Limitless freedom At Phothalai Leisure Park

               Mr. Arnan Tavisaengsiri, Chairman of the Phothalai Institute, the place renowned for modernizing Thai massage in the Wat Pho style, has now created a green recreational zone of more than 80 rai in area for families and members of the public to enjoy the natural environment together – Phothalai Leisure Park. In addition to recreational areas, the park incorporates a golf course, dining arena and a fully equipped conference centre with full facilities, reflecting Mr. Anan’s reputation as one of Thailand’s leading “event makers”.

               The Phothalai Chairman said that he set out to create the Leisure Park as a new choice for city dwellers to get back in touch with nature and enjoy participating in a variety of activities available for every member of the family, whether health and sport, golf, fitness, Thai boxing, yoga, beauty or a typically Thai health massage.

               “We saw a way of creating Asia’s first leisure park featuring every type of convenience and amenity but focusing on activities suitable for every member of the family. In the past, investments of this type were difficult to carry out since the return cannot be foreseen,” said the Chairman of Phothalai Leisure Park.

               Unlike hotels, which are limited in their ability to organize events, whether in a conference centre or outdoors, Phothalai Leisure Park gives a sense of freedom and space for its customers.

               Phothalai Leisure Park has used an investment budget of more than one billion baht to develop the 80-rai park to be able to satisfy the varied needs of customers, with an emphasis on mid to upper level customers. The park caters for groups of around 50-60 on up to a thousand people.

               “We completely designed the park ourselves, to be distinct from conventional hotels, with discrete areas that are independent of each other,” he said. He added that as an “event maker” Phothalai Leisure Park has brought together restaurants offering a variety of culinary styles including seafood, Chinese, Japanese, international and contemporary Asian cuisines. Some 300 staffs are employed in the restaurants.

               Mr. Anan affirmed that the basic concept of the Phothalai Institute has not changed, but the well-known institution has been modernized according to the times so that now “Phothalai” has become “Phothalai Leisure Park”, which still serves Thais primarily while at the same time being able to cater for events in a variety of creative styles and formats.

               Phothalai Leisure Park offers services to general customers as well as members, who receive a variety of special privileges and bonuses. Membership fees start from Bt80, 000 per year. In the first year of operations, the company aims to build greater public familiarity and hopes that Phothalai Leisure Park will be increasingly chosen as a site for meetings, events, weddings, etc. If the project develops as planned, accommodation facilities will be added to serve the growing numbers of customers.

               “I foresee this area becoming a golden location in future, since the strip from here all the way to Ekamai is a high-end area. It will be similar to Central Ladprao, located at the junction of major roads including Ladprao, Ramintra and Kaset-Navamin.”

               Mr. Anan believes Phothalai Leisure Park will be sought after for its five-star services, in competition with the leading hotels. The Leisure Park offers spacious parking facilities and enjoys convenient and flexible access. “This project is a totally new concept that we feel would not be taken on by most investors, since from a business perspective the possibility of making a profit is slim. However, we are doing this out of passion,” he added.

               He explained that hotels are limited in what they can do as they have to follow the guidelines of their brands. This pattern of thinking outside the box is a new alternative for people who want experience in every dimension.

               Mr. Vallop Tangtrongjit, Managing Director of Phothalai Leisure Park, added that they invested in this project to help upcoming local golfers make a name for themselves internationally. To this aim, Phothalai has created a driving range that utilizes advanced technology to the same standard as Korea and Japan, and installed Trackman Radar technology, which measures performance progress to the same standards as Denmark.

               Phothalai is also launching activities to support the development of Thai kids, with an emphasis on “Thainess”, employing well-known Thai boxer “Skud Pornthavee” as a trainer. It is hoped the activities will help develop distinctive national traits in Thai children.