Obama visit shows confidence in Thailand – TCEB
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Barack Obama’s recent visit to Thailand has helped to grow confidence in the safety of Thailand, a tourism official has told Travel Daily.
Vichaya Soonthornsaratoon, acting director of the MICE industry department at TCEB told us the President’s visit had come after a ‘bumpy’ year for the country as it overcame political violence and natural disasters.
“Obama coming to Thailand is a big testimonial as he has to feel secure,” she explained. “Thailand is back on its feet and business is picking up.”
Soonthornsaratoon and partners were in London earlier this week to meet with MICE buyers and launch a new campaign based around sustainability. The bureau is targeting the MICE market with a new ‘Mega Events…Sustainable Challenge’ that offers a GBP20,000 cash incentive to UK groups that hold events in Thailand, with additional bonuses if they come back in following years.
However the bookers can only use hotels or venues that have a CSR programme in place or are green certified as a means to encourage sustainability in the industry.
“We are encouraging suppliers to be more sustainable so we are tying up the criteria or using CSR campaigns for this new campaign,” said Soonthornsaratoon. “Thailand is the first country to use the ISO 20121 standard and the industry is taking it more seriously now”. ISO 20121 is a British standard for events which was first implemented by the London 2012 Olympic Games this summer.
Last year the TCEB fell slightly short of its expectations in revenue, with GBP10.8 million coming in behind its GBP13.2m target, although is looking for slightly higher growth this year.
Its luxury campaign last year is said to have been successful in raising the profile of resorts such as Samui and Krabi in the MICE, leisure and business markets, while in Bangkok it is gearing up for the opening of new modern venue Asiatique. Looking ahead the country is hoping to host one of the biggest events in the World Expo 2020, with its team presenting an update to decision makers in Paris later this week.