SERVICE SECTOR
V Group Building to enter Phuket market
Chiang Mai's largest landlord will rely less on revenues from property with a new hotel development and shopping mall
Large Chiang Mai property firm V Group Building Co Ltd will spend Bt6 billion to construct a new hotel in Phuket and a shopping centre in Chiang Mai during this half of the year, says managing director Wachara Tantranont. The company will spend Bt4 billion to construct a luxury hotel in Phuket, to be completed in two years. The other Bt2 billion will go to construct a new shopping centre in Chiang Mai, near the Best Western Premium Khum Praya Resort and Spa, belonging to V Group Building. Wachara said these new investments were aimed at boosting the company's service income from 20 per cent now to 50 per cent in two years. At present, half of the group's total revenues come from its property business, 30 per cent from education and 20 per cent from services, including hotels and resorts. "The property sector shows signs of slight growth this year and next. As a result, we must create a new service business to balance our portfolio by increasing it to 50 per cent. That would replace our property business, which would drop from 50 per cent of our portfolio to 30 per cent in the next two or three years," he said. V Group Building is the largest landlord in Chiang Mai. The group owns a property business and manages two luxury hotels in Chiang Mai: the Best Western Premium Khum Praya Resort and Spa and the Pan Pacific Chiang Mai. The company's Phuket project is its first outside of Chiang Mai. "We're expanding our investment in Phuket, because Phuket is the best tourist destination in the country," he said. The project in Phuket will be divided in two. The first, Bt1-billion phase will be a luxury hotel with 120 rooms, and the second, Bt3-billion phase will be villas and a resort. Wachara said that once the Phuket hotel is complete, the company would appoint an international hotel-management chain to run it, while the villas would be developed for sale. "We expect our income from service operations, including the hotel and shopping centre, to amount to 50 per cent of our total income in the next two years," said Wachara.
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