PETALING JAYA: Yong Tai Bhd is set for a busy 2019 as it continue to put its biggest bet on its landmark project, the Impression City in Kota Laksamana, Melaka.
Its chief executive officer Datuk Wira Boo Kuang Loon said this year, the company would be focusing on bringing more audience to its live performance Encore Melaka, resolving Terra Square development’s issue and clearing up RM500 million worth of properties.
He said the company had begun to see improvement in occupancy rate for Encore Melaka at 30 per cent as at December 2018, from 12 to 13 per cent at its launch in July the same year.
Yong Tai has targeted an occupancy rate of 70 per cent daily this year.
“The show needs some time to grow in terms of number of audience but we are starting to see some positive sign. In November and December last year, we can see the improvement in terms of occupancy rates.
“Give us another three to six months. We believe that the show should be doing well,” Boo said in an interview woth NST Business last Thursday.
“During this period of time, we have dealt with a lot of travel agencies to promote our show and to include it inside their travel itinerary. The result will come in. Of course people would expect immediate result but every tourism project needs a while to grow,” he added.
The Encore Melaka theatre has an annual capacity of 1,465,000 seats based on two shows per day from a total of 2,007 seats.
According to analysts, with an estimated target of one million ticket sales annually (about 70 per cent utilisation), revenue is estimated at RM130 million based on an average ticket price of RM130.
On Terra Square issue, Boo said the company was in talks with several interested parties from Sigapore and Hong Kong.
The construction of the Terra Square development has been temporarily halted owing to funding-related issues, principally China’s capital controls which have stymied repatriation of funds.
“We are targeting to resolve the Terra Square issue by this year,” he said.
Terra Square is a mixed development project in Impression City which will comprise shop lots, a linear mall, sports mall, aquarium and a four-star hotel built on 14.6 acres of land fronting the Straits of Melaka.
Designed as a point of commerce and tourism, with over 700,000 sq ft of nett lettable floor space, Terra Square is positioned beside the Encore Melaka theatre.
Subsequently, Boo said the company was not planning on new property development during the financial year ending June 30, 2019 as it plans to clear up its RM500 million worth of inventories, mainly from three of its developments – The Dawn, The Apple in Melaka and Impression U-Thant in Kuala Lumpur.
“We still have about RM500 million balance stock. Our intention is more about to clear the stock first. I think looking at the current situation, it is also not the good timing to do any new launches,” he said.