THAILAND Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) is intensifying its promotions in the Philippines, a key source market that is bouncing back after Thailand’s year of political instability.
TCEB acting director Nooch Homrossukhon commented that 80 per cent of MICE from the Philippines are incentive groups. “We’re expecting not bigger events but bigger number of events of 50 to 150 pax per event,” she said.
The Philippines was Thailand’s ninth biggest market with 25,553 pax during the fiscal year October 2012 to September 2013, TCEB’s peak year.
Though it rose to sixth place in the following fiscal year, numbers more than halved to 11,197 pax due to Thailand’s political troubles. After the dramatic drop in FY 2014, the Philippines is showing significant improvement with 19,447 pax in the first half of the fiscal year October 2014 to March 2015, said TCEB acting director Nooch Homrossukhon.
Nooch explained that many companies that held back their MICE events during Thailand’s period of instability will likely return over the rest of the year, crediting social media and word of mouth for the return of MICE traffic.
TCEB unveiled its Thailand – Connect The World scheme offering financial subsidies and spiced up privileges and discounts, among others, for MICE groups at its roadshow in the Philippines earlier this month.
To ease safety concerns, TCEB has also spoken to meeting organisers to reassure them that the CVB has contingency plans in place.
