The bureau's board approved Peerapong's resignation, which he tendered on August 1 citing personal reasons, at its monthly meeting on Monday.

The board also named Pojai Pookakupt and Charnchai Svangsopakul, both members of the executive committee, as Kajit's deputies in managing the public organisation, set up to promote Thailand as the destination of choice for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (Mice).

"As we have closely supervised TCEB so far, I am assured the operation of TCEB will continue to run smoothly and efficiently," Kajit said, adding that the recruitment of the new director-general is expected to take about four months and will be overseen by Pojai as chairman of TCEB's selection and corporate governance subcommittee.

"Our tasks concerning sales and marketing promotions have been carried out in close and constant cooperation with various concerns in both the government and private sectors," Kajit said.

The TCEB has five operations which need to be set up as soon as possible: a Mice Information Research Centre, Mice capability development, the promotion of domestic Mice businesses, a Mice mart exhibition, and the cooperation scheme with related Mice agencies - entitled "the Thai Team" - to bid for more international activities in the country.

"Aside from the focused marketing effort on meetings and incentives, the TCEB in the later part of the year will also put a higher priority on international conventions and exhibitions," Kajit said.

He added that Thailand was competitive enough when it comes to vying for international conventions and exhibitions with its main Mice rivals Singapore and Hong Kong, but said the Kingdom should be more proactive in terms of marketing activities.

This year the TCEB is organising international conventions such as Inno Bioplast 2006 in September at Siam Paragon, the 67th SKAL World Congress in October in Pattaya, and the 35th International College of Surgeons, also in October in Pattaya.

In June, the bureau successfully brought in the corporate convention of Herbalife - Herbalife Bangkok Extravaganza 2006 - held at the Impact Convention Centre and attended by more than 18,000 Herbalife members from across the Asia Pacific. About 2,000 Thai members of Herbalife also participated in the event.

Kajit said the TCEB aimed to become the one-stop service centre for Mice, assisting organisers in coordinating with both public and private parties such as the Customs Department, the Airports Authority of Thailand and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation