Ratchaprasong malls aim to banish blues as year-end nears

Ratchaprasong Square Trade Association (RSTA) president Chai Srivikorn yesterday said the association would spend more than Bt10 million on decorations in the district to promote the atmosphere of celebration during the Christmas and New Year festivals. 

 “Apart from the New Year Countdown event, many fun activities will be added to many new locations within the area, such as concerts and beer parks,” he said. 

 He added that the association would hold its latest campaign, “RSTA Winter Sales”, from this coming Thursday through to January 31. Under the campaign, customers can make one-day purchases and collect all shopping bills from RSTA member stores for redemption in the form of special gifts, including round-trip air tickets to Hong Kong.

 Meanwhile, Gaysorn Shopping Centre yesterday announced the launch of its “Pure Reward” campaign, aimed at increasing shopper traffic by 20 per cent in December alone. 

 If it can achieve that goal, the luxury mall expects overall traffic to increase by 30 per cent for the full year.

 “We have launched our big campaign as we are confident the floods will not enter the inner part of Bangkok, especially the Ratchaprasong district,” said Satima Tanabe, deputy general manager of Gaysorn Land Asset Management, which operates the centre.

 She said the mall had posted 15-per-cent year-on-year growth in traffic in the first 10 months of the year. “However, the floods have affected the mall since the beginning of November, and we saw a significant drop in the number of shoppers by 15 per cent in the first three weeks of the month,” Satima said. 

 Foreign tourists normally account for about 40 per cent of those shopping at Gaysorn, but many had been put off visiting Bangkok due to adverse travel advisories. Satima said foreigners were however now coming back, especially those from mainland China and places such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and South Korea.

 “As the flood crisis has had a direct psychological impact on both Thai and foreign tourists, our campaigns to be launched for the end of this year will be under the ‘shopping therapy’ theme. Our aim is to bring back shopper traffic, and their spending, as soon as possible through the creation of a strong festive atmosphere for Christmas and New Year, in both sales promotion and store decoration,” the executive said.

 She added that the local retail atmosphere would be optimistic next year, thanks to higher employment and improved business activity, such as for construction materials. 

 The government has concrete measures to promote the tourism and export sectors, which would benefit the overall economy and lead to 5.5-per-cent growth, up from just 1.5 per cent this year, she said.

 Nattakit Tangpoonsinthana, executive vice president for marketing of Central Pattana (CPN), operator of CentralWorld shopping complex, said that as the flood situation in Bangkok was now improving, CPN is moving ahead in restoring confidence to the country by conducting a series of festive celebrations at all its shopping centres, as well as signature events, including the “Christmas Tree Light-up Ceremony”, presided over by HRH Princess Srirasmi 

and HRH Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti this Thursday, and “Bangkok Countdown 2012” at CentralWorld. 

 “We expect about 250,000 people to celebrate our Bangkok Countdown 2012, which will be the biggest countdown event in Bangkok,” Nattakit said.