Troubled Elite Card Must Raise Fees To Be Viable, Says Study

[Edonista]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/25May2007_biz37.php

Higher fees and better management are needed if the Elite Card programme for affluent foreign tourists and executives is to succeed, its operators have been told.

The conclusions are contained in a study done by Thammasat University for state-owned Thailand Privilege Card Co (TPC), which has struggled to find members since its inception three years ago.

Some valuable incentives should be reduced to cut costs, according to Tatre Jantarakolica, an academic with the university's Economic Research Training Centre (ERTC), who conducted the study.

If the lifetime membership fee was increased to 1.8 million baht, he said, TPC could make 13 billion baht by the 15th year of operation, based on 10,000 members. Profits could jump to more than 20 billion baht in the 20th year if membership reached 20,000, the upper limit set by the interim government.

The study is part of TPC's plan to reform the Elite Card programme after it failed to achieve the target set earlier.

The programme was created by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in order to boost tourism revenue. The scheme has fallen far short of expectations and is proving expensive for the government.

The programme offers card holders a wide range of perks, including preferential visas and fast-track immigration clearance, access to concierge and call-centre facilities and discounts at many tourist venues, including hotels, golf clubs and spas.

Its original plan was to attract as many as one million cardholders by 2008 but currently it has only about 2,000 members from 49 countries.

Mr Tatre said that if the number of members did not grow beyond the current 2,000, TPC would face costs as high as six billion baht providing the high-end services each member is expected to use, estimated at nearly 250,000 baht per member per year, over 30 years.

He said the lifetime membership fee of only one million baht was a bargain when compared with the perks on offer.

[Dakhar]

No land No buy

[stevemcqueen]

Don't get srirachajohn started

[midas]

" Higher fees are needed if the Elite Card programme for affluent foreign tourists and executives is to succeed, its operators have been told.

I am speechless

[Jingthing]

The Thai Michael Moore should do a documentary on this whole elite card joint, from "bright idea" from Thaksin to the barrel of laughs it is today! You really couldn't make this stuff up.

Edited May 25, 2007 by Jingthing

[sriracha john]

Don't get srirachajohn started

Too late...

This article was already posted before this OP as an update to an ongoing Elite Card thread in the hopes of averting Elite Card Thread #64:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...t&p=1322174