Bangkok, 29 January 2018 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is delighted to announce its talented team of expert judges for the 3rd TAT Newsroom Blogger Thailand competition, under the theme of ‘Open to the New Shades’ communication concept.
They are led by Richard Barrow (in photo, left) as the project’s advisor. Richard has lived in Thailand for 23 years and is generally regarded as the country’s preeminent blogger and travel expert. He started blogging about life and travel in 1998 and has since grown his personal brand with engaging daily posts on social media. Richard spends a lot of time on Twitter (147k followers), posting travel ideas of where to visit in Thailand mixed with topical breaking news headlines of interest to foreign visitors or expats. Most of his tweets are translated from Thai on @RichardinThai, with English on @RichardBarrow
For Richard this is all for ‘fun and games’ as none of his websites accept advertising or sponsorship. His day job as a teacher has been his passion since 1994, where he is currently in Samut Prakan province.
Luc Citrinot (in photo, right) is a busy freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years’ experience. Luc has been the aviation editor for France’s leading business travel publication Voyages d’Affaires, since 1989. He is currently the Managing Editor for the online B2B publication ASEAN.travel. He relocated to Asia in 2003 to work as a Business Development Consultant for AirAsia and Thai AirAsia until 2005. Following his airline experience, he returned to journalism in tourism, air transport and increasingly in culture/architecture and heritage, commuting between Europe and Asia reporting extensively on Asian developments in both French and English around the world from his Asian base in Bangkok. In addition, he has recently been promoting European heritage architecture in Thailand with the support of the European Union.
Jamlong Boonsong (in photo, 2nd from left) is a legendary Thai documentary photographer with the Post Today newspaper. He is the current Chairman of the ASEAN Tourism Reporters Club, in addition to working as an independent travel columnist and professional photographer. He studied Communication Arts at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, leaving school to join the then start-up newspaper, The Nation, in 1977 as a news photographer. He is the head photographer and supervised on the documentary ‘Blue Earth’ that brought him a new level of fame including his own fan club. Jamlong is now semi-retired and free to explore his first love of photography.
Tom Racette (in photo, 2nd from right) is a writer and editor with over two decades experience working in Thailand’s travel industry. Previously he was Chief Marketing Officer at HotelTravel.com in charge of creating all online content across its entire website and social media platforms. He was also Director of PR & Communications – Asia at Accor Asia Pacific, where he established Accor’s first corporate communication and public relations department in Asia. Prior to that Tom spent three years as Managing Editor of PATA Compass magazine, and seven years as Bureau Chief for Travel Trade Gazette Asia (TTG Asia) covering Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR. and Myanmar.
The judging panel will be chaired by a representative from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). All the judges will also be joining the winning trip, from 28 May to 1 June, 2018, to experience the ‘Colours of the East’ on offer in the provinces of Rayong, Chanthaburi and Trat.
