Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) said it is business as usual for the country’s MICE industry even as the Bangkok bombing on August 17 stirred fears of tourist safety and cancellations of meetings, conventions, exhibitions, and trips in the country.
“The number of MICE [happening] in Thailand is still the same. No cancellation at all,” said Nopparat Maythaveekulchai, president, TCEB during the press conference that opened this year’s IT&CM Asia and CTW Asia-Pacific in Bangkok.
The Financial Times reported a hours before the press conference that Thai police have declared the bombing case solved, although doubts remain.
Meanwhile, the airline industry has since recovered, said Charamporn Jotikasthira, president, Thai Airways International PCL. “Since the event, the most impact [was] for September travelers. But for October, the recovery rate is remarkable. Now the impact is single digit [in October]: double-digit in September, single digit in October, and the impact is almost nonexistent in the November and December figure.”
Bangkok is once again hosting IT&CMA Asia and CTW Asia-Pacific, a double bill event for the MICE and corporate travel industries. This year saw 14-percent increase in exhibitors’ participation, with 10,000 business appointments set on September 30 to October 1.
