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An early artist’s impression of the King Power Pattaya downtown complex |
THAILAND. King Power International Group of Companies is to open a major THB500 million (US$16.2 million) downtown duty free and leisure complex in Pattaya on 15 September.
The project was first revealed by The Moodie Report in an interview with Group Deputy Chairman Chulchit Bunyaketu in late 2009.
The near-5,000sq m duty free offer will be targeted at Russian and Chinese travellers, who have become hugely important to the resort area’s tourism business, King Power International Group Senior Executive Vice President Susan Whelan told The Moodie Report.
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Scheduled flights come direct to Pattaya from both Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports in Moscow, she said.
The 12-acre site development will feature a pre-order duty free offer spread across two floors with delivery to U-Tapao Airport in Pattaya or Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.
Customers will enter the duty free area on the second floor. The first offer is a wide-ranging watches department including a boutique area. A single circulation route then leads shoppers through to the perfumes & cosmetics department. Three men’s fashion boutiques and a stand-alone sunglasses store follow.
The store will feature a number of striking architectural features, including glass voids and visibility through to the lower floor.
Customers will then take the escalator to the lower ground floor where a number of luxury boutiques will be sited, as well as a sportswear store, a Thai silks outlet, the liquor & tobacco area and an Asian corner restaurant.
King Power already operates a hugely successful downtown duty free operation at the King Power Complex in Bangkok, which includes the Pullman Bangkok King Power hotel where The Trinity Forum took place last week.
The company also operates the duty and tax free business at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Chiang Mai and Phuket international airports and is the master commercial concessionaire at Suvarnabhumi.
As reported, King Power International Group Chairman and CEO Vichai Raksriaksorn was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to the Travel Retail Industry Award by The Moodie Report, presented at the Trinity Forum gala dinner in Bangkok last week.
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The Moodie Report Deputy Publisher Dermot Davitt (left) presents the award to Vichai Raksriaksorn |
