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REPORT–BRUNEI–ATF 2010: Madame Tussauds, the world-renowned display of waxworks images, is to open an attraction in Bangkok in the Siam Discovery complex in September 2010. The US$15m visitor attraction will be the tenth Madame Tussauds worldwide, and the third to open in Asia, after Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The attraction will go a long way towards broadening the visitor appeal of the Thai capital. The original wax attraction, Madame Tussauds’ world-class wax figures will also be at the centre of a planned major redevelopment of the Siam Discovery and surrounding area.
Merlin Entertainments Midway Managing Director Glenn Earlam said: “We are delighted to be opening a Madame Tussauds in Bangkok, which is such an exciting and vibrant city, and gives us so much scope to create what I believe will be one of our best attractions ever. It will be a unique attraction, in a unique city.”
He added, “Each of the Madame Tussauds’ attractions is quite different from one another, reflecting not only the culture, people, history, and colour of the city in which they are located, but also featuring global figures from politics, entertainment, music, and sport which have helped to shape the world. We are already working with a number of top Thai celebrities.”
The Thai partners in the project are Siam Piwat, the owners of Siam Discovery, who are planning a major redevelopment of the complex, one of the leading shopping centres and busiest and most important malls in Bangkok.
Mrs. Chadatip Chutrakul, President and CEO of Siam Piwat Company Limited, said, “We are preparing a major renovation of both the interior and exterior of Siam Discovery, introducing an exciting element to the heart of Bangkok’s most prominent shopping area. “We take pride in drawing large foreign investments to Thailand and contributing to the growth of the country’s economy and tourism.”
Siam Piwat is also planning to add a 2,000-square-metre Ice Planet ice rink and a multi-purpose exhibition hall to replace the EGV movie theatres at Siam Discovery.
According to Thai media reports, about 500 million Baht investment for the project will come from Merlin Entertainments, 180 million Baht will come from Ice Planet and 350 million Baht will come from Siam Piwat .
About 300 million Baht of Siam Piwat’s investment will be spent on a store facelift, particularly a facade destined to be an architectural landmark of Bangkok. The store makeover will start in March and be completed in October this year.
The remaining 50 million Baht will be used to develop a 1,500-sq-m exhibition hall on the eighth floor scheduled to open in 2011.
Mrs Chadatip expects that Madame Tussauds Bangkok alone will draw 8,000 tourists per day. ”Foreign tourists have increased since November 2009. They spend about 6,000 Baht per visit at our shopping centre,” she was quoted as saying.
“About 35 percent of visitors to Siam Discovery are now foreign tourists while 65 percent are Thais. With the opening of Madame Tussauds, we expect to increase foreign visitors by 25 percent and raise their share of overall visitors to 40 percent,” she said.
Steven Kalayanamit, CEO of Ice Planet (Thailand), said the company would splurge Bt180 million on the September opening of its ice-skating rink.
“We want to open the world’s most exciting ice-skating rink at the complex with total retail space of 2,000 square metres, including a live-band entertainment venue,” he said.
TravelDailyNews Asia-Pacific editorial team has an experience of over 35 years in B2B travel journalism as well as in tourism & hospitality marketing and communications.
