TCEB in big push for Samui
Convention bureau to upgrade facilities on the island to attract more MICE travellers
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau is making a big push to promote the world-famous vacation playground of Samui as a suitable venue for executive meetings in the region.
However, because of the lack of large-scale facilities and airport capacity, the island in Surat Thani province has only welcomed a small group of 40-60 foreign visitors for corporate meetings and incentive travel, mainly held in five-star hotels.
“A bigger convention hall is needed if the island wants to be a regional MICE player,” Thongchai Sridama, acting president of the TCEB, said yesterday, referring to the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions business.
The province plans to build a convention centre with its own budget that can accommodate up to 1,000 people.
Koh Samui has potential to become an MICE destination because it offers short fly-in times and various post-meeting relaxation choices. The TCEB led a mission to Samui with 52 buyers and corporate clients from around the world who participated in Connections Plus 2012.
The bureau has set ambitious targets of 750,000 foreign attendees and more than Bt60 billion in MICE revenue this year and 792,000 foreign attendees and more than Bt63 billion next year.
The TCEB, which is a pubic organisation under the Prime Minister’s Office, has promoted provinces and beaches across the nation from Chiang Mai, Phuket and Khon Kaen to Krabi and Hua Hin as MICE destinations beyond Bangkok, with the aim to create destinations to match buyers’ activities.
Also, the strategy will help strengthen its role at a time when competition internationally in this market is intensifying.
Tadashi Yamaguchi, deputy general manager for outbound travel promotion of the Japan Association of Travel Agents based in Tokyo, which represents 1,100 travel agents nationwide, welcomed the TCEB’s move to champion Samui as an MICE mecca.
Samui is the “Hawaii” of Asia, providing good facilities, he said, adding that he was interested in helping to put the island on the MICE map as a destination for Japanese.
Thailand is one of the big MICE drawers of Japanese. Of the 20 million travelling outside their country, about 1.2 million selected Thailand and 60 per cent of them came for an MICE purpose to provinces other than the big three magnets of Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.
