With the Covid-19 pandemic and digital technology continuing to redefine the world, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) – the public agency responsible for the business events sector in Thailand – has set an ambitious five-year strategic action plan (2023-2027) that aims to attract over 160 million MICE travellers and earn Thailand more than 945 billion baht.

As it enters its third decade of promoting Thailand’s MICE industry, TCEB is committed to making the country the undisputed premier business destination of choice. This mission is in line with the national economic development strategy and driven by long-term megatrends.

TCEB’s President Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya explained that the action plan outlines five main approaches to speed up progress under the TCEB Go strategy and Thailand MICE to Meet You Year 2023 campaign. The first is to win more global events through partnerships with government agencies including the One Ministry One Convention project.

The bureau recently won a bid to host Money 20/20, which will take place in Bangkok from 23-25 April 2024, and is working with the Finance Ministry to bid for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in 2026. In addition, TCEB is partnering with the Energy Ministry in attempting to clone a mega energy trade show from the Middle East to Thailand.

Chiruit said that TCEB aims to tap into new markets, such as Israel and the Middle East, as well as Central Asian markets like Kazakhstan, while still maintaining its focus on core Asia-Pacific markets like CLMV, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, and China, followed by North America and Europe.

The second is to create destination competitiveness through diverse local identities by collaborating with local communities and networks to improve their MICE capabilities and help them offer memorable experiences to MICE groups. The bureau also places great importance on promoting MICE inclusiveness to help grow and diversify MICE destinations across the country.

The third is to execute innovative MICE solutions. In addition to recruiting talented personnel, TCEB is looking to partner with tech startups in a bid to develop new solutions for innovative MICE events. Meanwhile, the bureau is upgrading MICE intelligence to provide empowering big data for all MICE players and set up its digital marketing department.

Furthermore, TCEB is launching the third MICE Winnovation project on 31 March to support MICE entrepreneurs in applying innovations and technology to event planning and crafting problem solutions that meet the needs of organizers, participants, and venue operators.

The fourth is to build an agile and high-performance organization through the so-called AAA strategy, which focuses on alignment of work processes, agile work practices, and agenda-based project orientation across departments. Additionally, TCEB is emphasizing the development of its personnel’s competencies to foster their professional and mental development as well as an ethics-based corporate culture. The mission is to be an organization that can strike a balance between working environment and personnel development on a sustainable basis.

Finally, TCEB is committed to transforming the MICE industry by developing sustainable event management practices, creating a more efficient carbon footprint calculation for MICE events, promoting carbon-neutral events, and supporting more than 450 MICE organizers and entrepreneurs across the country to be Thailand Sustainable Event Management Standard (TSEMS) certified. The aim is to obtain international sustainability certification from the Global Destination Sustainability Index and to support MICE organizers in winning ISO 20121 certification.

Chiruit added that TCEB is collaborating with the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO) to create a carbon offset credit platform for all MICE operators, especially SMEs.

TCEB will hold the National MICE Day on 26 April 2023 highlighting the MICE industry’s significance for the nation’s development from the past to the present. This event will bring together experts in technology and sustainability to share valuable insights and experiences beneficial to the MICE industry. More than 400 representatives from the MICE sector are expected to attend.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2023 (October to December 2022), Thailand welcomed 7.93 million MICE travellers, of which 183,618 were international travellers, generating 28.53 billion baht in revenue. Exhibitions were the biggest contributor in terms of revenue followed by corporate meetings, conventions, and incentives.

For fiscal 2023, Thailand is targeting 18.55 million MICE travellers, generating 109 billion baht in revenue for the country. This includes 760,000 international MICE travellers, contributing 50 billion baht, and 17.79 million domestic MICE travellers, generating 59 billion baht.

The country is all set to host such major events as the World Congress of Nephrology (30 March-2 April), the 29th International Montessori Congress (2-5 August), the AFECA Annual General Meeting 2023 in October, the 62nd ICCA Congress 2023 (12-15 November), and the World Allergy Congress (WAC) 2023 (1-3 December). At the same time, TCEB continues to support exhibitions in the 12 targeted S-Curve industries. These include VIV Asia 2023 & Meat Pro Asia 2023 (8-10 March) in the food processing and robotics categories, and ASEAN Sustainable Energy Week (ASEW) 2023 (30 August-1 September), in the future automotive category. As for the incentive travel sector, over 80,000 travelers will be visiting Thailand between March and November, made up of 50,000 delegates from Asia-Pacific countries and 30,000 from China.
By Veena Thoopkrajae with additional report by Patcharee Luenguthai