Thailand makes plans to be a regional MICE hub
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) plans to promote Thailand as a regional hub of the meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) business, and believes it will achieve its goal by 2010.
The organisation also aims to boost revenue from the MICE business by 25 per cent this year to Bt59 billion, following last year's growth of 20 per cent to Bt50.2 billion. To support the plan, the bureau has signed a contract with Paris-based UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, to organise training facilities in Thailand for Asia's first-ever exhibition management degree, said TCEB's chairwoman, Pojai Pookakupt. Thailand was chosen to provide the new education programme for the Asia-Pacific region, beating other country candidates such as China, Singapore and South Korea. Under a first-year plan, the programme will train Thai and foreign MICE business specialists to increase their personnel management ability and skills in the industry. About 15 Thai exhibitors are expected to take part, while 15 foreign students will join the training programme. The TCEB also plans to train 200 Thai university lecturers per year so they can transfer knowledge to small and medium-sized MICE enterprises. Last year, there were about 677,500 MICE business owners in Thailand, and the number is expected to reach 870,000 this year. Pojai said Thailand has high potential to become a world centre for MICE business, despite the country's political uncertainty. "Foreign investors and visitors remain confident in the country's economic growth and the efficiency of the private sector to operate businesses. If the government controls political uncertainty, then Thailand should still be a centre for event organisers in the region," she said. Since personnel development is a key for MICE business development, the training programme will not only increase skills development for domestic enterprises, but also increase tourism income. "The Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions business can help double the revenue [Thailand gets from] regular tourism," she said. On average, regular foreign travellers spend between Bt7,000 and Bt9,000 in the country per visit. The curriculum for the exhibition management degree will consist of four courses covering 150 hours of tuition, and the cost of educating each student will be between Bt170,000 and Bt200,000. The first course will begin on March 26 in Bangkok.
Petchanet Pratruangkrai The Nation
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