Countdown event hit by budget cuts

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), which has sponsored the event at CentralWorld (formerly the World Trade Centre) for nine years, has also cut its budget for the countdown - by almost 30 per cent.

Major sponsors of the event named "Hands Bangkok Countdown 2010" include Panasonic, Mama, Spy, Yamaha and the TAT.

Suwanchai Ritthirak, executive director at the TAT events department, said the Budget Bureau had cut the budget for the countdown in line with its policy of focusing on overseas campaigns and activities to draw tourists from abroad.

"The Budget Bureau has granted a total budget of Bt4.5 billion to the TAT this year, of which about 70 per cent has been allocated for overseas campaigns and activities. Only 20 per cent of the budget will be used for domestic campaigns, and the rest for administrative costs," he said.

Suwanchai said the TAT expected to attract 14 million foreign tourists to Thailand this year.

"Although we [TAT] have no cash, we have a strong PR network to promote the Bangkok countdown event both domestically and abroad. It includes live broadcast of this year's countdown via the authority's website," he said.

Sermkhun Kunawong, group CEO of CMO Group, said the company had invested Bt25 million for this year's countdown at CentralWorld.

High security will be provided for the event to boost the confidence of tourists from across the globe. The highlight of the "Hands Bangkok Countdown 2010" will be an 18-metre-high LCD of Hands Tower.

"We [CMO Group] have increased the budget for the countdown event by 20 per cent this year to raise the event's profile," said Sermkhun. CM Event/CMO Group has had the rights to host the countdown event at CentralWorld for three consecutive years, starting from 2007, he said.

"We expect about 300,000 visitors to participate in the countdown event to be held on the night of December 31. We will seal the area with strong security measures so that everybody on Rajdamri Road needs to pass through the security detectors," he said.

Sermkhun said that TV Channel 7 would broadcast the countdown event this year to more than 30 million viewers throughout the Kingdom.

Chai Srivikorn, president of the Ratchaprasong Square Trade Association, said Thailand would be competing with many others in the region like Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, and especially China, in positioning itself as a regional centrepiece for the 2010 countdown.

"What we can do is not compete with them in terms of the size of the countdown event, but the quality, good hospitality and our unique culture and being Thai," said Chai.

He added that Thailand was a charming country, featuring good food and cheap hotel accommodation.

Nattakit Tangpoonsinthana, Central Pattana's executive vice president for marketing, said the company would invest Bt100 million this year in decorating its shopping malls and organising activities to celebrate the countdown. Half of the budget will be allocated to CentralWorld, whose event will be a landmark for Bangkok.

"In addition to CentralWorld, we will also host the countdown events at our five upcountry malls in Khon Kaen, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Udon Thani," said Nattakit.

He said the company wanted the countdown events at its shopping complexes to become the landmark events in their respective regions. He added that CentralPlaza Khon Kaen for instance would host the largest countdown activity in the Northeast.