Thailand aims for boost in MICE business through IT&CMA

A total of 60 Thai companies will be exhibiting at the Asia-Pacific region’s biggest trade show for the Incentive Travel, Conventions and Meetings industry when it opens at the Impact Convention and Exhibition Centre on November 3.

The Thai contingent will be the biggest of the 266 exhibitors at the show,  called the IT&CMA, now in the second year of a three-year run in Bangkok.  Hong Kong is the second biggest with 35 exhibitors, Malaysia 33 and  Singapore 30, respectively.

TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing, Mrs. Phornsiri Manoharn, says the  IT&CMA will give Thailand a major opportunity to showcase all the new products, services and facilities that are emerging in this lucrative sector of the travel and tourism industry.

“Promoting meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) is a  major component of our plans to make Thailand the ‘Tourism Capital of  Asia’ by 2006, she said.

“We are working to develop Thailand not just as a centre of tourism  but a centre of excellence in associated fields like sports, fashion, food, health and spa, meetings and conventions, film-making, automobile production, information technology and many more industry sectors.

“All these sectors are major generators of MICE events in their own right, so the future growth potential is huge,” Mrs. Phornsiri said.

According to a survey of the Thai MICE industry, in 2002, Thailand hosted 1,551 international conventions and meetings, an increase of 45.5% over 2001.

The total attendance at MICE functions and events was 412,919, up 23.12% over 2001, the number of accompanying delegates was 59,365, up 21.50 % over 2001,and total revenue generated from these events, including expenditure by accompanying delegates, is estimated at 34,297 million baht, up 23.75% over 2001.

This year is expected to see a slight drop in the total number of events and participants, but a return to growth is anticipated as of next year.

Mrs. Phornsiri noted that major improvements are taking place in the quality of Thai convention centres, along with increased access to provincial destinations.

Both the Impact Convention and Exhibition Centre and the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC) are adding several thousand square metres of additional space.

In August 2004, the opening of the new underground mass transit system will provide improved access to the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre with one station located right next to it.

A vastly improved road network linking Bangkok with Pattaya has helped boost business at the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall. The liberalisation of domestic aviation is leading to improved accessibility to Phuket, Chiang Mai and a number of other cities in the Mekong region.

"The aviation sector will get a major boost when Bangkok’s second international airport, Suvarnabhumi, opens in 2005," Mrs. Phornsiri said.

“All these developments, along with a strong economy, will lay the  foundation for a major growth in the MICE business, especially in the wake of the safe and successful conclusion of the recent APEC summit which gave Thailand invaluable exposure around the world,” she added.