Thailand should win back events business

12 Sep 2014  2035 | World Travel News

BANGKOK Kasikorn Research Centre says convention and exhibition business will begin to make a recovery in the last quarter of this year to close with THB7,320 to THB7,520 million in revenue.
The centre said the ongoing political uncertainty since late last year and an economic downturn were factor forcing public and private organisations to cancel or postpone meetings in Thailand.
The business growth of convention and exhibition centre in the first half of this year was limited, the bank reported.
However, the centre said events should return in the fourth quarter if companies postponed events rather than moving events elsewhere. Many companies shifted meetings to Malaysia, which has always benefited hugely from Thailand’s political problems.
The upside for meeting venues in Thailand was the rapid government spend in September to clear budgets that had been allocated for meetings. Funds must be used by 30 September, the end of the fiscal year.
Meetings and exhibitions should increase around 2.7% to 5.5% to close within a range of THB7,320 million to THB7,520 million by year end, up from THB7,130 million last year.
An improvement in consumer markets and the economy in the provinces also encourages event operators to organise meetings outside of Bangkok, the report said.
“Therefore, there is a need to work in a variety of formats to promote the purchase of goods and services to attract events business in provincial centres.”
MICE cities such as Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai have the best opportunity to gain business in the last quarter.
Thailand also needs to tighten MICE competitiveness in its bids against Malaysia and Singapore, two major competitors in the region that have taken considerable business from Thailand during political disturbances. Major corporations that could not insure their executives for meetings in Thailand, due to martial law and polticial unrest, earlier this year ,moved most of their meetings to Kuala Lumpur where costs are on par and the city has comparable hotel and meeting facilities.
The bank’s think-tank unit advised that Thailand should use its strength as a Mekong Region gateway to tap Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam for business.
Kasikorn Research Centre is a subsidiary company of Kasikorn Bank, which conducts tourism and business research mainly on Thailand’s economy including tourism with reliable recommendations and indicators on business prospects.

sourced:ttrweekly.com 

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