Sunway Lagoon Sdn Bhd
Sunway Lagoon has enjoyed a turnaround since you joined in 2005. How is it different now?
When I first joined in 2005, the park had just declared a loss of RM7.7 million, and this was on top of losses over the previous years. After an analysis, it became clear that the main problem the park faced was in its branding and marketing. Because its image was that of a kiddie park, its main visitors were kids and their parents. Also, it wasn’t a place you’d go to twice. Visitors who left had a ‘Been there, done that, ain’t goin’ back’ attitude towards it.
Because traffic was dropping, the income was also going down. And since the advertising and marketing was tied to profits, it became non-existent. Pretty soon, Malaysians were even asking, ‘Is the park still open?’.
My task was to turn the park around, which I have. Last year, the park made a profit before tax of RM24 million, and traffic has risen from 900,000 in 2005 to 1.3 million in 2008. Furthermore, we have successfully altered our visitor demographic. Four years ago, 50% of our visitors were aged three to 16, and 30% were 30 to 42, in other words, they were the parents. Today, 40% of our visitors are between 16 and 26, and 30% are 27 to 45.
Sunway Lagoon has also since won every award there is to be won for our category! In 2007, the Ministry of Tourism awarded us the title of Malaysia’s Best Man-Made Tourist Attraction. We have also won the Asia’s Best Attraction award by the International Association of Amusement Park and Attractions for the last two years running.
How was this success story accomplished?
In several ways. First, to widen the demographic band and attract teens and young adults, we needed to have more events targeted at this audience to drive traffic to the park. Next, we needed to increase repeat business, so besides events, the park had continued releases of new attractions and upgrading of old ones.
To accomplish this, we reoriented the management team of the park to focus on two areas: park operation and events. The park management team used to try and do everything, from catering to ticket sales. As a result, they were overstretched and not doing anything particularly well. Today, we have farmed out our non-core businesses to people who are the best at what they do. For example, some of our eateries are now handled by restaurant operators like Windmill Restaurants Sdn Bhd and Manhattan Fish Market.
We also added new attractions like the Extreme Park in 2006, which has activities like the flying fox, paintball, and all-terrain vehicle racing. Our next addition will be a go-kart racing track. We added the interactive Wildlife Zoo, which is both fun and educational, in 2007, and the Scream Park — managed by international company Sudden Impact Entertainment — in 2008. These additions gave people a reason to visit again, and return!
What type of events did you organise?
The point of an event is to draw people to the park who would not come normally. One of the biggest was the surf event, Quicksilver Revolution 2.0, which we held annually from 2006 to 2008. We also hosted the Asian X-Games and held a Pussycat Dolls concert in 2006. More recently, the David Archuleta concert was held here in April, and the next big thing will be the MTV Asia Awards, which will be held here on Aug 1. All these events are targeted at young adults and teens.
We also recently held an events expo to showcase what Sunway Lagoon can do in terms of event-hosting — everything ranging from weddings to concerts. The response has been very encouraging.
You were handpicked by Sunway Group founder and chairman Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah for this post. What did he see in you?
It’s quite a funny story. Before my employment here, I was the general manager of the Sunway Hotels in Georgetown in Penang and in Seberang Jaya. Now, Sunway has themed staff annual parties, and the one in 2003 was ‘Hollywood Celebrity’. I burst onto the scene as a hip-hop ‘gangsta’ rapper, dripping with bling and complete with backup dancers. The board of directors, which included Tan Sri, were shocked! No one else from management level had done anything near this crazy for the party. But my love for fun, coupled with my achievements in Sunway, convinced Tan Sri that I was the right man to run his amusement park.
Do you find running a theme park fun?
Definitely. I used to want to be a major hotelier, but now I wouldn’t give this up for the world. I love having fun, and I love delivering fun. It’s serious business!
Has the current economic downturn affected visitor numbers?
We have seen a 15% decrease in traffic since the economic downturn hit. However, we have been coming up with more initiatives to coax visitors to spend while in the park. And it’s been working. They’re spending more. So at present, it’s an evening out and we haven’t seen a drop in profits.
What about the H1N1 virus? Are you prepared and do you anticipate a drop?
We are in a heightened state of preparedness. We are closely monitoring the situation, and have already ordered surgical grade masks and hand-sanitisers for all staff. We are rolling out initiatives recommended by the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Health Malaysia. We are also prepared to go into full alert if the crisis hits and will take all precautions necessary. We do expect a slight decline in traffic, but how bad it will be, we can’t say as yet.
This article appeared in the Manager@work, the monthly management pullout of The Edge Malaysia, Issue 756, May 25-31,2009.