Business
MICE Mart makes it to Phuket

PHUKET: Phuket played host as the final stop on a five city tour of the first annual MICE Mart trade show on Friday.
Organized by the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), the events sought to promote MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) activities in hotspots throughout the Kingdom.
The Phuket event saw 50 sellers representing hotels, convention venues, business event organizers and tour agencies, as well as 60 buyers from the public and private sectors and various associations.
The tour had already made stops in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Khon Kaen before the final stop at Laguna Phuket. The organizers hope that the MICE Mart event will play a key role in elevating Phuket to become ASEAN’s leading MICE destination.
“In line with TCEB’s bold 2014-18 Andaman tourism development plan, advancement of MICE in Phuket will be achieved using a three-pillar approach, including the development of infrastructure, the development of tourism and natural conservation, the development of human resources and marketing promotion capabilities. All three pillars will be underpinned by TCEB’s three key strategies: win, promote and develop,” said TCEB President Nopparat Maythaveekulchai.
At the heart of the plan is the creation of a “cluster destination” strategy which will focus on the luxury incentives market which will encompass Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, Ranong and Trang.
Mr Nopparat estimated that about 90 per cent of those attending Phuket’s MICE Mart event were from the hotel industry, while the remainder were from entertainment venues.
The TCEB has teamed up with Phuket Rajabhat University in the implementation of a development strategy to establish a provincial MICE database.
The TCEB has announced that they predict a 2 per cent growth of the domestic MICE market in 2014, the number of MICE travellers to reach 4.5 million and revenue to rise 4 per cent to over 14 billion baht.
“We feel good about Phuket’s desire to be the leading MICE city. Most importantly, Phuket has many beautiful beaches, nice hotels, a lot of businesses and many tourists,” said the chairperson of the Thai Exhibition Association’s Marketing and Public Relations Committee Tassapan Isarasakdi Na Ayudhaya.
“Every international conference must be held in Bangkok. We want to change the venue but other provinces don’t have conference halls. If Phuket had one, I think Phuket would be the best MICE city in Thailand.”
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Business
Governments & old media versus social media – who will win? | VIDEO

We look at the recent changes made by the Australian and Indian governments to except control over the world’s biggest social media platforms. India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social. There is now an open battle between the rise of social media platforms and the governments and ‘old’ media that have been able to maintain a certain level of control over the ‘message’ for the last century. Who will win?
The rules require any social media company to create three roles within India… a “compliance officer” who ensures they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” who addresses complaints from Indian social media users; and a “contact person” who can actually be contacted by lawyers and other aggrieved Indian parties… 24/7.
The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told. The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.
At the root of all discussions will be the difference between what governments THINK social media is all about and the reality about how quickly the media landscape has changed. You’ll get to read about it first, on a social media platform… probably on the screen you’re watching this news story right now.
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Business
The social media giants in battle with ‘old’ media and world governments | VIDEO

“The rules signal greater willingness by countries around the world to rein in big tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter that the governments fear have become too powerful with little accountability.”
India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social.
The rules require any social media company to create three roles within India… a “compliance officer” who ensures they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” who addresses complaints from Indian social media users; and a “contact person” who can actually be contacted by lawyers and other aggrieved Indian parties… 24/7.
The companies are also being made to publish a compliance report each month with details about how many complaints they’ve received and the action they took.
They’ll also be required to remove ‘some’ types of content including “full or partial nudity,” any “sexual act” or “impersonations including morphed images”
The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told.
The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.
At the root of all discussions will be the difference between what governments THINK social media is all about and the reality about how quickly the media landscape has changed. You’ll get to read about it first, on a social media platform… probably on the screen you’re watching this news story right now.
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Business
Turbulence ahead for Thailand’s aviation industry | VIDEO

When the airlines, in particular, were asking the government to put their hands in their pockets for some relief funding in August last year, it was genuinely thought that international tourists would be coming back for the high season in December and January. At the very least local tourists and expats would head back to the skies over the traditional holiday break. And surely the Chinese would be back for Chinese New Year?
As we know now, none of that happened. A resurge in cases started just south of Bangkok on December 20 last year, just before Christmas, kicking off another round of restrictions, pretty much killing off any possibility of a high season ‘bump’ for the tourist industry. Airlines slashed flights from their schedule, and hotels, which had dusted off their reception desks for the surge of tourists, shut their doors again.
Domestically, the hotel business saw 6 million room nights in the government’s latest stimulus campaign fully redeemed. But the air ticket quota of 2 million seats still has over 1.3 million seats unused. Local tourists mostly skipped flights and opted for destinations within driving distance of their homes.
As for international tourism… well that still seems months or years away, even now.
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