Thailand Hopes to be A MICE Education Center in ASEAN

[Jacob Maslow]

Thailand is working hard to develop an international standard for the MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) curriculum. The goal is to become a MICE education center in ASEAN and expand the labor market.

TCEB (Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau) President Nopparat Maythaveekulchai said that the MICE curriculum is currently under review, and 50 institutions have joined in on the curriculum development effort.

In 2015, TCEB hopes that Thailand will welcome more than a million MICE visitors from around the globe. Those visitors could bring in THB106,780 million. Last year, Thailand welcomed 919,164 MICE visits and generated THB80,800 million.

But the country is facing stiff competition. Singapore is currently ranked as the number one convention city in the ASEAN region and 21^st in the world. The city hosted 175 international events in 2013 alone. Thailand was ranked second and

29^th in the world, hosting 136 international events. Malaysia was ranked third and 35^th in the world with 117 events hosted.

The director of MICE Capabilities, Nichapa Yoswee, said that Thailand has over 460,000 square meters of space that can be used for exhibitions. Currently, Thailand has the largest exhibition space in the ASEAN region.

In late 2015, Thailand will launch the ASEAN Community and establish economic zones in border areas of the country. An ASEAN Division has also been set up by the Ministry of Labor to oversee ASEAN labor and prepare of for the event. The Ministry is hoping to help 21,480 workers improve their communication skills in ASEAN languages as well as English. According to a recent study by the Thailand Development Research Institute, Thai workers need to develop both languages as well as information technology.

The TCEB also announced plans to develop a Thailand MICE web portal to make it easier for event organizers to see updated information and access the Thai MICE database.

-- 2015-03-31

[Ricardo]

Oh Goody, we haven't had a 'Hub of ...' story in what seems like ages !

Nice to see the country returning to normal !