There’s a good chance that if you’re reading this article you’ve either attended a global conference or exhibition in the last year or you organize them. The MICE (Meetings Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) industry is huge.It is an aspect of the international travel industry that is very attractive to governmental agencies, hotels, private in-bound operators, airlines and more. In short what travel-related company wouldn’t want to attract more affluent and organized travelers on an expense account?
So needless to say the MICE industry is very competitive and Thailand, already one of the world’s busiest travel destinations is looking to leverage their natural advantages to attract more MICE business.
Not that Thailand doesn’t do well anyway. The country has a trend of increasing MICE events. 2012 was a buoyant year for Thailand’s MICE industry, with 895,224 MICE visitors and 7,382 MICE events, which was up 6.84 percent from 2011. Conventions contributed 33 percent, followed by corporate meetings and incentive travel, which contributed 25 and 24 percent respectively. International exhibitions and trade shows accounted for 18 percent of total MICE revenues for 2012.
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau tells us that 2013 is looking like an even better year. So far the country has welcomed 747,072 foreign MICE travelers which equals to 2.14billion USD in revenue. So you can see why the stakes are so high. Thailand is using its reputation as being a great tourist destination to spur growth in its MICE and business travel industries.
Here’s an example of the accolades the country has recently received;
- World’s Best
- Thailand won ‘World’s Best Countries for Food’ nominated by TripAdvisor.com in 2012.
- Bangkok named ‘World’s Best City 2012′ by Travel & Leisure Magazine
- Bangkok ranked No.3 ‘Global Destination City Index for 2012″ by Forbes Magazine and Master Card (after London & Paris)
- Chiang Mai ranked No. 8 in 2012 “Travelers’ Choice Destination on the Rise”, by TripAdvisor
- Asia’s Best
- Thailand won ‘Most Popular Travel Destination in Asia’ by Go Asia Award 2012 in Berlin.
- 7 of Asia’s Top 10 Beach Destinations are in Thailand, ranked by Tripadvisor.com in 2012.
- ASEAN’s Best
- Thailand ranked No.1 for the number of international conventions an exhibition host by ICCA and UFI.
- Thailand ranked No.3 for “Best Business Events Country in Asia in 2012″ by CEI magazine
- Bangkok ranked No.2 ‘Best Business Cities in ASEAN” by Business Travellers Asia Pacific Award 2012.
