ALREADY a popular weekend destination for locals, Khao Yai is now keen to bait the meetings segment with its new convention centre.
Khao Yai Convention Center (KYCC), which started operations in July and resides within a mixed-use development, offers 3,700m2 of indoor meeting space, including a grand ballroom that can accommodate up to 1,000 pax for seated meals and 1,700 pax in theatre style, a 970m2 exhibition hall, and seven meeting rooms.
Khao Yai in Nakhon Ratchasima state is home to Thailand’s oldest national park that translates as ‘Big Mountain’ in English, but a good distance from the state capital.
Acknowledging this shortcoming, KYCC sales manager, Predee Sathidthanawut, instead wants to position Khao Yai as a “sub-MICE city in Isaan” and a “one-stop destination” that is ideal for large groups due to its large room inventory.
“Thais already know Khao Yai, so we are trying to build international awareness of KYCC and the destination now at IT&CM Asia,” revealed Predee when he spoke to TTGmice e-Weekly at the recent MICE tradeshow.
“We will promote KYCC as a meetings-and-leisure destination that is ideal for teambuilding too,” he remarked, further elaborating that KYCC’s proximity to nature – just 1.5km from the Khao Yai National Park – is a selling point to entice planners to hold their meetings surrounded by nature and greenery.
Other factors that work to KYCC’s advantage are the abundance of golf courses, resorts and wineries in Khao Yai, plus the destination is located just a two-hour drive from Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Predee added.
KYCC adjoins the upcoming 11.5ha Scenical World, an expansion and rejuvenation of the existing Life Park amusement park that will add a shopping mall (Greenery Park Mall) and a water park (Splash World). Scenical World will soft open by January 2015.
Shuttle buses will be provided to transfer guests and delegates from one point to another, said Predee.
The development is also home to the 254-room Greenery Resort, the 116-room Botanica Khao Yai that debuted in July this year, and the 300-room Khao Yai Foresta that is scheduled to open in two years’ time.
