Destination Songkhla

CONSTRUCTED TO commemorate the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King’s accession to the throne, the International Convention Centre in Songkhla-Hai Yai celebrated its fifth anniversary last week by hosting the inaugural Southern Book fair.

The centre is southern Thailand’s most prestigious MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) facility, boasting modern convention halls and seminar rooms as well an outdoor activity zone, and is playing a major role in developing the southern economy.

“Through the ICC we aim to educate and open new windows for the people in the region. It will also generate more income for the province and regions by continuously developing other businesses including hotels, transportation networks, shopping centres, tourist attractions and restaurants, ” says Assoc Prof Chusak Limsakul, president of Prince of Songkhla University. 

“We have assigned the administration of the centre to NCC Management and Development, which operates the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok and has a wealth of experience in this field.

“The ICC covers 15,000 square metres and can support 4,000 people for seminars and conferences, as well as international exhibitions. The Convention Hall measures 3,000sqm making it ideal for major conferences and exhibitions and there are also eight smaller seminar rooms, all of them equipped with state-of-the-art technology,” he says.

“We are also focusing on developing human resources and have introduced a Bachelor’s degree programme in conference management and related matters that’s in line with the curriculum developed by TCEB. We still need many staff members who are knowledgeable about MICE management,” the president continues.

“Today, we are hosting many events and I foresee that the numbers will grow in the years to come.”

NCC Management and Development president Sakchai Pattarapreechakul also sees a bright future for the ICC.

“I’m very proud to administer this beautiful convention centre,” he says. “Since its first year of operations, the number of events hosted by the ICC has increased by 400 per cent and we are currently recording year-on-year growth of 56 per cent. Of this, exhibitions make up the bulk but the centre is also popular for weddings, concerts and shows. The domestic/international split is currently 88 per cent to 12 per cent.

“We use various strategies in our management of the venue and were pleased to welcome the inaugural Southern Book Expo to Hat Yai. National book fairs have traditionally been held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok but TCEB is now pushing to disseminate events to the regions. The fair was a great success and very well attended. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) hosted a Thailand Travel Expo here too”

“We are emphasising training and development of staff and ensure our ongoing commitment to corporate social responsibility is met through various activities including donating a medicine cupboard to the Children Development Centre.”

Charun Homtienthong, president of the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand (Pubat), was also thrilled with the turn out to the fair.

“We have wanted to organise an expo here for quite some time as we know the people of the south are avid readers. Unfortunately, we have been unable to do so in the past, partly because of flooding and also because of the southern violence.

“We intend to make the book fair an annual event and are very pleased to have drawn booths from 250 leading publishers. Our thanks are also due to the Book Association of Southern Thailand for their invaluable help.”

Since the beginning of this year, the ICC has played host to the “Money Expo 2013”, the “Hat Yai Motor Show 2013”, the “Songkhla Health Fair 2013”, the “One Tambon One Product (Otop) Festival” and the “World HAPEX 2013 (World Conference and Halal Product Exhibition 2013), which closes today.

“In the future, we see the convention centre as being used more for seminars, exhibitions and the MICE business in general rather than banquets, wedding and parties. We are still working on improving the landscape as well as ensuring better traffic flow,” says Assoc Prof Chusak Limsakul. 

“We are proud to be a part of the achievements of the 60th Anniversary of His Majesty the King's Accession to the Throne International Convention Centre. It will develop the region’s economy even further and will make Southern Thailand a true MICE destination as we move into the Asean Economic Community,” Sakchai adds.