TCEB and Surat Thani Provincial administration – to which Samui is attached- want to work together to upgrade facilities on the island to attract more MICE travellers.
KOH SAMUI- According to Thailand Daily newspaper “The Nation”, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) wants to boost the appeal of Koh Samui as a venue for larger meeting in the region. Samui is Thailand’s third largest resort destination welcoming some 850,000 foreign visitors each year. According to Consulting firm C9 Hotelworks, in December 2011, they were 448 hotels with 17,204 rooms in Samui. Key hotel openings in the southwest coast included the 65-room Conrad Koh Samui Resort and Spa in September 2011 and the 8-room InterContinental Samui Baan Taling Ngam Resort in February 2012. Supply should continue to grow by another 513 rooms until 2014, representing a growth of 3%.
However, the lack of large-scale facilities and limited airport capacity are seen as a handicap to position the Island into a major convention destination despite the presence of luxury and first class properties. Samui can ideally accommodate only small groups of 40-60 foreign visitors for corporate meetings and incentive travel.
“A bigger convention hall is needed if the island wants to be a regional MICE player,” Thongchai Sridama, acting president of the TCEB, explained to the Nation. The province plans to build a convention centre with its own budget that can accommodate up to 1,000 people. Koh Samui is seen as a very promising MICE destination as it offers short fly-in times and various post-meeting relaxation choices. It is also ideally connected by flights to Bangkok but also to Phuket, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
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