SE Asia's leisure firms eye World Cup cash

SE Asia's leisure firms eye World Cup cash

Reuters, Singapore

With World Cup fever catching across the region, Southeast Asia's fun spots are cranking up their gimmick machines to score profits.

Resorts, retailers and even massage parlors have come up with enterprising ways to woo customers in the soccer-mad region in the run-up to the month-long extravaganza in South Korea on May 31.

Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts is offering "World Cup Widow" packages to keep bored women busy while their spouses and boyfriends are glued to the TV.

"During World Cup season, men basically dream, walk, talk and live football," Reene Ho, the group's marketing communications director, told Reuters.

"Since the wives and girlfriends will be neglected during this season, why not make the men pay for a trip for them to go with their girlfriends to a resort?"

She said the bulk of female travelers going to the Angsana resort near the Great Barrier Reef are from Australia, the United States and Europe, while Hong Kong and Singapore women prefer the Bintan resort in Indonesia.

Soccer fever in Thailand and Singapore, which have legions of dedicated fans, is building.

Giant photographs of England captain David Beckham and striker Michael Owens adorn hoardings across Bangkok to advertise soft drinks.

It's less frenetic in Jakarta, where the biggest promotion to date has been a mass ball dribbling by 2002 players through the main streets of Jakarta organized by soft drink giant Coca-Cola.

If all the hype is too much, there's always the Philippines.

Although the World Cup is being held in Asia for the first time, the archipelago of 76 million people is unmoved. No games are being shown on television, not even on cable.