SIAM PARAGON TO GET BT680M KIDS ZONE

       The international operator of the KidZania education centres plans to invest US$20 million (Bt680 million) to build the first eductainment centre in Thailand.
       Kids Edutainment will lease 10,000 square metres on the fifth floor of Siam Paragon to establish its biggest centre.
       Kids Edutainment and Siam Paragon signed a contract yesterday.
       CEO Alan Hepburn said construction will begin by the end of this year and it will start the operation in late 2010.
       The company believes the edutainment centre will be a big success in Thailand like in other countries where it operates such centres.
       "We've run KidZania in many locations, including our flageship venues in Mexico City, Tokyo, Osaka and Jakarta. We have been successful everywhere. So, I don't know why it should be any different in Thailand," he said.
       KidZania locations worldwide provide a safe, unique, authentic and educational environment that allow children to experience adult roles like in the real world. Children can per-form different jobs such as doctor, engineer, nurse, journalist, actor, pilot and flight attendant and learn to work for money at the centre.
       The first location of KidZania, in Mexico City, welcomes 800,000 children per year, while that in Tokyo has 950,000 visitors a year. Kids Edutainment expects its centre in Thailand to see 4,000 children per day or roughly 1 million a year.
       It will open the same kind of edutainment center in Dubai and Seoul in November and December this year. It also plans to create many children's centres in Shanghai, New Delhi, Santiago and Istanbul. Each ecntre needs an investment of $20 million.
       Hepburn added the company was considering an entrance fee for the Thai location soon. In other countries, the entrance fee for children is around Bt500 for five hours at the centres.
       Supaluck Umpujh, senior vice chairman of Siam Paragon, said the company first approached Kids Edutainment to operate such a children's centre in Siam Paragon and negotiated for six months.
       Siam Paragon has offered 10,000 square metres on the fifth floor of its shopping mall, which was earlier planned to be Siam Opera House.
       "I think the opera house may not be successful in this economic environment. So, the Siam Opera House project, which was to have been operated by Natural Park, was aborted. We had to lok for another activity to utilise the space. And now we have Kids Edutainment to run KidZania late next year," she said.
       Siam Paragon will help Kids Edutainment seek sponsorships from 60 corporate houses from a wide range of businesses and industries in Thailand. This would be an effective way for companies who would like to build their brand awareness among children, said Supaluck.