Deepak Ohri, 38, general manager and managing director of Challenge Hospitality, has a mission: he wants to sell Bangkok to the world's super-rich.

As chief executive of the Dome restaurant and the super-luxury lebua hotel on Silom Road, both of which are owned by Challenge Hospitality, Indian-born Ohri says there are as many as 8.5 million millionaires around the world who spend an average of US$224,000 (Bt8 million) per person per year on lavish events at hotels and resorts.

As a result, Challenge Hospitality will host its second super-expensive food and wine experience for this target group at the Dome from February 6-10.

The event will be capped by a Bt900,000-per-plate dinner on February 10, during which a total of eight Michelin-starred chefs will cook a special meal for guests.

The price tag includes overnight suite accommodation at the lebua, a personalised designer jewellery gift for each guest, along with a collection of Riedel Sommelier glasses and commemorative Limoges plates.

Of the 40 seats, Ohri says 25 are already sold, while 10 seats are reserved for invited VIPs. Hence, there are now only five seats left.

Ohri believes the $25,000 price tag is probably the highest ever for a commercial dinner in the Asia-Pacific region.

Among his guests for the February 10 dinner are multinational millionaires on the Forbes 500 list, including those from the top management of Microsoft, Exxon-Mobil and Standard Chartered Bank.

"It's expensive because of the very fine food and wine lists. We've got Michelin-starred chefs to cook the seven-course dinner. For the wine list, we've stocked 1961-vintage wines, which are the most expensive part of the dinner event," he says.

Ohri gained a master of business administration degree from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore in 1998, and previously worked for the Taj Hotel and Kempinski groups. He says that if a recent survey of average room rates in 30 top tourist destinations around the world is to be believed, Bangkok is significantly under-priced.

He goes on to quote figures and speak about spending habits.

"Personal travel comprises 44 per cent of total travel and total revenue from personal travel to the economy is 64 per cent. There are 8.5 million millionaires in the world. So what do these rich people spend on?"

According to a survey by the World Travel and Tourism Council and management and technology company Accenture, the top category for spending by the super-rich is fine art, for which an average annual personal expenditure is estimated at about $1.74 million.

Then, it's home improvement ($540,000 per person per year), yacht rentals ($400,000), jewellery ($240,000), luxury cars ($226,000) and events at hotels and resorts ($224,000).

Ohri says the multinational millionaires can be divided into three categories: the trend-setters, the winners, and the connoisseurs.

"Their biggest disappointment while exploring new destinations is that they don't know where to spend their money," he says, adding that one of the biggest challenges facing the Thai tourism sector is packaging.

He points out that in Thailand, trade wholesalers still dominate destinations and dictate hotel rate policies, while the private sector is still short of new initiatives to go up-market, resulting in low average daily room rates.

He also says the Thai medical tourism sector is still fragmented despite its relatively high growth rate in the past several years.

As for spas, the WTTC/Accenture survey shows that they are the 12th category for spending by multinational millionaires, amounting to about $100,000 per person per year.

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

The Nation