TIME for Thailand

Paul Colston checks out Chiang Mai and Bangkok, courtesy of TCEB, and takes part in the TIME 2024 programme. Bangkok is just as bustling and exciting as I remember from my previous visit ten years ago, but what is very different is the vast increase in hotel stock at the top end and the increasing number of DMCs nowable to serve the international MICE market. I met face-to-face with a dozen of those DMCs, attendees also at the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau’s (TCEB) TIME (Thailand Innovative Meetings Exchange) 2024 trade show. Hosted in the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, 18 June, the annual MICE event, supported by TICA – the Thai Incentive and Convention Association – drew over 60 international buyers and media representatives, mostly from Asia, for one-to-one meetings with local Thai industry suppliers. TCEB’s director of meetings and incentives, Supanich Thiansing also presented the bureau’s strategy for development at TIME 2024. She identified geopolitical tensions, safety and security as considerations that now outweigh even budgets for many planners, and presented Thailand as a safe and secure destination offering great value for MICE events. “TCEB is committed to cost optimisation, offering flexible pricing models, and enhancing the overall value proposition of hosting events in Thailand,” she said. TCEB, she added, was working hard to develop airline partnerships – particularly considering airlift had been scaled back considerably during Covid and is still not back to 2019 levels. There is also a focus on unlocking more opportunities in the Middle East – a burgeoning market for Thailand – and the bureau is working to offer familiarisation trips to second-tier business events cities across the country for key source markets like Singapore, Vietnam, Korea and China. In terms of how the Thai suppliers are feeling, one DMC, Pheonix, told me that many hotels were now set up for cluster sales, to make better use of lower staff numbers given the difficulties the industry has in recruiting post-Covid to meet rising demand. “2023 was a good year nevertheless, with 2024 shaping up to be even better for our MICE business,” a Pheonix spokesman told me, adding that a recent visa-waiver programme for Chinese visitors had helped give the market a fresh bounce. “Only the auto sector is struggling, although pharma, healthcare and finance are picking up nicely,” he said. Examples of how to incorporate some of the local heritage and culture into teambuilding and incentives were explained by DMC Redfox Events who told me how they had set up a Thai drumming incentive activity for 1,000 participants. The key, said Redfox, was ‘customisation’, and nature activities were particularly popular, such as catamaran trips on the river. As, well as QNCSC, the host venue, BITEC convention centre was exhibiting and, in addition to its big offer near to the airport, which includes seven halls and 40,000sqm of exhibition space, the venue is making a big push for the sports and entertainment market, with a new arena complex opening this summer. After 16 15-minute one-to-one meetings, the international buyers’ group got a chance to visit some of the hotels and venues in Bangkok, including staying at the Kimpton Maa-Lai and seeing the top-end Four Seasons hotel Bangkok and the neighbouring Capella Bangkok, as well as the boutique Salil Hotel Riverside, all three with stunning riverside views and locations. And while the luxury market seems particularly well served in Bangkok, the silky theme can be continued with a visit to Jim Thompson House. Our group’s evening reception in the old style wooden buildings gave an authentic feel to our dinner as well as good education on the Thai traditional silk making process and the history of Thompson’s pioneering efforts to support and cherish this craft and to set the foundation for what is today, a thriving top brand of silk ware. Chiang Mai Next stop on our TCEB tour was a visit to the northern city of Chiang Mai, a city of bleisure and more relaxed than Bangkok and an already thriving destination for incentives. The Intercontinental Chiang Mai The Mai Ping was the host hotel this time, and offered full five-star comfort and a beautiful terrace area where our group enjoyed a reception on the lawns. Workation is a big thing there, with many workers relocating to this beautiful part of the country to work remotely. There is Lanna food to sample, elephant sanctuaries to visit and if you are keen to take a massage, the cost is minimal, around $4 for half an hour for a head, shoulder and back massage. Chiang Mai is also a UNESCO Craft City and has 30 Michelin certified BIB Gourmand restaurants. Chiang Mai is building back its airlift and offers 67 international flight connections a day. The city has 70,000 hotel rooms and two exhibition centres, as well as a population of 1.7m. It boasts a community-based MICE offer, and we saw that in action at the Skugga coffee plantation, where the group got to see how entrepreneur and founder Anthony McDonald and his sons have built an estate that offers coffee masterclasses and venue space for groups, as well as insights in how to build a business in Thailand. It was a great thrill to do the coffee tasting of the home-grown product and see how investment has benefitted the local people via employment. A short drive from the estate is Wat Pa Dara Phirom, an amazing complex of Lanna architecture temples which provides a calm oasis of contemplation as well as a huge photo opportunity. From there groups can proceed to the Measa Elephant Camp, one of the largest elephant assemblies in northern Thailand. You can feed the elephants in this sanctuary, which has animals from six months up to 86 years old. You can even take a river shower with them and one kindly elephant even put my hat back on my head (you can see that video clip on my LinkedIn page? Smart venues back in town included the Chiang Mai Marriott, located in the vibrant Night Bazaar District and the Melia Chiang Mai, another oasis of calm offering some Spanish influences and very tasty tapas. The Oxygen Dining Rooms were also sampled, an establishment voted the best restaurant in Chiang Mai for its Michelin-rated culinary journey. And if you like your art with your food, then the Woo Café catered easily for our group of 60 for a relaxed lunch. The visit to Chiang Mai ended with a swing – at the Topgolf driving range, where competitive teambuilding instincts were allowed to rise to the surface The driving range complex is popular and has good venue space too. Back in Bangkok and our farewell dinner was in the Kesakomol Building where an evening of Royal Thai Cuisine was presented in this ornate venue. Thailand can be a pleasant assault on the senses and the good value, hustle and bustle of yesteryear is now overlaid with a vast selection of high-end MICE products, all still at good value. Chiang Mai is a relaxing contrast to Bangkok where transport within the city can take time, so plan accordingly. The depth and beauty of the Thai MICE menu, however, ensures that if you do plan well, you can cook up quite an incentive or meetings programme to impress.