Phuket debates centre strategy

Phuket is one of Asia's glamour destinations. In terms of business tourism, the island is littered with luxury properties and is always high on planner's lists when considering a resort destination to cater to incentives and medium-sized conferences. Medium-sized because there is no purposebuilt convention centre on the island — and whether Phuket needs a dedicated venue for groups of over 1,000 is the subject of some hot debate on the island. During the past five years, new convention centres have been announced in locations such as Australia, China, Hong Kong, India and Malaysia, and there have also been speculative rumours about a centre being built on Phuket. Rumour mill But despite numerous stories of site selection, government funding approval and local industry support, it appears a convention centre for the island is not a certainty. Laguna Resorts & Hotels senior vice-president and managing director of Laguna Phuket, James Batt, says Phuket does not need a convention centre. "We really would like to see Phuket remain a high-end luxury destination and we don't necessarily see a convention centre achieving that," he says. "There have been proposals and sites mentioned in the past around the island, including Laguna Phuket, but they have never really got off the ground for various reasons. "I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing because of the strategic direction we (the Laguna Beach area) are moving in." Other sources on the island claim they have not got much further than the "discussion" stage for various reasons. One source, who did not want to be named, claims such a large piece of infrastructure would require substantial funding from the country's central government in Bangkok. The source says that this was not forthcoming because Phuket residents had not elected representatives from the ruling Thai Rak Thai party in previous general elections. "This is often a part of life in Thailand," the source says. "Other reasons plans had not advanced have also been due to squabbles between affluent local families as to which family should be able to sell the land it would be built on. Power struggle "This is because there would be a large profit to be made through selling the land and these families obviously want a piece of this action.Whether the island actually needs a new centre is still up for debate, but there is a lot more political and power manoeuvres behind the scenes to go on before it actually even gets to the design stage." Another facet to the argument to support this source's claims is that in Thailand's north — which is a Thai Rak Thai stronghold — there has apparently been funding approved and land set aside for a convention centre in Chiang Mai. However Dusit Laguna Resort general manager Jan Verduyn agrees with Batt that a large convention centre may detract from luxury travel experiences on the island because of the volume of visitors it would attract. "I think any incentive or meeting business we do at this resort are high-end events that may take up to 25 to 50 rooms," Verduyn says. "We would like to keep it like that to keep a level of luxury and not endanger the image we present for the hotel." Experienced convention and incentive producer, Diethelm Events executive manager events David Barrett takes a more cautious line, saying he would like to see a convention centre on Phuket if the correct infrastructure and marketing programmes were in place. He says that such a large investment must be able to prove that it can return profits and be an asset to the CEI industry on the island. Business viability "My answer would be 'yes', I would like to see a convention centre on Phuket," he says. "But only if it could be better than the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. If this was the case I would be all for it. "When you have a state-of-the-art convention centre and air access along with the necessary hotel inventory in Thailand I would support it, but we also have to win the business to fill it as well." Barrett's assertion that any new facility must be viable is the line the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) takes. TCEB director general Peerapong Oeusoon-thornwattana says he would like to see a convention centre on Phuket, but only with the undertaking a full feasibility study is conducted to ascertain where the facility would be built, its ideal size and whether the amount of business the centre would be able to achieve would make it a profitable project. Hotel capacity He adds that many hotels have capacity for small- to mid-sized events already and taking the next step to a large convention centre is one that should not be taken lightly as it needs to be supported by the island's hotels as well. Bangkok-based Incentive House Asia general manager Les Alford recently held a incentive, conference and exhibition for 840 delegates in Laguna Phuket (see Case Study p17). Alford and his team had to import a mobile dome to create two halls to house both events. "Phuket desperately needs a convention centre," he says. "The derailed plans are an absolute disaster for the island. Afacility such as the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre is very worrying for Phuket. "I have an event going to Kuala Lumpur next year and that will be a dream to work in, but as a destination, Kuala Lumpur is boring compared to most Thai destinations. The sooner we have a convention centre on Phuket, the better as far as I am concerned. "And it would certainly mean my company would consider the destination a lot more often for a lot of the larger events we do." So the debate will continue. There seems very little doubt that Phuket has the five- and four-star hotel inventory to support larger conventions and meetings (or incentives) of 1,000 to 2,000 delegates. But getting them together, indoors, for a plenary session or a meeting is just not possible at the moment, unless you take Alford's approach and built your own 'portable' centre to accommodate your needs. This is not an ideal solution for most companies and planners due to the expense and the logistical requirements involved. Competition for regional business events in resort destinations remains hot. Whether Phuket ever sees a convention centre constructed remains to be seen but if it does happen, it will require co-operation on many levels both locally and nationally.