entirely at home in a place where art and storytelling are already part of the journey.”

The exhibition belongs naturally within Hotel de la Coupole’s theatrical interiors. 

Conceived by maverick architect and designer Bill Bensley, the hotel imagines a meeting between the French haute couture of the 1920s and 1930s and the colours, patterns and craft traditions of Sapa’s ethnic communities. 

Paintings, antiques, fashion pieces and collected objects appear throughout the property, placing the new works within a wider encounter with art, history and place.

See HOTELDELACOUPOLE.COM

Three budget airlines to become one

Three high-profile low-cost air carriers in South Korea will soon be just one. 

Jin Air, Air Busan and Air Seoul will merge into a single airline, news hub Travel Mole reports. 

The trio will become a single entity on March 17, 2027, creating the country’s largest budget carrier.

The airlines’ boards approved the merger agreement this month but the deal still requires shareholder approval in December and regulatory clearances before the new airline can begin operating.

The combined carrier will operate under the Jin Air name, while the Air Busan and Air Seoul brands will disappear.

The merger follows the planned integration of parent companies Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. 

Korean Air is scheduled to complete its merger with Asiana on December 17, 2026. 

The three low-cost airlines had a combined fleet of 58 aircraft at the end of 2025. That would put the new carrier ahead of T’way Air and Jeju Air by fleet size, making it South Korea’s biggest LCC.

Jin Air plans to combine the three airlines’ fleets, routes, maintenance operations and other resources to generate economies of scale.