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.