TCEB intensifies courtship of mega-size events

THE Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has unveiled its strategic direction for 2016, highlighting key strategies to attract more large-scale meetings and incentives (M&I) by allocating a sales promotion budget under the Thailand Big Thanks! campaign

Nooch Homrossukhon, director of meetings and incentives, TCEB, said: “The emergence of mega-size M&I has been our new target over the past three years. We have put in place strategic plans, from raising awareness of Thailand as a premiere destination for M&I travel in Asia, to increasing marketing development activities through products and services promotions, and VIP receptions to event logistics and facilitation.”

The Thailand Big Thanks! campaign was created to help drive the M&I travel sector through a financial subsidy scheme of up to two million baht (US$257,740) for eligible events with more than 2,000 international delegates staying at least three nights in Thailand. The package started on October 1, 2015 and will run through to September 30, 2017, but travel must take place between October 1, 2015 until December 31, 2017.

Nopparat Maythaveekulchai, TCEB president, said: “With high spending power, every mega-size event can help inject healthy MICE revenue into our economy.”

While China is a major contributor, other key source markets for Thailand’s M&I drive include other Asian countries. Secondary markets include the US, Europe and Oceania.

“We believe that the effectiveness of the mega-size strategy for M&I sector, along with support for (other mega events), will play a vital role driving the Thai MICE industry to achieve this year’s target of 1,060,000 MICE travellers, and help to generate 92,000 million baht in MICE revenue for our economy,” Nopparat concluded.

In 2015, Thailand welcomed a total of 1,095,995 MICE travellers from around the world, generating 95,857 million baht in MICE revenue. Of these, 516,663 travellers and 44,533 million baht were from the M&I sector.

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