Stellar Thailand flexes congress muscle in 2005

Continuing to go the distance in attracting sizeable global conferences and meetings, as part of its all out crowning CEI status in this year's CEI Annual Industry Survey, Thailand pipped regional neighbours to the post in 2004. Shoring in the 26 per cent majority of all conferences organised (291 survey resppondents), regional hub Hong Kong managed second place — at 23 per cent — followed closely by tied Singapore and China. In spite of being the home of the International Congress and Convention Association's (ICCA ) regional offices, Malaysia lagged significantly behind in 2004, garnering 18 per cent of regional conferences, with Australia just outside the top five at 15 per cent. Interestingly, according to ICCA manager, Asia Pacific, Jane Vong Holmes, the association's own international association meetings statistics in 2003 show a strong Malaysia and Australia outdoing the region in terms of association meetings. "Malaysia, needs special attention from its competitors. It has all the ingredients for success — a stable political climate, a safe destination, it has necessary infrastructure and accessibility and other unique selling points, in addition to strong government support, leadership and professional trade networks," she notes. In terms of numbers of association meetings, Vong Holmes adds, Malaysia ranked ahead of China, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, the Philippines and Indonesia in ICCA's 2003 polls. CEI's findings shed valuable light on why this might be the case, with 'pricing' topping corporate buyers' and PEOs'/PCOs' and DMCs'' list of the most important factors for organising conferences. This group also flagged 'airport accessibility' as second most-important, and 'in-house events team' third most important. Needless to say, these are all areas where markets such as Malaysia and now Thailand are stronger and vastly improved — with state-of-the-art transport links, keen pricing and experienced staff at professionally run conference facilities. With China set to overtake the region in 2005, this year's survey sees Hong Kong and Thailand jockeying for second place. Anticipating a one per cent rise in conferences this year, ICCA has dubbed Macau the next rising conference star: "With new attractions, conference facilities and better airline services, the next few years will see a new Macau consolidate itself, continuing to preserve its unique cultural and historical heritage but combining it with modern meetings and incentive facilities," says Vong Holmes. Buyers should, she adds, continue to choose Asia Pacific for the same professional service; competitive prices that make value-for-money events; and state-of-the-art facilities to the host government support.