Event organisers seek new revenue streams amid continuing slump

AS A result of the economic downturn last year, the Bt13-billion event industry declined by 5 per cent and at least four local organisers were forced to close, according to the chairman of the Event Management Association (EMA).

With current weak consumption, the industry believes that this year will not to be a good one for the event business. Therefore, they are seeking new business at home and overseas to offset declines in income.

EMA chairman Sermkhun Kunawong declined to disclose the names of those companies that were no longer operational in the industry but he described last year as unimpressive.

The event sector was hit hard by uncertainty both from political and economic circumstances in the first half. Under a new junta-led government in the second half, the situation did not improve, as major companies had suspended their marketing activities.

"We believe that this tendency will remain for the first half of this year. As such, we have set a conservative growth [forecast] of only 5 per cent compared with last year," he said.

He said he had witnessed that big companies were still concerned about low consumer spending due to the high level of household debt nationwide, so they would continue to be cautious during the first six months as they still have little confidence in the Thai economy.

In the meantime, government spending to accelerate economic growth seems to be slower than expected, Sermkhun said.

Adding to this, the event industry anticipates fierce competition from entertainment-based activities such as international concerts and shows because companies will be able to engage directly with consumers via those events, rather than purely through marketing events.

Komkrit Sirirat, deputy managing director of Thai Ticket Major, the country’s largest ticketing service, said the key driver for the entertainment events was the opening of two new venues in Bangkok’s central business district. These are Muang Thai GMM Live House, which accommodates up to 2,000 seats at CentralWorld shopping complex, and KBank SiamPic-Ganesha Centre of Performing Arts, which houses 1,000 seats at Siam Square One shopping mall.

To cope with this tough situation, leading organisers are seeking new revenue streams from other businesses. For instance, CMO Group recently announced the opening of a new entertainment and lifestyle arm in a bid to shield itself against an economic downturn.

With the new business strategies, the company is targeting growth of 30 per cent this year for Bt1.4 billion in revenue.

Sermkhun, who is also chief executive officer of CMO Group, said his company wanted to reduce risks associated with operating an events business heavily reliant on the national economy. So the company had to set up new business units PM Fusion for design and display services and Imaginia for the operation of a learning centre, and the new subsidiaries Momentum S for organising private "lifestyle" events and Muse Corporation for music events.

Another event-management firm, Index Creative Village, said it would focus more on festive events, seasonal shows, trade shows, professional exhibitions and TV production in Myanmar.

Kriangkrai Kanjanapokin, co-CEO of Index Creative Village, said that for the local market, his company would also place more emphasis on providing interactive in-store-media services and equipment for local retailers and offer service related to permanent exhibitions and museums.