Proud Real Estate Co, owned by the Liptapanlop family, is spending 3-4 billion baht to develop a tourist attraction in Hua Hin.
An artist’s conception of the 800-million-baht, 20-rai jungle-themed water park that Proud Real Estate plans to build near Hua Hin.
The 35-rai site is near the InterContinental Hua Hin Resort. Of the total investment, 800 million baht is for a 20-rai jungle-themed water park, up to 2 billion for a 400-room, three- or four-star hotel, and at least 1 billion baht for a residential condo project.
The Vana Nava Hua Hin water park began construction in June and will open in the second quarter of 2014. The hotel and condos will be completed in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
"We will focus our investment in Hua Hin because we believe the seaside resort town will become a true world-class tourist destination like Nice or Cannes," said Proudpud Liptapanlop, managing director of Proud Real Estate.
Ongoing infrastructure programmes, including high-speed rail from Bangkok, the Southern Motorway and the arrival of international flights at Hua Hin airport, should boost tourism considerably.
Proudpud: Park will draw families
Hua Hin now welcomes 3 million tourists a year.
"The Vana Nava Hua Hin project will not only help increase tourist arrivals to Hua Hin, but also raise the country's tourism competitiveness with other Asean attractions such as Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and Legoland in Malaysia," said Ms Proudpud.
The Vana Nava Hua Hin project is the third project under Proud Real Estate after it diversified from construction to develop InterContinental Hua Hin Resort in 2009 and Bluport shopping mall in Hua Hin last October.
Canada's WhiteWater West, a water park specialist, is designing the park for Vana Nava. The firm has worked on over 5,000 water park projects around the globe, including Atlantis in the Bahamas and Dubai and Lotte World in South Korea.
A49 Group, a leading resort design firm, is the architect for the theme park, while Belt Collins International (Thailand) is the landscape designer.
The company expects 500,000 visitors at Vana Nava Hua Hin each year. Tickets will be 600-1,000 baht. The company expects to break even within five years.
In addition to Vana Nava, the company plans two or three mixed-use projects in Bangkok and upcountry this year.