Thailand tries to woo visitors with new cocktail

Thailand’s tourism authorities are hoping that foreign travellers will be enticed to visit the country and sample its new cocktail, called “Siam Sunrays” - which joins the Mojito from Cuba, the Singapore Sling and New York’s Manhattan as destination trademarks.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand recently launched the new cocktail, calling it “Thailand in a glass — the new punch in Thai tourism”.

To make the cocktail a shot of vodka, some coconut liqueur, sugar, a dash of chilli pepper and one of lime juice, is shaken with a few slivers of lemongrass and ginger. It’s strained into a glass and then ice and soda water are added.

The national cocktail is Thailand’s latest strategy to revive its tourism industry that saw a major slump after last year’s political protests and the shutdown of Bangkok’s two major airports late in November.

The week-long airport closure stranded over 300,000 tourists at the beginning of what is typically a very busy holiday season in the country, and dealt a blow to the tourist-friendly image that that Thailand is still trying to overcome.

“Successful signature drinks are one way to fast-track holiday destinations onto the world tourism map,” the tourism authority noted in a statement it issued jointly with the Thai Hotels Association.

The Thai tourism authority and the hotel association jointly sponsored the competition for creating a national cocktail – which was won by Siam Sunrays.

“Thailand’s new signature drink is based on very Thai ingredients,” the statement noted, adding that hotels and resorts throughout the country were serving it now.

Thanks to news.yahoo.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.tourismthailand.org