The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has brought its exhibition venue standards to the regional level after Asean tourism ministries reached a deal on the criteria at a recent meeting in Vietnam.
The 38th Asean Tourism Forum in Halong also acknowledged the meeting room category, another metric proposed by the TCEB.
Supawan Teerarat, senior vice-president for strategic business development and innovation at the TCEB, said Thailand has played a key role in standard certification for Mice (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions) on a regional scale.
Officials have sought to promote equivalent Mice venue standards and enhance strengths with regard to competitiveness in global markets.
At last week's meeting in Halong, the tourism ministries of all 10 Asean nations agreed on two categories of Asean Mice Venue Standards (AMVS): the meeting room category and the exhibition venue category.
Development of new venues has become a national agenda item in each country as the region looks to draw international trade fairs.
According to research by Business Strategies Group Ltd, a Hong Kong-based consultancy, organisers in 2018 were able to sell space at trade fairs in Asia for as many as 2,353 events.
In 2016, Asean agreed to use Thailand's Mice Venue Standards as the model for the development of AMVS.
Member countries have begun to adopt standards for convention rooms in hotels and resorts. AMVS-certified countries are as follows: Brunei, three venues; Cambodia, five venues; Indonesia, five venues; Laos, five venues; Malaysia, five venues; Myanmar, five venues; the Philippines, five venues; Singapore, four venues; Vietnam, five venues; Thailand, 13 venues.
For Thailand, the results of venue standard certification were satisfactory in 2018, with the number of certified Mice venues totalling 33, the most in Asean.