Thailand is ready to showcase its sporting excellence as nearly 2,400 athletes from 43 Asian countries are arriving in Phuket for the 4th Asian Beach Games, which will feature 26 sports and kick off this Friday and run until 23 November.After months of preparation to host one of the region’s most important sporting events, Phuket received the royal flame of the 4th Asian Beach Games on Monday (10 November) and held a flame torch run on Tuesday in Patong and Kathu Municipalities. The flag-raising ceremony of the Games was also held on Tuesday at the Saphan Hin Sports Centre.

As part of efforts to enhance international travel security, Qatar Airways has signed an agreement with INTERPOL to use the world police body’s I-Checkit system to screen the passports of its passengers against INTERPOL’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database. With the agreement, Qatar Airways becomes the first full-service airline to use I-Checkit, joining regional low-cost carrier AirAsia in piloting the INTERPOL initiative which allows select partners in the travel, hotel and banking industries to send their clients’ travel document information to be screened against the SLTD database.

Final figures have now been published following the successful conclusion of the fourth edition of IMEX America at the Sands Expo® in Las Vegas last month. The statistics, which are now available on the trade show’s website, illustrate that 2,909 hosted buyers attended IMEX America, travelling to Las Vegas from 52 countries in addition to the US and Canada. This represents an 8 percent increase on 2013. Of all hosted buyers 70 percent came from the US, 6 percent from Canada, 5 percent from Brazil and 3.5 percent from the UK. Chinese hosted buyers accounted for 2 percent of the total, as did buyers from Mexico.

In the beginning of the year, Prague Convention Bureau became a partner of the expert job portal pracezeny.cz whose purpose is to help women find employment. The portal is operated by the company AGENDER s.r.o. who aims to improve the conditions of disadvantaged groups in the labour market, i.e. women with small children and people over 50 years. Prague Convention Bureau has decided to actively support the project by advertising a job suitable especially for mothers with small children.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is holding nine recruitment days in November 2014, seeking individuals with outstanding hospitality experience to join its World’s Leading Airline Cabin Crew. The international recruitment days will take place in six different cities around the world, including open days in Prague, Budapest, Yerevan and Algiers, and invitation-only assessments in London and Manchester. Applicants interested in attending the invitation-only assessments, should register in advance by visiting www.etihad.com/cabincrewrecruitment.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) sponsored the Renn Drive Thailand to hold a speedy road trip by luxurious Porsche cars in “Racing to Catch the Cloud En Route to the Floral Mountain” in order to encourage an alternative way of travelling for hi-end travellers to embark on an unexpected impressive trip in Thailand. Initiating this journey 28 stylish sports cars kicked off their swift engine en route from Bangkok – Khao Kho – Phu Tab Boek – Phu Ruea National Park to the Khek River, Phitsanulok.