MENALAC Member Talk With Ghassan Assi COO, Trampo Extreme

Active Entertainment has grown intensely popular as we look to promote healthy active lifestyles, cognitive development and social interaction among our future generations while veering them away from digital and socially disconnected spaces.

The world’s largest indoor cave, the region’s biggest soft-play area and huge trampolining centres sum up award-winning TRAMPO EXTREME’s ambitious mission of popularizing Active Entertainment and raising a healthy community in the region. We are delighted to be in conversation with Mr. Ghassan Assi, COO, TRAMPO EXTREME on the brand’s ethos, recent successes, his trend thoughts and what the future holds for his brand.

Congratulations on celebrating your 7th Anniversary and on bringing to the region the World’s Largest Indoor Artificial Caves – another superlative to the region. We are excited to know more about your brand and its ethos, especially keeping in mind the future generations that will be shaped here.

Early on, while developing the concept, we went on a trip down memory lane rediscovering our own childhood games. Jump, climb, crawl … repeat.

This is what our children miss in their lives, so we endeavored at delivering the same exhilarating immersive sensations but safely and securely in a welcoming and engaging environment.

If we learned one thing from the Covid19 pandemic is that we are social beings and we, as our children, need social interaction. We feel comfortable in groups and communities that share our values and ideals, and this is what we have strived at creating both for our guests, and at the back office and corporate levels.?

We are social beings and we, as our children, need social interaction.

Enlighten us more about your brand in terms of the number of operations, the scale of operations, staff strength and the countries that you operate in? Also a quick note on how you stayed afloat through the pandemic.

TRAMPO EXTREME started in 2015 with a pilot project in Kuwait and by end of 2019 we were operating 7 locations in Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE and Oman. Then the world came to a standstill. The leisure & entertainment sector was the hardest hit during the crisis, we were the first to close and the last to open.?

Our focus shifted from growth to keeping the company afloat, so to reduce cost we restructured bank loans, renegotiated lease agreements, merged departments, closed marginally performing facilities, …etc.. and most importantly we got a cash injection from TRAMPO EXTREME owners. When Kuwait reopened on 1 Sept 2021, we were literally running on fumes.

At the moment, we have 2 facilities in Kuwait and have negotiated a new location due to open in 2025. In the UAE we have 3 facilities, in Oman 1 and in Qatar 1. We are also actively pursuing, for 2023, a second location in Qatar and potentially entering the Bahrain market. Across all countries we are roughly 400+ employees. Strategies are developed in Kuwait while tactical implementations are localized.

As a MENALAC AWARD WINNER in the Best Adventure/Sport based Entertainment category in 2020, what is it that sets your brand apart from similar brands?

There are a lot of very worthy competitors in the region, and what set us apart is that we are local. We listen to our clients, we are safe and secure and we are very family-friendly. Hence our customers find value in our proposition.

Your brand offers a unique blend of active play attractions where kids can jump, climb, cave, leap, slide, sky trail, zipline or play. How has the audience response been to the varied offerings in these different countries? Have you had to adapt & evolve in different countries??

We certainly had to localize the offering to the local market, but this is less than 10% of content. The content did not change, what changed are the channels to reach the customers and our products and services.

We discovered that the attraction and appeal of active play, at the macro level, permeates across markets with a certain level of universality. This is even true, to a certain extent, at the micro level. We noticed for example that certain climbs are popular across all locations and others are not.

Caving is a relatively new trend in the region? How has the young audience reacted to this? Do you have caves at all your venues?

What are the other trends in Indoor Active Entertainment that you see on the horizon??

We constructed the caving facility in Dubai during the Covid-19, with all the challenges this entailed. We are still tweaking the operation and commercialization of the activity. We are optimistic as its appeal is growing month to month. We can see the numbers increase on a regular basis. We will need to operate this pilot project for a good year and do a thorough 360 degrees analysis for security and safety, appeal, engagement, profitability …etc… prior to taking the decision to roll it out to the other locations.

As regards the upcoming trends, one of our competitive advantages is that we monitor the active play universe regularly and attend several events and exhibitions. We are very excited with the concepts coming down the pipeline and you just have to stay tuned. Do not want to ruin the surprise!!?

Yours has been a popular homegrown brand that has grown across the region within a short time. Any tips that you would like to share on growing across the region?

Nerves of steel and a positive view of the future. When entering a new market, Murphy’s Law applies par excellence: “whatever can go wrong will go wrong”. Hence you need to be calm to overcome the immediate challenge and optimistic to keep the end game in site.

The keys to a successful growth beyond the home market are a good plan, a great team, and support from the owners. At TRAMPO EXTREME we are fortunate to have these keys aligned.

How is the summer looking for Trampo with school vacations having started?

So far so good, but we expect a general slowdown. Many families did not travel last summer because of the Covid-19 pandemic and are expected to travel this year. We have designed a lot of activities for the summer period, but the slowdown seems inevitable.

TRAMPO EXTREME has been a continued and earnest support to MENALAC and all our industry initiatives. Thank you. Can you share your thoughts on the benefits of being part of an industry association and its initiatives?

We find great value in our association with MENALAC. We have networked and shared ideas with industry leaders across the region. This was particularly helpful during the Covid -19 pandemic. This is in addition to building strategic relationship with suppliers, potential partners, and getting market intelligence via the survey conducted by MENALAC.?