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Published on December 24, 2007

Thailand's meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) industry will focus on promoting "green" corporate responsibility and enhancing its technologies, in a bid to become the regional leader in the MICE market.

Like many other industries, the MICE industry is facing changes in client expectations and in many countries has turned its attention to global issues of concern, such as sustainability and security, in order to make it more attractive to clients.

Copenhagen's MICE industry, for example, is strongly promoting a "green meeting" campaign. At the European Incentive and Business Travel and Meetings (EIBTM) 2007 exhibition last month in Barcelona, Spain, the Copenhagen Convention Bureau said more than 97 per cent of all meeting venues and hotels in the Danish capital were taking at least one measure to reduce the impact of their operations on the environment.

Close to two-thirds of them have a strategy for reducing water and energy use; 60 per cent use environmentally friendly cleaning and washing products; more than 50 per cent engage in waste separation at source and serve organic foods; and 16 per cent keep carbon dioxide accounts, it said.

The move towards "greener" events and trumpeting operators' social responsibility has been accelerating over the past year in many countries, including Thailand.

The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), a public organisation working as a national flagship to promote the Kingdom's MICE industry, has announced a new green-meeting campaign to promote environmental responsibility among local MICE operators.

The campaign will be launched early next year and run until 2010.

"We can no longer ignore our individual and collective responsibility for our environment, because more and more clients prefer to hold their meetings in places where operators place importance on maintaining a good environment," says recently appointed TCEB president Natwut Amornvivat.

The campaign will have both economic and ecological bottom lines.

For example, the International Congress and Convention Association's Green Report points out that reusing name-badge holders at events with more than 800 participants can save organisers as much as US$1,000 (Bt33,700).

Natwut says promoting "green" meetings will also help local operators expand their customer base in high-environmental-awareness countries, particularly in Europe.

Elizabeth Goody, a buyer at the Barcelona exhibition, says environmental issues are definitely a key concept for buyers in European countries.

"When we run a business, we prefer to choose a partner who maintains and puts something back into the economy and the environment. It is very important for us," she says.

However, to establish Thailand's MICE industry as a leading environmentally friendly host for all visitors, the Kingdom needs its own standards that are globally accepted, Natwut says.

The TCEB plans to introduce four new standards for the industry next year.

"We tried to encourage the Cabinet to approve the first two standards this year. One involves environmental care and the other, security," he says.

Local operators will not be forced to apply the standards. Instead, they will be granted certification, and in any case they will be convinced of the need for the standards by the demands of their customers.

Natwut says the expanding role of technology is also having a profound effect on the MICE industry on a professional level.

Although many foreign associations decide to hold meetings and events in Thailand, they prefer to hire foreign organisers, because they do not trust local firms, he explains.

"Therefore, we must improve our technologies to provide better services and boost our customers' confidence, particularly in terms of security," he says.

Thailand's service sector has doubled in size since 1985. It now contributes about half of the country's gross domestic product and employs more than 30 per cent of the workforce.

The MICE sector is also growing rapidly. It intends to attract more than 797,000 visitors this year, up 18 per cent from last year, while revenue created by the industry is expected to reach Bt55 billion, up from Bt47 billion.

The TCEB hopes MICE-industry revenue will reach Bt65 billion next year, up 19 per cent from this year.

"We're committed to making Thailand the leading MICE venue within Asean by 2010, while MICE visitors will reach 1.1 million in two years," says TCEB chairman MR Disnadda Diskul na Ayutthaya.

To achieve next year's target, as well as the green concept, the TCEB will continue its Royal Initiative Discovery Project, in which MICE visitors are invited to the sites of royal projects initiated by His Majesty the King to boost the living conditions of Thais.

Natwut says the organisation is planning a number of measures to help private companies bid for more convention and exhibition events, through both financial and non-financial support. The bureau has also launched a one-stop-service website as a point of contact with foreign clients.

EIBTM industry analyst Rob Davidson told the organisation's exhibition in Barcelona that the Asia-Pacific was experiencing high levels of demand for meetings and incentive-travel-related services and facilities.

He referred to an American Express business-travel forecast that demand for hotel rooms would grow more rapidly than air-travel capacity and hotel rates, both of which are expected to record double-digit growth this year.

"Demand for meetings and incentive trips continued to grow throughout the Asia-Pacific region," he said. "However, another factor behind the growth is the fact that many associations are keen to increase their memberships in China and [elsewhere in] Asia, and they are easily encouraged to hold their conferences in or close to that region, to enable potential new members to attend."

Natwut says that besides green issues and corporate social responsibility, another interesting development in the MICE industry is the trend towards carefully focusing on the content and design of meetings.

This trend responds to the fact that with today's pressures, nobody wants to attend meetings, no matter how exotic the location, unless they are going to get something very concrete for their hard-earned time and money.

"There is an increasing demand for meetings that bring value, both perceived and real, in terms of the education, motivation and opportunities for networking that they provide," he says.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation