TCEB awaits new chance for World Expo 2020
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau is looking for another opportunity to state its case for hosting the World Expo 2020 after the secretary-general of the Bureau of International Expositions cancelled his attendance at the BOI Fair.
“The TCEB is underlining inviting the key person from the BIE to the country so that it will understand more about Thailand’s readiness for the World Expo,” TCEB president Akkapol Sorasuchart said yesterday.
The TCEB had invited Vicente Loscertales, who oversees the selection of the host country, to visit the Kingdom from January 15-18. He had been scheduled to deliver the keynote address on January 16 on the topic “Innovation, Economic Impact and Investment Opportunities from the World Expo” at the CEO Forum, which will be held for two days concurrently with the fair. The BOI Fair is running from now through January 20 at Impact Muang Thong Thani.
Akkapol said the cancellation of the BIE head’s trip came after the BOI Fair 2011 was postponed until this month. However, the TCEB will invite Loscertales or other executives of the BIE to come the country soon, particularly during international events.
The Rotary International Conven-tion, for instance, will be held from May 6-9 at Impact. The TCEB expects that this four-day event will attract at least 30,000 delegates, and it has earmarked about Bt300 million to support the event.
The TCEB, as part of the “Thailand Team”, will join forces with key government agencies including the Commerce and Foreign ministries and the Tourism Authority of Thailand to conduct roadshows and promotions in a bid to build confidence among the 158 BIE members. The TCEB has to complete the details for the World Expo 2020 bid by October. These important points will be the basis for the BIE’s decision, which will be made by a committee in November 2013.
Thailand still stands a chance of clinching the bid with its strong theme and positioning as the centre of the Asean region even though the budget for the bid was cut for fiscal 2012. The overall budget for the TCEB this year should be about Bt570 million, excluding the assistance for the Rotary convention.
Thailand faces tough competition after the countries planning to enter the bidding increased from two to five. Besides Thailand’s Ayutthaya, the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai, Russia’s Yekaterinburg, Brazil’s Sao Paolo and Turkey’s Izmir are now in the running.
