Great expectations

The Thai CEI industry had high expectations for 2005. Yet even before the year had begun, it seemed those hopes were destined to be dashed, victim to the tsunami that laid ruin to much of the country's southern coast in the last week of 2004. In the wake of the disaster, event organisers postponed, cancelled or relocated events not only in Phuket and other Andaman Sea resort areas but also in Bangkok as well. The corporate meetings and incentives segments, especially from the Japanese, Korean and Chinese markets, were particularly hard hit. The dark clouds that hung over the industry didn't last for long though, and as the year drew to a close, the sector was on target to meet the government's ambitious goal of 600,000 CEI visitors, an impressive 30 percent increase on the 443,600 who came to Thailand in 2004. These visitors also spent considerably more than their counterparts in the previous year, bringing US$1.1 billion into the country, up from the US$842 million of revenue generated in the 2004. As good as the industry's performance was, the government, newly THAILAND MEETINGS AND INCENTIVES enamoured of the CEI segment's potential and its high-spending participants, believes there is much room to grow and has set a target of more than 1.4 million visitors and US$2.65 billion in revenue by 2008. If the industry is to reach that goal it may well be because of the foundations that are currently being laid. Recent times have seen a rush of building activity, with a host of new conference venues either coming on stream or poised to soon open for business, thousands more hotel rooms being added, a clutch of infrastructure improvements being undertak- en and the finishing touches being applied to the long-awaited new international airport. By the end of 2006, Bangkok will lay claim to having the world's largest column-free conference hall, the airport with the longest runway and the world's longest land bridge, running from the airport to the BITEC convention centre. While not all these were designed specifically to support the CEI industry, they nevertheless will make staging events in Thailand much easier. Indeed, such is the number of new facilities, the biggest challenge for show organisers and venue operators may well be filling the halls, rooms and exhibition space as competition grows among both the Thai facilities as well as those emerging in the region. Active support True to its word, the government is becoming more active in supporting the industry, especially the trade-exhibitions and conventions segments, which now account for almost 30 percent of the country's CEI business. The main industry-promotion body, the two-year-old Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), has come up with a three-level strategy known as 'build, upgrade and clone' to support this. Under the plan, Thailand will create new international-standard exhibitions to lure foreign buyers and suppliers, upgrade existing shows by working more closely with local groups and foreign participants and finally, by developing smaller indigenous versions of international events such as Automechanika. The agency is opening marketing offices to promote the country in the West as well as in emerging markets such as China, India and Russia, devising new promotions such as its 'Green Season'specials to spur activity in the traditional slow periods, and touting Thailand to show organisers around the world. According to Peerapong Oeusoonthornwattana, director general of the TCEB, the conventions sector made 21 bids in 2005 to host major international congresses in Thailand. The country has won seven out of the nine bids already announced. "The rest are yet to be confirmed and we are positive that we will hear more good news for Thailand soon," he said. "The outlook for the industry in 2006 is very promising." Among the shows secured for Thailand in 2006 are New Route Asia, the ISPA Asia Pacific Conference and Exhibition for the spa industry, Automechanika, the PALAAudio Visual and Lighting Exhibition, Thai International Plastic and Rubber Exhibition, and World Toilet Expo. Confirmed for 2007 is the Wire and Cue Show followed by Gastech and the Lions International Convention in 2008. The official drive to promote the tradeexhibition sector parallels Bangkok's growth as a commercial gateway for the region under the country's pro-business government, which in recent years has inked a string of free trade agreements and sought to position the country as a hub for a number of industries including food, auto parts and computer parts. Unlike Singapore and Hong Kong, which share similarly strong geographic locations, Thailand has an advantage over its two closest regional rivals in its broad manufacturing base and its ability to lure trade-show exhibitors with a large indigenous population of consumers as well as proximity to the emerging markets of Cambodia and Laos. It is a strategy that appears to be working. M Gandhi, executive director of trade-show organiser CMPMedia (Thailand) said that his company was working with two shows, one in paper and the other in food, that were relocating to Bangkok from Singapore and Malaysia. The government is also trying to widen Thailand's appeal, and is pushing plans to build or upgrade convention facilities in the main provincial centres of Chiang Mai in the north, Phuket in the south, Khon Kaen in the northeast and Pattaya in the east. For now though, beach resorts aside for corporate gatherings and incentive tours, Bangkok remains the centre for most of the big CEI action in Thailand.