Siam Discovery To Get Major Face-lift

[george]

Siam Discovery to get major face-lift

BANGKOK: -- Siam Discovery will undergo a Bt1-billion makeover with new anchors, including a Madame Tussauds wax museum and Ice Planet ice-skating rink, and a stunning geometric facade.

"Renovation work is scheduled to start in March and is due for completion by October," Chadatip Chutrakul, CEO of Siam Piwat, the shopping complex's developer, said yesterday.

Operated by Merlin Entertainment, the first-ever Madame Tussauds in Bangkok will be the third in Asia after Hong Kong and Shanghai and the 10th worldwide.

The US$15 million (Bt500 million) wax museum will open in September featuring 70 figures of the world's famous celebrities and 3,000 square metres of retail space.

According to Merlin Entertainment, Madame Tussauds is designed to be a "must do" for all visitors.

Madame Tussauds is looking to work closely with Bangkok tourist and leisure organisations to promote the opening, and to ensure that in the future the attraction plays a key role in encouraging visitors both from overseas and from other parts of the country and region to the city.

The original wax attraction will also be at the centre of a planned major redevelopment of the Siam Discovery and surrounding area.

Chadatip said Madame Tussauds is expected to draw about 8,000 foreign tourists per day.

"About 35 per cent of visitors to Siam Discovery are now foreign tourists while 65 per cent are Thais. With the opening of Madame Tussauds, we expect to increase foreign visitors by 25 per cent and raise their share of overall visitors to 40 per cent," she said.

Foreign tourists enjoyed high spending power with average spending at the shopping complex of about Bt6,000 each time, she said.

Steven Kalayanamit, CEO of Ice Planet (Thailand), said the company would splurge Bt180 million on the September opening of its ice-skating rink.

"We want to open the world's most exciting ice-skating rink at the complex with total retail space of 2,000 square metres, including a live-band entertainment venue," he said.

Chadatip said Siam Piwat would contribute Bt350 million to the new Siam Discovery complex, of which Bt50 million would be for the opening of a new, 1,500-square metre multipurpose hall, scheduled for next year.

"We will spend Bt300 million to make over both the inside and outside of the Siam Discovery complex, including in particular a facade destined to be an architectural landmark of Bangkok and introducing Thailand to its first application of ETFE, an advanced engineering phenomenon in construction materials," she said.

-- The Nation 2010-01-20

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[niveknedwob]

Hmmm ... why go to ANY Tussauds - Whilst it would really light my candle (no pun intended) in my limited experience they are just a place to have a laugh at how bad their work really is.

Yet another place working on 'name' only

[niveknedwob]

The rest of it is complete 'dross'

[dekestone]

Steven Kalayanamit, CEO of Ice Planet (Thailand), said the company would splurge Bt180 million on the September opening of its ice-skating rink.

"We want to open the world's most exciting ice-skating rink at the complex with total retail space of 2,000 square metres, including a live-band entertainment venue," he said.

I just hope it's an olympic size rink not a stupid postage stamp like the one in Esplanade.