Dream World, the 20-year-old amusement park, is grooming new-generation executives and allocating about 230 million baht to install new rides and hold promotion campaigns to draw visitors amid the slowdown in purchasing power.
Pannin Kitiparaporn, managing director of Amusement Creation, which operates Dream World, stands in front of one of the park’s whirligigs.
Pannin Kitiparaporn, managing director of Amusement Creation Co, operator of the theme park in the Rangsit area of Pathum Thani, said she started coaching her nephews in management of services and human resources in August last year.
"If they are not good enough for management capabilities, they cannot remain at the top management level here even though they are from our family," she said.
With its strong financial status, the company has no plans to build a new theme park. Though it has few direct competitors, running a theme park involves a lot of work and many staff. The company employs 600 people for 400 different roles at Dream World.
More importantly, a theme park takes time to break even and make a profit.
"We want to keep our focus on Dream World and make it a destination for families forever. We spend at least 100 million baht every year to add new rides to create new experiences for visitors," said Mrs Pannin.
The company is adding an animal farm, leisure zone and a Water Fun machine to Dream World this year.
"We will continue to invest in our theme park because we are confident in our country’s fundamentals," she said.
Dream World has about 1.9 million visitors a year. With the uncertain economic and political environment, the company expects the number to rise by only 5% this year.
Meanwhile, Noppagarn Leangamornlert, deputy managing director of City Walk Co, the operator of Siam Park in Bangkok, said the company is spending about 150 million baht to install extreme rides at its park, extending its customer base to attract more teenagers.
It will also host seminars and expand its target customers to draw institutions such as schools in order to reduce risks from relying on only families.
The strategy aims to boost spending per head by 15% to 500 baht.
Ms Noppagarn said the leisure business has not returned to normal yet, so City Walk will cut its sales target this year to grow by 10% to 550 million baht, compared to an earlier projection of 20%.
The number of visitors will also rise by 10% to 13-14 million people.