Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister, Kobkarn Suriyasat Wattanavrangkul, has joined a list of prominent individuals – including tennis star Maria Sharapova and F1 driver & triathlete Jenson Button – who have praised the Thanyapura Phuket sports resort in Thailand.
The Minister said the leading sports training and health facility – which has four-time triathlon world champion Chris ‘Macca’ McCormack on board as Executive Chairman – is “exactly in line” with the preferred marketing model for the destination.
Wattanavrangkul made the comment while visiting Thanyapura this week. She visited the multi-purpose venue in a year that has seen it land major international awards and host high-profile events and many of the planet’s best athletes.
She said “This is exactly in line with how we are looking to promote Phuket, and we are delighted to see the private sector taking a role in positioning the destination for sports tourism.”
Wattanavrangkul was met at Thanyapura – which boasts a 115-room sports hotel – by the facility’s founder Klaus Hebben and its President and Chief Executive Officer Philipp Graf Von Hardenberg.
Graf Von Hardenberg said “I’d like to thank the Minister for her kind words. Thanyapura’s conception is testament to Phuket’s tremendous potential as a sports and health haven.
“In a relatively short period of time Thanyapura has positioned itself as one of Asia’s top sports training and health facilities, and we look forward to reinforcing that standing through our unique three-dimensional coaching blueprint that targets the mind, body and soul and aims to optimize the potential of all who visit us here.”
Earlier in the year former world champion Jenson Button did a week-long stint at Thanyapura, tapping its world-class triathlon facilities and coaches to elevate his fitness ahead for the gruelling Malaysian Grand Prix.
Recently, prestigious global tennis management institution Peter Burwash International (PBI) named Thanyapura its ‘Site of the Year’, an award that recognises a PBI partner property that ‘strives to offer the highest quality in its tennis facilities, service and programmes while also demonstrating care and support for PBI and its professionals.’
Thanyapura is set on 23 hectares of pristine land. It is located near Phuket International Airport and the island’s famed beaches, with its elite coaches augmented by elite sports scientists, medical and health practitioners, physiotherapists and chiropractors.
