Projects will boost Bangkok’s SkyTrain, Airport Link

MICE News
Thursday, 23 July 2015
International visitor traffic carried on Bangkok’s public transit network – especially the BTS SkyTrain and the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) Airport Link – is being boosted by the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) under its Thailand CONNECT and MICE United II programs.

Initiatives announced this week mean the SkyTrain and Airport Link will become increasingly significant for C&I visitors, not only for easy access to key stations and for airport transfers, but also as integrated retail/office/hotel/transport infrastructure.

SkyTrain is already a core component of the Ratchaprasong upmarket retail, hospitality and entertainment zone, which also embraces a unique spiritual factor.

TCEB, BTS and internet service provider TrueMove H all partnered to offer the first Thailand CONNECT Welcome Package for PCOs and DMCs to incorporate in Bangkok ground arrangements.

A second welcome package, in association with TCEB’s Thailand CONNECT partner Ratchaprasong Square Trade Association, delivers a variety of hotel and retail privileges and a third will be offered with one of Team Thailand’s latest – and most enthusiastic – players, Bangkok River Partners.

'Bomb site' to go

Users of the Airport Link’s Makkasan Station have long wondered at the adjacent bomb-site-style wilderness.  The station is also known as the City Air Terminal, although the Link service carries on to an interchange with the BTS at Phaya Thai.  Makkasan also offers an interchange with the MRT underground, including access to Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.

The ‘bomb site’ now is on its way out. 

SRT has come to an agreement, after prolonged negotiations over land values, with Treasury, giving the government department a 99-year lease in return for clearance of a large chunk of SRT’s mega-debts.

Treasury in turn will call for developer interest, with a public auction anticipated for early next year.

Some of the land is swampy and will be converted into a park, while another area will be used for a museum.  Viable commercial land – a little under half the total – will be available for development in two phases and there is speculation that it could include a hotel as well as office space and retail.

Meanwhile, SkyTrain operator BTS Holdings is stepping up development of land it owns or controls, much of it close to the network lines but also elsewhere, including outside Bangkok.

This will include several condominium projects in association with Sansiri.  Some of the condos are likely to be rented by investors to long-term business visitors.

BTS also has land holdings in the burgeoning C&I hill district of Kaoh Yai, likely to feature more prominently on the Asia Pacific MICE calendar.

The group also owns three hotels, a sports club facility and a large office complex close to Chatuchak Park and the adjacent weekend market, one of the world’s largest and a prime visitor destination.
 
-       from Kelvin King in Bangkok

Projects will boost Bangkok’s SkyTrain, Airport Link

MICE News
Thursday, 23 July 2015
International visitor traffic carried on Bangkok’s public transit network – especially the BTS SkyTrain and the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) Airport Link – is being boosted by the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) under its Thailand CONNECT and MICE United II programs.

Initiatives announced this week mean the SkyTrain and Airport Link will become increasingly significant for C&I visitors, not only for easy access to key stations and for airport transfers, but also as integrated retail/office/hotel/transport infrastructure.

SkyTrain is already a core component of the Ratchaprasong upmarket retail, hospitality and entertainment zone, which also embraces a unique spiritual factor.

TCEB, BTS and internet service provider TrueMove H all partnered to offer the first Thailand CONNECT Welcome Package for PCOs and DMCs to incorporate in Bangkok ground arrangements.

A second welcome package, in association with TCEB’s Thailand CONNECT partner Ratchaprasong Square Trade Association, delivers a variety of hotel and retail privileges and a third will be offered with one of Team Thailand’s latest – and most enthusiastic – players, Bangkok River Partners.

'Bomb site' to go

Users of the Airport Link’s Makkasan Station have long wondered at the adjacent bomb-site-style wilderness.  The station is also known as the City Air Terminal, although the Link service carries on to an interchange with the BTS at Phaya Thai.  Makkasan also offers an interchange with the MRT underground, including access to Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.

The ‘bomb site’ now is on its way out. 

SRT has come to an agreement, after prolonged negotiations over land values, with Treasury, giving the government department a 99-year lease in return for clearance of a large chunk of SRT’s mega-debts.

Treasury in turn will call for developer interest, with a public auction anticipated for early next year.

Some of the land is swampy and will be converted into a park, while another area will be used for a museum.  Viable commercial land – a little under half the total – will be available for development in two phases and there is speculation that it could include a hotel as well as office space and retail.

Meanwhile, SkyTrain operator BTS Holdings is stepping up development of land it owns or controls, much of it close to the network lines but also elsewhere, including outside Bangkok.

This will include several condominium projects in association with Sansiri.  Some of the condos are likely to be rented by investors to long-term business visitors.

BTS also has land holdings in the burgeoning C&I hill district of Kaoh Yai, likely to feature more prominently on the Asia Pacific MICE calendar.

The group also owns three hotels, a sports club facility and a large office complex close to Chatuchak Park and the adjacent weekend market, one of the world’s largest and a prime visitor destination.
 
-       from Kelvin King in Bangkok