Chiang Mai: the jewel of the north

The city is becoming increasingly popular with regional meeting planners, having overcome a dearth of five-star accommodation with the introduction of a host of major hotel brands. Still, much work needs to be done before the international CEI market follows in the footsteps of leisure travellers and falls in love with the city. The opening of the new airport should, however, guarantee that the destination will receive more international flights. "Chiang Mai is ideal for CEI," says Roger Haumueller, deputy managing director of Asian Trails. "It has very interesting surroundings for excursions and soft-adventure tours. You can also visit the hill tribes, while there is also great shopping facilities. There is big potential for the destination. The new luxury hotels will create additional facilities." Those facilities include the recently opened Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, the Four Seasons Chiang Mai and Sheraton Chiang Mai. However, it's the Shangri-La Chiang Mai which has DMCs truly buzzing. "Our eyes are peeled on the Shangri-La development, as they have recently broken ground with the building of their Shangri-La Chiang Mai property, scheduled to open in 2007," says David Barrett, executive manager of Diethelm Events. "In the past we were faced with a lack of five-star accommodation, with the only option being the Four Seasons Chiang Mai, which has a limited room capacity and is only suitable for incentive groups of 80 or less," he adds. "The Sheraton Chiang Mai is a good facility with good pricing, but does not appeal to customers looking for the ultimate accommodation. Thankfully, the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi has opened and is giving us a new opportunity to drive conference and incentive business into Chiang Mai.'' Haumueller is also a fan of the Mandarin Oriental, saying it offers excellent facilities for upmarket meetings and conferences. "Their lawn is a perfect place for a product launch or a gala dinner," he says. Haumueller also singles out the Chedi Chiang Mai, a new five-star property in the centre of town, for its "modern meeting and conference facilities". For all Chiang Mai's improvements on the CEI front, it still lacks a suitable venue for large-scale conferences, with only the local university able to cater for such events. Anew convention centre is in the pipeline, but its construction has been delayed by conjecture over where to build it. DMCs have long hailed the impact the centre will have on the destination, but the wait is starting to become a tad frustrating for them. "Everyone agrees that Chiang Mai has great potential, but it does need a state-of-theart conference facility, similar to what Pattaya has with PEACH (the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall)," Barrett says. "PEACH is still a big draw card with most of our customers." However, with shopping top of the list for recreational activities during most events, Chiang Mai is well positioned to cater to CEI customers, as its shopping is the best in Thailand, Barrett adds.