A Grande Welcome to Miss Belgium Contestants at Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket

Twenty contestants in the Miss Belgium 2010 beauty contest were welcomed to Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket as part of their visit to Phuket during 16 - 23 November 2009.

As part of the efforts by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to generate publicity and attract more visitors from Belgium and other countries of the European Union, the TAT Paris office together with BEST Tours, a major Belgian tour operator, won the support of the organizer of the beauty pageant to select Phuket as the backdrop destination for the various fashion and film-shoots featured in the beauty pageant.

A welcome reception based on the indigenous Loy Krathong theme was held at Sheraton Grande Laguna where each of the Miss Belgium contestants plus invited guests all wearing traditional Thai costumes enjoyed an enchanting evening of cultural performances and the release of traditional Krathongs in the lagoon and Kom Loy lanterns on Sheraton's beachfront.

Belgium is one of the major sources of visitors to Thailand from Europe. TAT statistics show that in 2008, arrivals from Belgium totaled 75,223 up 8.95% over 2007.  Source: Foreign Office, The Government Public Relations Department (09/11/2009)