Asean MICE stakeholders brainstorm ideas for reaping AEC benefits

Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand are continuing to seek the most appropriate strategies for the MICE sector to cash in on the opportunities presented by the implementation of the Asean Economic Community in 2015, a forum heard yesterday.

The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) joined forces with key MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) organisations and businesses in the Kingdom to stage the regional forum, titled "AEC 2015: Cutting Edge Strategy for the MICE Industry". MICE experts, tourism professionals and commercial counsellors from other Asean nations such as Malaysia and the Philippines also gathered at the event, which brainstormed ideas for the mutual benefit of domestic and regional stakeholders both at the government and business levels as the AEC's implementation draws ever closer. Nichapa Yosawee, the TCEB's MICE Capabilities department director, estimated that after 2015, Thailand would see more than 25-per-cent annual growth in terms of MICE tourist arrivals and MICE receipts, as the business sector would from 2015 be able to operate freely across Asean member states. To prepare for this transformation, Nichapa said the TCEB had teamed up with key MICE players in the Kingdom, such as the Thailand Incentive and Convention Association, the Thai Exhibition Association, the Convention Promotion Fund (Thai), the Thai Hotels Association, the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority, the Commerce Ministry's Trade Negotiations Department and the Tourism and Sports Ministry's Tourism Department, to implement a comprehensive programme to ready the industry for the challenges of economic integration. Apart from domestic stakeholders, the TCEB is also reaching out via several cooperation agreements with other Asean countries. For example, last year the agency started providing support and initiated projects in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. Through the end of next year, the bureau will also promote Thailand as the mainland hub of the Greater Mekong Sub-region through three focused strategies, Nichapa said. Niqman Rafaee Bin Mohd Sahar, trade counsellor at the Malaysia External Trade Development Corp, told the forum that his agency had not yet estimated the possible revenue from MICE business after the Asean single market comes into effect. However, he said the food and beverage, construction, ICT and auto-part sectors - all growth industries in Malaysia - would in turn boost the country's MICE industry. Besides offering incentives to overseas MICE operators to hold events in the country, the trade counsellor said Malaysia was ready to join forces with neighbouring countries like Thailand with a view to an integrated marketing strategy for boosting MICE revenues on both sides, particularly in the southern provinces of Thailand and the northern part of Malaysia. Meanwhile, though the Philippines is located far from Asean's mainland connectivity, Eric C Elnar, commercial attache at the Philippines Trade and Investment Centre, said Manila is offering incentives for travel and tourism investment from other Asean countries. For example, Asean tourism investors will be allowed 100-per-cent ownership of a business in the Philippines, while they must pay corporate tax of only 5 per cent in the first five years of operation, against the 30 per cent normally paid by other sectors. To attract more foreign investment and Asean tourists, airlines in the Philippines also plan to operate more direct flights to the Southeast Asian mainland. Elnar said the Philippines' largest carrier, Cebu Pacific, for instance, would launch a twice-weekly direct service from Iloilo to Singapore in November, having already commenced direct flights from Manila to Siem Reap in Cambodia in April. The airline also plans to introduce a new direct service to the former Myanmar capital, Yangon, soon.

Sourced: nationmultimedia