The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has unveiled a new support scheme to help organisers of international tradeshows in Thailand get back to business in the wake of COVID-19. Re-Energizing Exhibition is a new campaign designed to help international organisers and their clients gain all they can from their exhibition experience in Thailand. It seeks to limit disruption to event creation and management by supporting both online and offline services through four core values, Ease-Up, Experience, Enhance and Empower.
The campaign incorporates and expands on previous initiatives including the ASEAN+6 Privilege programme, now extended to include oversea MICE travel agents; and the Exhibiz in Market campaign, which has been made available to one more player, exhibition sales agents. “TCEB’s E-themed quartet of promotions have been designed to introduce domestic talent and enterprise, aid with international and regional promotion and mitigate the disruption caused by COVID-19’s impact on international events,” said Mrs. Nichapa Yoswee, TCEB Senior Vice President. Ease Up supports the recruitment of domestic participants, reduces minimum size of events and lowers the criteria in the physical attendance of international participants, while promoting remote international participation through international marketing assistance. This has been achieved by revising ASEAN+6 Privilege and Exhibiz in Market campaigns, in addition to raising fixed financial subsidy of up to 25 per cent for both local and overseas marketing across all event sizes.
The Experience element sees TCEB inviting international and domestic involvement through effective hybrid exhibition development. Thailand has embraced this ‘new normal’ of exhibitions in which engagement is increased through online components, driven by the bureau’s Virtual Meeting Space (VMS), which supports business conducted through effective online methods such as webinars and online-to-offline interaction. The support includes site inspection of virtual events.
In parallel with this, TCEB also strives to ensure minimal disruption to the physical experience, providing additional funding for organisers to conduct hygiene management and apply disease control measures set out by the Ministry of Public Health. To Enhance international business events in Thailand, TCEB is promoting target industries, supporting exhibitions with strong potential to expand industries relating to Thailand 4.0, logistics and infrastructure, as well as those identified by the government as post-COVID-19 focus industries. These include future automotive; robotics and automation; medical hub; food processing; defence/disaster and pandemic management, many of which industries have a localised presence in Thailand’s high-profile industrial infrastructure, such as the Eastern Economic Corridor. Apart from that, partnership with the airlines will grant additional privileges for local and international participants. The Empower component of TCEB’s new campaign is designed to engage government collaboration by easing regulations, facilitating growth and giving regional industry a boost through pavilions at trade shows in Thailand.
TCEB is doing the utmost to ensure new shows are being developed with a commitment to local service providers and an incubation programme designed to support and propel Thai entrepreneurs. At its core, Re-Energizing Exhibition aims to provide accessibility and return on investment from trade shows in Thailand, and minor changes to existing campaigns further accommodate the market’s changing requirements, such as including overseas MICE travel agents in ASEAN+6 Privilege campaign. TCEB is doing the utmost to ensure new shows are being developed with a commitment to local service providers and an incubation programme designed to support and propel Thai entrepreneurs. At its core, Re-Energizing Exhibition aims to provide accessibility and return on investment from trade shows in Thailand, and minor changes to existing campaigns further accommodate the market’s changing requirements, such as including overseas MICE travel agents in ASEAN+6 Privilege campaign.
The Exhibiz in Market campaign has also been extended to include exhibition sales agents in addition to worldwide trade associations, chambers of commerce, non-profit organisations and federations. Thailand is South East Asia’s leading exhibitions marketplace. As restrictions on events are now eased up, there will be 43 shows scheduled for 2021 and another 14 shows in the pipeline. TCEB is on-hand to re-energize the future of the industry, concluded Mrs. Nichapa.
