Regional exhibition seminar held in Chiang Mai

Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) will host host the event in Chiang Mai on February 25-26 next year.

Mark Cochrane, UFI regional manager for Asia Pacific, said the event would attract 200-250 delegates mainly from the Asian region including venues, exhibition organisers, associations, service providers and those from government sector. "In the next 10 years, there will be a significant change in the exhibition industry and its technology. The key topic for this event is the effect of technology on events. The keynote speakers will dwell on how technology is shaping the events business. We can see more e-commerce platforms in the industry," said Mark.

Mark further explained that the "Digital Disruption" topic would reflect the role and impact of digital marketing and how it would change business practices in the future for the international exhibition industry. Other interesting topics include the outlook for the Asean exhibition market, digital trends shaping events, assessing the impact of digital disruption, and mobile marketing trend.

He added that in the past four years, the exhibition industry in Southeast Asia had become very strong. Thailand's exhibition industry in particular has grown by 27-33 per cent, much more than the Asian average of 20 per cent. TCEB president Nopparat Maythaveekulchai said this was a good chance for Thailand to demonstrate its capability and the service standards of Thailand’s exhibition industry. The event will also underline the potential of Chiang Mai as one of the MICE cities to host international events and will also be a gateway to the Greater Mekong Subregion market.

This year, Thailand will welcome 190,400 international exhibition visitors, generating total revenue of Bt17 billion. In fiscal 2016, the number of exhibition visitors are expected to grow by 5 per cent to 191,000, contributing Bt15.65 billion in revenue to the country.