IMPACT Challenger Exhibition and Convention Center at Muang Thong Thani
IMPACT Exhibition Management has earmarked 5.6 billion baht (US$159.4 million) over a three-year period to develop a new water park, attractions and hotels at IMPACT Muang Thong Thani complex in a bid to diversify its offerings and attain a more balanced revenue stream that is currently focused on MICE.
Opening this March will be the 587-room ibis Bangkok IMPACT hotel and The Portal, a four-storey retail building; while IMPACT Speed Park, a go-kart circuit, was already launched late last year.
The three billion baht water park, set on a seven-hectare plot, is scheduled for completion by October 2018.
Meanwhile, construction of a 386-room Pullman hotel will begin next year to replace the 100-room Eastin Lakeside Hotel. The new hotel will bring IMPACT’s supply to 1,300 rooms altogether when it starts operations in 2019.
Paul Kanjanapas, managing director of IMPACT Exhibition Management, aims to position Muang Thong Thani as a comprehensive leisure and business destination. “I envision that Muang Thong Thani will become a new tourist destination and generate income not only from MICE but also tourism,” he said.
“Although the current economic situation is not promising, IMPACT sees it as a good timing for investment. When construction completes and the economy recovers, IMPACT can start generating income right away.”
Although its performance for the 2016 fiscal year was 10 per cent off target, Paul is confident that IMPACT will reach its 2017 revenue target of 2.2 billion baht as trade fairs, consumer shows and concerts are making a comeback in 1Q2017 following a spate of cancellations in October when the Thai king passed away.
Furthermore, he is also expecting some diversion of MICE traffic from Queen Sirikit National Convention Center to IMPACT when the former closes for a major overhaul in mid-2018.
