business events in Thailand

The marketing and promotion of Thailand's lucrative Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (M.I.C.E.) business is currently facing a revamp, following the formation of the Convention and Exhibition Bureau (CEB) in September 2002.

CEB will be an umbrella grouping of all the industry associations as well as government and non-governmental organisations, and will assist them in securing increased business from international meeting planners.
CEB is seen as an important part of the overall concept of positioning Thailand as the “Tourism Capital of Asia”, especially its focus on attracting “quality” visitors. Because of their high-spending potential, M.I.C.E. delegates are seen as being the most desirable category of “quality” visitors.

The government sees attracting M.I.C.E. delegates as an important and indirect form of promoting the export of products manufactured under the One Tambon, One Product scheme. It is also determined to move ahead with developing cross-sectoral linkages between M.I.C.E. events and other important economic sectors, like automobiles, film-making, fashion and gems & jewellery.

According to the most recent statistics available from the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) out of a total of 2,865 international association meetings held around the world, Thailand ranked 23rd. Countries at the top of the league are the U.S., Spain and the U.K. Thailand was in fourth place among Asia-Pacific countries, after Australia, Japan and South Korea.

In 2002, convention delegates to Thailand totalled 106,853, up 19.15% over 2001. These figures do not include those who came for meetings, exhibitions and incentives.

Numerically, the largest generators of convention delegates to Thailand were Malaysia (15,226) and Singapore (8,194). Interestingly, countries that reported among the biggest increases in convention delegates in 2002 were Laos (+165.92% to 7,842), Vietnam (+53.32% to 4,572) and Cambodia (+148.90% to 2,601).

Laos is now the third largest generator of convention delegates to Thailand. Delegates from the Greater Mekong Subregion countries see it as being a lot cheaper to attend conferences and exhibitions closer to home than take long-haul trips to more developed countries.

Also reporting a huge growth in convention delegates was India (+53% to 5,286).
CEB’s job will be to attract both convention delegates as well as those for meetings, exhibitions and incentives. Administratively, it will come under the chairmanship of a Deputy Prime Minister with a board of directors appointed by the Cabinet. Funding of 350 million baht has been approved to get it up and running with proper office space and staff, including an executive director.

CEB’s main responsibilities and activities will be to:
• Implement a supporting plan for growing the Thai M.I.C.E. industry.
• Act as a coordination and facilitation centre for M.I.C.E. business operators.
• Support all organisations in hosting meetings and incentive travel and holding exhibitions in Thailand, including support when bidding for major events to be held in the kingdom.
• Act as an information centre and provide services for the Thai M.I.C.E. industry, including research and statistics.
• Support the holding of seminars and human resource training programmes for M.I.C.E. businesses in Thailand.
• Boost cooperation with international M.I.C.E. associations to gain access to their data-banks and contacts.
• Coordinate with government organisations to improve customs and other regulations to make it more convenient to execute M.I.C.E. events.

According to CEB marketing plan, it will focus on 32 international markets:
• 15 Asia-Pacific countries: Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, India, Israel, U.A.E., Australia and New Zealand.
• 14 European markets: U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, Russia, Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland) and Benelux (Belgium and the Netherlands).
• The U.S.A., Canada and South Africa.

As a direct result of CEB’s formation, all the convention promotion responsibilities formerly under the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) have been transferred over to CEB. However, it has raised concern among the Thailand Incentive and Convention Association (TICA) about its future role and responsibilities.

TICA was set up in 1984 to do exactly what CEB is to be doing in future. Today, TICA includes mainly hotels, tour operators, convention organisers and attractions. Associate members include suppliers of products and services to the M.I.C.E. industry.

TICA’s main concern is that it will lose the matching fund support of three million baht a year that it has been given since its inception by the TAT. This will mean that as of 2004, TICA will have to fund itself.

TAT has said that it will continue its support for the M.I.C.E. sector until the changes taking place are finalised. However, it maintains that TICA can remain in operation and decide for itself what new roles and responsibilities it wishes to assume.

TAT’s Deputy Governor for International Marketing Mrs. Phornsiri Manoharn told a recent TICA seminar, “Until all these (changes) are finalised, TAT will remain in dialogue and contact with both TICA and CEB to see how all the responsibilities can be divided in such a way that allows Thailand to maintain its high-profile presence at international M.I.C.E. events and that Thailand continues to get its fair share of the market.”

Khun Phornsiri said that TAT will continue to support both TICA and CEB through all its offices, both in Thailand and abroad. “We will continue to advertise, participate in trade shows, produce film clips, analyse markets and collect the relevant data,” she said.

One suggestion is the recruitment of managers or marketing representatives to target just the M.I.C.E. market to be attached to TAT offices overseas. Khun Phornsiri said TAT will also work with government organisations like immigration, customs, airports and police to coordinate the needs of M.I.C.E. event organisers.

Thailand has no shortage of impressive facilities for M.I.C.E. events. There are three large convention and exhibition halls in Bangkok itself — QSNCC, BITEC and Impact. Upcountry, the PEACH in Pattaya is gaining ground. Large auditoriums in many institutions nationwide, as well as sports stadiums, can be used for conventions and exhibitions. Hotel facilities in main tourism provinces are more than adequate.

New plans include developing the potential for promoting M.I.C.E. events in places like Phuket as well as North and Northeast Thailand.

In 2003, the M.I.C.E. business is getting a major boost by the convening of a series of high-level meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) caucus, which will culminate in October with a summit of the region’s political and business leaders. These meetings are attracting hundreds of important government officials and private sector executives to Thailand; the leaders' summit alone is expected to be attended by 3,000 journalists.

Plans are being mulled to ensure that these meetings pay long-term dividends. TAT officials say that the APEC forums will clearly enhance the importance of M.I.C.E. events among the government agencies. At the same time, the industry will gain a huge database of high-level participants, who could be targetted for direct-marketing campaigns to hold future conventions in Thailand.

Some major travel industry meetings are also due in Thailand this year.
The Thailand and the Greater Mekong Subregion travel expo will be held during 16-18 September 2003. This Thailand Travel Mart (TTM) Plus Amazing Gateway will showcase the exciting tourism products of Thailand and the GMS countries.
The World Youth and Student Travel Congress (WYSTC), the world’s biggest youth and student travel conference, will be held in Pattaya between 12-18 October 2003.

Finally, of direct relevance to the M.I.C.E. industry, the Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meeting Asia (IT & CMA), the region’s most important trade fair for the M.I.C.E. market, will again be held in Bangkok between 4-6 November 2003.
TAT is also promoting domestic M.I.C.E. events. On 29 July, it organised the first domestic M.I.C.E. Mart, designed to showcase M.I.C.E. products and services to representatives of dozens of Thai and multinational companies based in Thailand.

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