Nok Air ticket sales take off at SF Cinema

       SF Cinema City yesterday announced the launch of a new ticketing service for low-cost carrier Nok Air, marking the first time cinema box offices have sold airline tickets in this country.
       The company is negotiating with another three service vendors over providing ticketing and bill payment services, which are considered a value-added feature of its core cinema business.
       Suvit Thongrompo, managing director of SF Cinema City, yesterday said the ticketing service offered for Nok Air would cater to the lifestyle of urban people, who demand one-stop services and convenience. It will provide win-win benefits to both Nok Air and SF Cinema City, both of which are able to provide better services to customers.
       "For SF, we would like to provide a service for tickets that are beyond just movie tickets. We are quite ready in terms of ticketing system and IT, as well as a strong cinema exhibition network," he said.
       Suvit added that under the strategic partnership, consumers would be able to buy Nok Air tickets at all 11 SF Cinema's box offices in Bangkok and another two in Phuket.
       "We have conducted a soft launch for Nok Air ticketing service since the beginning of this month, getting a very good response from customers. About 300 Nok Air tickets, worth Bt500,000 in total, have been sold so far through our box offices," said Suvit.
       Patee Sarasin, CEO of Nok Air, said a cinema represented a good location because it is where family members spend time together. At theatres, they can discuss holiday plans and make final decisions on where they want to take a weekend trip together - and can now also buy air tickets immediately.
       Nok Air provides domestic routes to seven provinces: Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Hat Yai, Phuket, Trang and Surat Thani.
       Suvit said SF Cinema City provided its own theatre ticketing services via four major channels - box office, online service, mobile telephone and call centre.
       "We expect to sell 1.2 million movie tickets this year, which is up 20 per cent over last year," he said.
       "It is a good sign that many of our strategic locations like SF World Cinema at CentralWorld, which has 15 theatre screens, have performed very well with 20-per-cent year-on-year growth in ticket sales so far this year."
       He added that the company had opened SF Cinema complexes in six new locations this year. The latest complexes will be opened on October 28 in Bang Saen, and at CentralPlaza Khon Kaen on December 3.
       "We will also open cinemas in two or three new locations in Bangkok and upcountry next year. The investment will be between Bt20 million and Bt30 million per theatre," said Suvit.
       He added that the company would also renovate theatres at MBK shopping centre, Central Lat Phrao and The Emporium.
       Suvit said SF Cinema City had achieved year-on-year growth of between 12 and 13 per cent in ticket sales in the first nine months of the year.
       The company, however, expects to achieve better growth of more than 30 per cent year on year in the fourth quarter, driven by a strong line-up of expected Thai and Hollywood blockbusters, such as "2012", "The Twilight Saga: New Moon", "Avatar", "Yam Yasothorn 2" and "Ong-Bak 3".
       The overall cinema industry is expected to grow about 10 per cent this year in terms of ticket sales, Suvit said.