TCEB reports good feedback at MICE fair

 

The three-day event in the German city of Frankfurt ended last Friday.

The TCEB led 19 Thai MICE (meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition) operators to IMEX to showcase Thailand’s strategy, new products and promotional campaigns to tap the lucrative European market. 

Paul Counihan, cluster director of sales and marketing, Anantara Bangkok Riverside Resort & Spa, one of the exhibitors, said the hotel welcomed more visitors at the event this year, and they expressed no doubts or questions about the country’s political situation.

Paul said Bangkok remained competitive in Asia, offering value for money and good accessibility through convenient transport. Besides a variety of accommodations, Bangkok provides visitors a wide range of experiences – culture, people and food. This is a key factor for meetings and incentive travel.

Paul said new markets were important for the exhibitors. Besides the European market, South Africa and the Middle East are high-potential markets with a growing number of business travellers to Asia.

Angkana Tangkrachang, assistant director of sales and marketing, InterContinental Bangkok, said the hotel had a 20-per-cent increase in its business appointments during the show this year. Besides professional corporate organisers from Germany and France who requested site inspections, some from the United States were also interested in holding meetings.

Chakkarin Aungpratip, assistant sales director, Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre, said this was the first time Bitec had participated in IMEX with the goal of penetrating the European market. At the show, Bitec introduced its second-phase development to accommodate exhibitions, meetings and events such as international concerts and arts performances.

“When the second-phase project is completed next year, Bitec will have the capacity to welcome more meetings and incentives,” Chakkarin said.

Supawan Teerarat, the TCEB’s vice president for strategic and business development, said the bureau continued to strengthen its presence at German and European Union business events through “Thailand Connect the World”, an integrated campaign showcasing Thailand as a gateway to Asean for global businesses. The second key initiative is “Thailand’s MICE United II”, a strategic campaign with collaboration from nine public and private organisations.

For the meetings and incentives sectors, the bureau has introduced the “Thailand: Inspiring Destination” campaign showcasing how organisers can add value to their business events with a range of fulfilling corporate social responsibility activities.

 

Subsidies 

Currently, organisers are being offered generous financial subsidies for groups of 100 or more delegates who visit Thailand for three nights or longer to attend corporate meetings or for incentive travel. Applications are open from now until June 30, and travel needs to take place before September 30. 

For groups of 200 or more, organisers will receive a subsidy of Bt100,000, while larger groups of 500 or more will receive Bt300,000, and organisers facilitating mega-incentive events with groups of 1,000 participants or more are eligible for Bt1 million.

In the 2014 fiscal year, Thailand welcomed 106,014 European MICE travellers, generating Bt9.88 billion in revenue. Among them were 30,652 meeting delegates and 23,155 incentive travellers. The top five European contributors of MICE travellers to Thailand were Britain, France, Russia, Germany and Italy.

In the first half of the 2015 fiscal year, Thailand attracted 70,316 European MICE travellers, generating Bt6.6 billion in revenue. 

On the IMEX show floor, there were 55 new stands with 3,500 exhibiting companies from more than 150 countries, and 20 per cent of returning exhibitors increased their space this year. In addition, 70 major exhibitors invested substantially in completely new stand designs, including Portugal, Dubai and Australia.

Notable expansions in stand space from Asia-Pacific exhibitors were done by mainland China and Taiwan. In addition, Japan, Indonesia, Macau and Singapore also all expanded their stands, while Busan, South Korea, took its own space for the first time. 

The planned opening of ICC (International Convention Centre) Sydney and investment in the Melbourne Convention Centre prompted expansion on the Australia stand. Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands are among the nine European countries to have increased their stand sizes. 

Meanwhile, Business Events Sydney revealed its new research that Asian incentive delegates are Sydney’s highest-yielding, outspending holiday visitors by an average of 6.5 times, and up to 9.4 times. Shopping pursuits were revealed as a key part of the delegate experience for Asian visitors.