KidZania sure of Thai economic recovery

Denis Zhu, chief executive officer and vice chairman of Kids Edutainment Holdings (Thailand) Co, operator of KidZania Bangkok, said he believed the Thai capital would also maintain its status as one of the top tourist destinations in the world.
Located on the fifth floor of Siam Paragon, KidZania has been in Thailand for two years since the centre officially opened in May 2013.
“Since the opening, we had built up the number of visitors to our complex to 1,400 people, including parents, in October 2013. However, we faced the political protests in November, which caused the number of visitors to drop by almost 50 per cent. With the ‘shutdown’ of Bangkok and a number of political rallies held later at Pathumwan and Rajdamri intersections, our visitors dropped by 90 per cent between January and February last year,” Zhu said.
He said the number of visitors to KidZania reached about 18,000 in March last year, and dropped to only 11,000 a month in May and June after the coup and curfews announced in some restricted areas.
“Not only [was] our KidZania impacted by the political unrest, but [manyy other] businesses in Bangkok and some provinces were also affected,” he said.
He gave the example of hotels, which suffered a huge decline of guests with only 20-per-cent occupancy levels.
“We allocated a capital investment of Bt800 million for our Bangkok complex. We initially expected to get a return on investment within five years, but [that] target will be delayed as a result of the political and economic difficulties.”
Zhu said KidZania had been encouraging more Thais to visit through many promotions this past year, making the entry fee much more competitive. In February, the entertainment centre lowered the fee for Thais from Bt750 to Bt680 for children, and offered half-price tickets to adults and toddlers so that they paid only Bt340 each.
As well, it has launched seasonal promotions in cooperation with its partners and offered special discounts of 20-30 per cent.
The centre has also been receiving more children from school groups over the past few months as KidZania Bangkok is on the top of many schools’ lists for field trips. In June and July, the entertainment centre welcomed more than 10,000 schoolchildren each month.
“With both the political and economic situations in Thailand getting more stable, it allows us to plan better,” Zhu said. “Our total visitors increased to almost 1,000 a day in July, of which between 65 and 70 per cent were Thais and the rest foreigners, mainly from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Korea and Australia.
The number of visitors improved by over 20 per cent from the same period last year,” Zhu said.
KidZania opened a complex in London last month and another one two weeks ago in Manila. In Asia, it has opened in Japan, in Koshien near Osaka and in Tokyo, as well as in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai and Seoul. It plans to open in Delhi and the Korean city of Busan next year, as well as in Singapore and Moscow within the next six to nine months.
Zhu, who has officially run KidZania Bangkok for more than a year, said his strategy was to focus on Thai families through both traditional and social media channels. He also wants to promote the value of KidZania here in Thailand.
He said more and more parents had started to realise the benefits of ultimate learning and role-play experiences. These types of learning activities help children build up confidence and self-esteem, together with teamwork, creativity, social skills and respect for their fellows and parents. It is in line with KidZania’s global vision, which is to ignite the hearts and minds of children everywhere by empowering them to create a better world.
“We started to be better this year in terms of visitor numbers and operating costs. We are also learning to work more closely with different partners to promote activities and create learning content together,” Zhu said.
KidZania Bangkok now has 28 partners, which help make the facilities look more like a real city. It occupies about 8,000 square metres of total play area with 56 establishments and 98 activities. The number of establishments will increase to 58 next month and to 107 in number of activities.
“We aim to increase the number of visitors to between 500,000 and 600,000 annually by next year or the year after. However, that depends on the global and Thai economies,” Zhu said.
KidZania Bangkok now employs between 150 and 180 staff, all Thais who can speak English.