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Major exhibition and convention operators in Thailand estimated that the MICE industry would fail to achieve the projected growth rate due to many negative factors.

Paul Kanjanpas, managing director of Impact Exhibition and Convention Centre, said business would grow 5-10 per cent in 2009, below expectation.

He added that the growth of business this year would be flat due to the political turmoil and the financial crisis.

However, he expected MICE business to return to normal if the political situation is solved.

Kamolnai Chaixanien, president of Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC), expected growth of 5-6 per cent in 2009, down from the planned 10 per cent.

However, he was confident business will not get any worse. He believed many exhibitors and businessmen would choose Thailand as the meeting place.

QSNCC has a Bt50-million budget for renovation, which is scheduled to be completed next year.

To draw more MICE to the country, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) yesterday revealed its MICE Security Management System (MSMS) as the first in the world.

This will reinforce Thailand's trustworthiness to foreigners, which can boost the country's image as the leader of MICE in Asia.

Ratanaporn Chuengsanguansit, secretary-general of the Thai Industrial Standards Institute, said the system would support and build up stronger potential of the industrial sector and entrepreneurs to compete in the world market and to uplift management for sustainable development.

Setting up MSMS involves creating a blueprint of regulations in handling security involving meetings, seminars, conventions, and exhibitions in Thailand.

The system clarifies the regulations for handling security for related organisations involving meetings, seminars, conventions, and exhibitions, to evaluate its current operations, to improve its security management, and to sustain better operations in the longer run.

The procedures include policy; objectives; goals; threats; risks;vulnerability and critical assessment; related activities and procedures dealing with threats, risks, and danger involving security managements; and consequences of the goals to improve security management.

The three major convention operators, QSNCC, Impact and Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Bitec), are participating in the MSMS scheme and will be certified within the next few months.