TCEB takes major steps to foster domestic MICE industry
The Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) is undergoing restructuring that will put greater effort into strengthening the domestic MICE industry, the bureau said.
At the press conference on Monday at Pathumwan Princess Hotel in Bangkok, TCEB president Chiruit Isarangkun na Ayuthaya said that the domestic MICE market has been overlooked and receives attention only when the international market is down.
The MICE industry is an area that deals with organising, hosting, and taking part in business and leisure events.
Chiruit said that TCEB recognises the significance of the domestic MICE industry, citing the figure between the pre-Covid period (2017-2019) which saw a steady growth rate averaging 5%.
The TCEB chief pointed out that in 2022, the number of Thai MICE travellers totalled 5,617,502 people, while overseas MICE travellers totalled 358,306. They generated roughly 25 billion and 18 billion baht respectively.
The MICE market in the country needs to be repositioned to be as important as the overseas market, he added.
Chiruit said that TCEB has reshuffled its teams and set up its Domestic MICE Market Promotion Department (DMICE) to promote the industry to be in line with the concept of “New MICE Perspectives - Discover Your MICE Experience in Thailand”.
With this action, TCEB anticipates 59 billion baht in revenue from the predicted 17.79 million domestic MICE travellers.
According to the new DMICE management structure following area-based strategy, there are TCEB regional offices in four regions, namely Central (including eastern and western parts), North, Northeast, and South. In keeping with the principle of decentralisation, each regional office is responsible for drawing up a domestic MICE development plan.
Meanwhile, Kanokporn Damrongkul, DMICE market director, said that the DMICE is already working on its five-year roadmap.
Kanokporn said the DMICE would support MICE businesses, connect them with one another, and take care of the environment around the main locations of MICE events.
Chiruit said that the four regional offices of TCEB — North, Northeast, East-West-Central, and South — will develop their own plans to promote the MICE industry in their areas.
Suvatchai Nimmantevin, the head of the northern office, said that apart from two provinces recognised as MICE cities — Chiang Mai and Phitsanulok — two other provinces have the potential to be MICE cities, namely Chiang Rai and Sukhothai.
Suvatchai said that food is a strong point of the region, citing the northern food in Chiang Mai, which has been awarded by Unesco.
He added that the region could be designated as the destination for international conferences on tea and coffee, which are mostly planted in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.
As for the Northeast region, Areerat Montreepreechachai said the region could provide visitors with unique experiences.
She added that the region has the potential to become a transportation hub, as it will see the high-speed train soon.
This year, TCEB has launched four new MICE routes that have been created in the region in which CO2 emission will be measured throughout the journey to identify the emission of each person per trip.
Suratsa Thongmee, who oversees the Central, East, and West regions, said that 80% of MICE events are taking place in these regions, adding that Bangkok has already become an international MICE city.
She said that she currently focuses on distributing MICE events to other potential cities like Kanchanaburi, Phetchaburi, and Prachuap Khiri Khan.
The region will host several significant events in the coming months, including the GMS Logistics, which will run from June 28-30, the CVTEC MICE Business Roadshow (July 19-21), and the EEC Cluster Fair (September 6-9).
For the southern region, Pattanachai Singhavara, who is the director of the southern office, said he is putting his focus on bidding for the rights to organise Specialised Expo 2028 in Phuket.
He said that 124 nations would vote to determine who should host the event, adding that the voting would take place next week.
Thailand holds a good chance of winning the bid to host the event, he added.
Pattanachai pointed out that food was a strong point of the region, saying that he was planning the Vegetarian Festival celebration event in Phuket.
TCEB would promote its events via its social media platforms, overseen by the specialised team.
(co-writer: Nuttida Chowvigran)
