Political unrest could hurt MICE industry in 2014

More than 100 MICE events planned for the next three months will go ahead as scheduled. Among them are “ITU Telecom World”, to be held from November 19-21 with 20,000 attendants, and “CNBC Exchange 2013 and Asia Business Leader Awards” tomorrow and Thursday, with 100 participants including foreign ones. They are two major events for this year.

TCEB president Nopparat Maythaveekulchai said the current political demonstrations were considered acceptable. However, if the situation gets violent and exposes MICE travellers to an unsafe environment, that could result in a negative impact on the industry.

“The country has witnessed severe incidents of political unrest in the past years, but the number of MICE travellers coming to Thailand did not face a decline,” he said.

The long-term outlook for Thailand’s continuing competitiveness in this market is optimistic, despite political uncertainty. In fact, he said the major threats to the industry were not local politics but a sluggish economy and a lack of infrastructure readiness. 

Besides, the country’s MICE destinations are not limited to Bangkok. Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Pattaya, and Phuket are also capable of hosting such events. The combined facilities in those four cities are double what Bangkok has now. Still, the capital is currently the country’s major MICE destination.

Supawan Teerarat, TCEB vice president for strategic and business development, said that normally when political problems arose in Thailand, foreign governments warned their people about coming here. However, there has been no impact on arrivals since the latest flare-up. 

She said the violent political unrest in past years had put a cloud over the industry by delaying events. As competition heats up, it is essential for the bureau to move ahead with its plan to promote the industry globally. Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are among emerging rivals in this region.

In the meantime, the bureau remains on high alert, monitoring the situation and preparing plans to minimise any impact. Updating information on its website to inform parties abroad and maintaining communication with stakeholders such as venue operators and state agencies on a daily basis are among the first-priority tasks. Situation analysis is also in focus. 

The TCEB is not revising its growth forecasts for next year although recognising that politics is still a risk. It projects that the number of MICE travellers will rise by about 5 per cent to 987,000, while total revenue will increase by 10 per cent to Bt96.9 billion compared to the same period this year. Its policy is to attract more high-spending MICE travellers.Asia will be the key growth driver, representing 65 per cent of total market, with 641,550 MICE travellers spending about Bt62.98 billion in the TCEB’s projection, followed by 12 cent from Europe with 118,440 travellers spending of about Bt11.62 billion, and 8 per cent from North America with 78,960 travellers spending about Bt7.75 billion. 

Others will be from Oceania and Africa.