Thailand MICE Forum Brings World’s MICE Leaders Together

Bangkok (Thailand) – September 30, 2019 (travelindex.com) – The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) recently successfully staged the Thailand MICE Forum 2019 and for the first time brought together leaders of the world’s top MICE organizations under one roof in Bangkok, helping to drive Thailand towards its goal of becoming Asia’s top MICE destination.

In just its third year, the event attracted leaders of the world’s most prominent MICE associations including Mr. Philip Eidsvold, President, The Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE); Mr. Senthil Gopinath, Chief Executive Officer, International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA); and Mr. Kai Hattendorf, Managing Director and CEO, The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI). They joined Thai entrepreneurs to share their viewpoints on how to strengthen Thailand’s competitiveness amid global trends.

Top guest speakers, which totalled 18 in all, included Ms. Yumiko Iwata, CMP, Director Convention Promotion at Chiba Convention Bureau who spoke on the topic of Digital Optimization for Smart Hospitality, Tokyo Olympic 2020′, Mr. Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, President, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) on the topic of ‘Move Beyond MICE “Open”’. Thailand’s key business sectors, including the Dusit Thani Group, Siam Piwat, and ThaiBev, also exchanged ideas during a special session on the ‘Customer First Experience Creation for Business Events’.

TCEB staged the event under the theme of ‘Thailand’s Opportunity: Asia’s Top MICE Destination’ to serve as a platform to create awareness and enthusiasm for Thai entrepreneurs to collaborate and seek new opportunities together. The event attracted 637 participants. During the two key breakout sessions, the “Collaboration over Competition” topic by TCEB’s Meetings and Incentives Department was attended by 239 delegates, while the “Differences Worth a Distance” topic by TCEB’s Area-Based Section, M2I Department, and Mega Event Department was attended by 331 delegates.

This year Thailand is set to host a number of prominent events, including the 86th UFI Global Congress from 6 to 9 November 2019 in Bangkok that is expected to attract an estimated 550 delegates from 50 countries worldwide.

Also confirmed are a number of international exhibitions including ASEAN BIKE in conjunction with EURO BIKE (3 to 5 October 2019) with 8,000 delegates; Thailand Marine & Offshore Expo 2019 (9 to 11 October 2019) with 3,700 delegates, and VIV Health & Nutrition Asia 2020 (24 to 26 March 2020) with 4,650 delegates.

Confirmed international conventions include the Asia Fitness Conference (10 to 14 October 2019) for sports professionals with 1,200 delegates in Bangkok, and the Routes Asia 2020 (8 to 10 March 2020) for airport business operations is set to bring up to 1,200 delegates to Chiang Mai.

Meetings and Incentives include the Herbalife Southeast Asia Extravaganza 2020 (14 to 17 May 2020) with over 10,000 delegates.

While so-called mega-events and international festivals include the L’Étape Thailand by Tour de France (25 to 27 October 2019), one of the world’s largest cycling events with 16,000 participants heading to Phang-Nga province in southern Thailand. Domestic exhibitions include the Northeast Tech 2019 (31 October to 3 November 2019) which is expected to attract a total of 40,000 delegates to Nakhon Ratchasima.

The target of Thai MICE industry in 2020 include an estimated revenue-generating of over 232,700 million baht (US$ 7,500 million), from 1,386,000 foreign MICE travelers with a projected amount of revenue of 105,600 million baht and 36,395,000 domestic MICE trips with an approximate revenue of 127,100 million baht.

About TCEB
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has been the country’ s official government agency supporting, promoting and developing global and regional business events (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions – MICE) in Thailand since 2004. As a strategic partner and sanctioned liaison, TCEB co-creates successful solutions with companies and organizations to realize MICE events of every scale and type.