THE THAILAND Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has awarded Ubon Ratchathani with MICE City status, as part of its plans to stimulate the domestic events industry through the new Believe in Thailand: D-MICE campaign.
This brings the total number of MICE Cities to seven, including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Songkhla, Chonburi, Pitsanulok and Khon Kaen.
TCEB president Akapol Sorasuchart said a catalogue highlighting MICE facilities and services in the seven cities had been created.
Going forward, Akapol said TCEB would focus on organising buyer-meet-seller events, expanding popular exhibitions to the MICE Cities, and strengthening manpower training, particularly in four key MICE destinations – Phuket, Chiang Mai, Pattaya (Chonburi) and Hat Yat (Songkhla).
According to Akapol, domestic MICE business is expected to almost double from three years ago, to reach 2.5 million delegates and 20 billion baht (US$668 million) in revenue next year.
However, support from the government is currently lacking, with only eight million of the 90 million baht TCEB was seeking for next year’s budget to boost domestic MICE having been approved so far.
By Sirima Eamtako
