SINCE its release in December 2012, the unexpected Chinese biggest box-office hit, Lost in Thailand, has sent a ripple across the entire tourism industry in Thailand.
The number of Chinese visitors to Thailand posted a dramatic 93.5 per cent year-on-year increase in the first quarter of 2013, or 1,122,691 Chinese footfalls between January and March this year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Thailand.
Meanwhile, trade members are now bracing for the impact on the MICE segment.
Vichaya Soonthornsaratoon, director of meetings industry department, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), said: “The movie has currently created more impact on the leisure market rather than MICE. However, it has also made Chiang Mai an emerging destination that (Chinese) MICE planners have to look into.”
Grace Chen Ren, manager, China market, Asian Trails Thailand, said: “We have been receiving more Chinese MICE enquiries for Chiang Mai since early this year, as well as some teambuilding requests in the (capital) city. Some Chinese groups that come to Bangkok for meetings or conferences also include an inspection or sightseeing trip to Chiang Mai now.”
Although Bangkok-based CCT MICE has not received any bookings from China to Chiang Mai this year, MICE director Davidstone Sek expects “interest to pick up later this year as Chinese MICE movement to Thailand is usually at the start of the year or year-end”.
Hotels are already seeing the effect on Chinese FITs. Furama Chiang Mai’s hotel manager, Wirachart Watthaphanich, has witnessed “a big jump in the number of leisure tourists from China since end-2012” and is optimistic that Chinese MICE business will grow.
He said: “Both Lost In Thailand and the new (Chiang Mai International Convention and Exhibition Centre) will (boost) Chinese MICE business to our hotel – I’m expecting a softer growth of 10-15 per cent this year and perhaps 20 per cent or more for 2014. But we need a strong marketing push from the authorities, especially in the meeting and conference sector.”
– Read more in TTG Show Daily – IT&CM China
