Event management firms eye regional markets for growth

“We have been putting more efforts on overseas business expansion under our ‘Asean Wings’ arm for more than four years with the aim for this business unit’s contribution to reach one-third of revenue by next year,” Kriengkrai Kanchanapokin, chief executive officer of Creative Index, said yesterday. 
Last year’s revenue dropped slightly to Bt1.45 billion, but its overseas business surged 50 per cent. Key markets are Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia. 
After signing an agreement with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Nam province in Vietnam and Vietnam Centre Thailand, the company will develop a vacant site to put on the Hoi An Light Festival this year. 
It will also organise at least four trade fairs related to building and home decoration, food and beverages and the retail business in Myanmar and Cambodia. 
It aims for at least 15-20 per cent of its total revenue to come from Asean Wings, up from 10 per cent now. 
Creative solution services are the biggest revenue contributor with 51 per cent, followed by marketing services with 38 per cent and lifestyle experience management with 2 per cent. 
The company has a backlog of at least five projects worth Bt500 million, so this year should see growth of about 10-15 per cent. 
Sermkhun Kunawong, CEO of CMO, said recently that his company had signed a contract to construct an educational and learning centre for children, called Imaginia Zone, at the Little Prince Kids theme park in the Chinese trading and financial city of Dalian, Liaoning province. 
This project will be its first overseas showcase, and will occupy 220 square metres. 
CMO aims to export this learning-centre format, which it developed on its own, to other markets in the near future. 
Both CEOs are optimistic that the event industry will recover from last year because political and economic factors appear to be under control, plus there are positive signs from the government’s infrastructure investments. 
In the private sector, many companies plan to resume their marketing campaigns and entertainment-related activities to boost sales.