Million-dollar sports tourism technology of the ‘happy city’

Newin Chidchob – a famous politician under Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, built a sports tourism technology worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Buriram

Taking off his hat, Newin Chidchob – one of the famous politicians of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s era, built his life’s dream when creating a sports tourism technology worth hundreds of millions of dollars in his homeland and transforming ” happy city” Buriram became the top 10 most famous destinations in Thailand. Communicating, building a football dream When the Thais reformed the Thai League in 2007, Buriram United was one of the rare teams that was not located in the capital Bangkok during the transition period. However, Buriram United makes perfect use of its “locality” to rise to the top of the Thai League in terms of competition performance, and at the same time change the skin in socio-economic development in Buriram, the province. about 400km from Bangkok and bordering Cambodia. In 2009, Newin Chidchob, a former Thai politician who served as Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, invested in Buriram United and brought the concept of “entertainment” to the audience, in the context of local people. The media does not have many choices of entertainment facilities. Newin changed Buriram Born from a “happy city” – the meaning of the city of Buriram – but Newin Chidchob has never felt truly happy during his 30 years of engaging in politics. After “putting down the sword”, Newin Chidchob found the joy of life. The owner of Buriram United shared: “Before, when I went to the street or went to the supermarket, many people knew me. But not everyone came to say hello. When I developed Buriram United – becoming the pride of Thai football – many people came to take pictures and offer to sign autographs on souvenirs. Regardless of which club they are a fan of. And Buriram United is a local team, but the fans come from all over Thailand and many countries around the world.” . Pride “Happy City” Thailand’s professional football tournament – Thai League – is in the top 8 in Asia and is worth an estimated 3.5 billion Thai baht (about 2,000 billion VND). According to statistics of Thai League company, the average revenue of clothes and souvenirs of 18 teams competing in Thai League is 65 million baht/round (about 42 billion VND). Newin once brought Xuan Truong to Thai League The club’s well-invested communication and image, enthusiastic audience or attracting sponsors are the answers to the problem of survival and development of clubs in Thailand. Of course, in order to do this, clubs must have a special football field for professional football activities. With the support of the local government, Newin Chidchob was granted a land area of ​​about 20 hectares to invest in the sports ecosystem with the goal of developing the local economy. Buriram United is considered the center of this local sports-tourism-based economic development plan. Newin Chidchob once shared with the media that: “ Buriram is a small province located near the Cambodian border. Tourists often just stop by to visit Phanom Rung historical park – a Khmer temple complex located on the edge of an extinct volcano – and then continue to other big cities, instead of staying in Buriram. This place is also considered a poor area of ​​Thailand, the economy used to be heavily based on agriculture. When Buriram United was born and achieved success, other service industries, especially tourism, developed rapidly. That changes the economic structure of Buriram province.” . In the journey to change the face of Buriram United, Newin Chidchob built Thunder Castle – a 32,600-seat stadium with 5-star facilities. This is the most modern specialized football field in Thailand, meeting the strict standards of FIFA. Besides, a variety of other items also spring up around such as restaurants, hotels, fitness centers, convenience stores. For fans, at first, Buriram United “indirectly” sponsored the fans until it maintained the average number of spectators to the highest stadium in Thailand. This achievement is a great achievement from Hardcore – a group of enthusiastic fans of the team chaired by President Newin Chidchob’s wife. Before the troubles because of Covid-19, Buriram’s home field is always crazy With a huge audience, this creates thousands of jobs for locals. People in Buriram are very interested in buying themselves a traditional team shirt. Buriram United is the pride and symbol of the “happy city” Buriram. The Buriram United logo is plastered on cars, motorbikes, bags, etc. Every afternoon, families or small groups come together to the campus outside Thunder Castle to enjoy the fresh air. Children can freely play in a very large area, where there are football, tennis, basketball courts… for free. On the business side, Buriram United also became the flagship of the Thai League. Statistics from 2013 to now show that the team’s revenue has increased nearly 3 times. Buriram United had sales of 210 billion VND (300 million baht) in 2013 and increased to 564 billion VND (805 million baht) in 2018. Million dollar sports tourism technology After succeeding in attracting spectators to Buriram province through football, manager Newin Chidchob thought of more ways to help sports tourists stay longer in their hometown, instead of just coming to watch the football match, go to the tournament. Visit a few tourist destinations and then parted. With a keen eye, this former politician cleverly built Chang’s racetrack to become a FIA – Grade 1 race track for cars and FIM – Grade A for motorcycles; combined with Thunder Castle stadium and shopping center combined with visiting outstanding relics of ancient Khmer culture near the stadium. As a result, tourists to Buriram have many options with a busy schedule. Mr. Newin built an international standard race track Continually organizing international tournaments, racing drivers and fans flock to the “happy city” to compete and cheer. The stay rate of sports tourists in this sports segment is 3-5 days with a spending level 3 times higher than football fans, helping Buriram sports city to have a diverse tourist segment. Newin Chidchob’s effective development strategy has contributed to local development. The combination of football in particular or sports in general with the resort service business is not new in Thailand. People often call it sports tourism, and this is the area where Thailand is aiming to develop its economy through the combination of tourism and sports, after pure tourism in Thailand has developed to a storm. peace. Thanks to the diverse sports ecosystem that Newin Chidchob has built over the past decade, Buriram’s economy has flourished, especially tourism. According to statistics in 2009, visitors to Buriram were only about 800,000 people, but in 2016 it increased nearly 3 times. Revenue increased from 808 million baht to 2.4 billion baht. It is estimated that each year Buriram United and its ecosystem attract 1.8 million visitors out of a total of 2.5 million to Buriram. Organizers estimate that if each visitor spends about 2,000 baht when arriving in Buriram, the local economy will earn approximately 5 billion baht (about 3500 billion VND). This is a huge number, a “dream” for any country in the region coveted with its tourism and sports business strategy.