The Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) is rebranding itself with the goal of becoming a growth driver of the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (Mice) industry.
Thongchai: Mice prospects are bright
It is confident the new image will help to expand the industry by more than 7% this year.
Acting president Thongchai Sridama said Mice business was strong last year after TCEB adjusted to cope with market competition.
It projects 940,000 Mice visitors this year, up from 895,224 last year contributing revenue of 79.8 billion baht, he said.
"Last year's figure beat the projection of 750,000 visitors. This shows bright prospects for the industry this year, especially delegates from Asian markets, which accounted for 65% of the total last year, followed by Europeans at 11% and North Americans at 6%," he said.
Mr Thongchai said a new logo and clear business direction will be decided next month, to help it serve as a strategic business partner and business connector for Mice organisers.
The existing "Believe in Thailand" campaign was launched to restore confidence in Thailand after the political turmoil of 2010.
"A fresh campaign will be started since the situation has changed," said Mr Thongchai, adding that the new campaign will be aimed at Asean+6 markets.
The top 10 Mice visitors to Thailand are from India, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
However, TCEB remains worried about World Expo bidding due to lacklustre support from the government, and the winner will not be announced until November.
Supawan Teerarat, the TCEB's exhibition director, said this segment still has room to expand, but there is also high competition, especially from Indonesia and Vietnam.
TCEB joined hands with Thai AirAsia on a journalist programme, which invites international reporters to visit and promote events here.
Chiruit Isarangkun na Ayuthaya, the director of domestic Mice business, said this year's budget of 30 million baht is enough to boost local activities by 5-10%.
Last year saw 13.2 million domestic Mice trips for revenue of 12 billion baht. The government sector will be the main target this year.