TCEB inks MoU with Philippine trade

THE Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) yesterday inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with two major private business organisations, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands (CCPI).

The MoU aims to enhance bilateral trade between Thailand and the Philippines in the areas of MICE, trade economy information and trade exchange missions. TCEB will tap PCCI’s and CCPI’s business networks comprising veteran companies, mostly established for 25 years or longer.

The Philippines was the third country, after Vietnam and Laos, to be selected as a strategic MICE partner because of its size and overall potential, said TCEB president Nopparat Maythaveekulchai.

“In the last few years we’ve seen more businessmen from the Philippines attending trade fairs in agriculture, food, FMCG (e.g. cosmetics), energy, medical and healthcare,” he noted.

To encourage growth in trade visitor numbers, TCEB will be employing its 100 A-Head trade visitor promotion programme, which offers a US$100 subsidy per visitor for groups of 15 to 500.

100 A-Head is offered to ASEAN countries, China, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. So far only 1,500 to 2,000 visitors have availed of it, about a tenth of the total number from the Philippines.

The Philippines sent 16,745 MICE visitors to Thailand in 2012, mostly for incentives and corporate meetings, according to Supawan Teerarat, TCEB’s vice president, strategic and business development.

Teerarat projects a 15 per cent increase in corporate and business entity visits, particularly from Manila and Cebu, in the coming year.

TCEB will conduct a ‘business matching’ event next week, between 20 key Thailand MICE players and 100 to 150 Manila-based travel companies.

It will also hold a fam trip for select Philippine travel consultants next month, in partnership with the Association of Thai Travel Agents and Thai Airways.

Although foreign incentive groups are known to favour destinations such as Bangkok, Phuket, and Chiang Mai, TCEB hopes to increase traffic to Pattaya and Khon Kaen.

“Our focus for this fam trip is to find (new) products in Bangkok and the outskirts, for big incentive groups, luxury travellers, and corporations,” Teerarat added.

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