Meeting Professionals International (MPI), an association for meeting professionals worldwide, and the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) announced plans to collaborate on education for meeting professionals in Thailand.
A ceremonial signing of organizations’ memorandum of understanding (MOU) by Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of MPI, and Nichapa Yoswee, director of MICE Capabilities Department for TCEB, took place during MPI’s educational gathering for meeting planners, 2013 World Education Congress. TCEB promotes the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry in Thailand, and last year, the country hosted 7,382 events.
“This strategic collaboration expands MPI’s global reach in Asia and furthers our commitment to delivering value to the meeting and event community at large,” said Deventer. “We look forward to leveraging our educational expertise and strong brand to help grow the local meeting industry in Thailand.”
MPI currently has two chapters in Asia. The association’s South Korea and Japan chapters were established in 2008 and 2010, respectively. The association also has members based throughout Asia.
“The MPI-TCEB partnership highlights the importance of professional development within the MICE sector and brings MPI’s global expertise and TCEB’s own industry knowledge to establish a formal, accredited training and education system for MICE professionals in Thailand,” said Nopparat Maythaveekulchai, president, TCEB. “The focus of our international training curricula will be to extend Thailand’s leadership as a MICE education hub within ASEAN.” Comprising 10 countries located in Southeast Asia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a geo-political and economic organization.
International meetings represent the most important MICE subsector, with a share of 33 percent of the total MICE industry in Thailand. This is followed by corporate meetings and incentive travel, which contributed 25 and 24 percent, respectively. International exhibitions and tradeshows accounted for 18 percent of total MICE revenues for 2012.
Thailand welcomed more than 895,000 MICE visitors in 2012, exceeding the target for the year by 19 percent. In 2013, Thailand is expected to welcome approximately 940,000 MICE visitors, generating expected revenues of $2.93 billion.
