TICA MICE UPDATE

As Thailand's Digital MICE platform, the www.businesseventsthailand.com site offers total solution services to MICE operators and travellers in eight languages, and has reached a total of 781,218 page views, while the Biz Thailand app was downloaded more than 2,000 times, and accumulated online visibility of 2,190,589 views.

During Q1-Q3 2016, TCEB's international digital marketing campaign, 'Spice Up Your Business Agenda 2016’, offered special benefits and privileges to help offer an unparalleled experience to MICE travellers. The campaign also aims to create demand for delegate spending and extending the length of stay of MICE travellers to Thailand. A total of 46 MICE events from 16 organisers registered to join the programme with more than 8,000 coupons redeemed, generating over 10 million views online. The Top 5 most popular benefits well received by MICE visitors included restaurants, shopping, attractions, airport transfers, and hotel accommodation. The Top 10 users of the Spice Up your Business Agenda campaign were visitors from India, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, the USA, Pakistan, Germany, and Thailand.

In Thailand, the MICE Trip Challenge emphasises social engagement and word-of-mouth through social media platforms. More than 20,000 participants visited the dedicated website, www.micetripchallenge.com, voting for their favourite meetings and seminar venues over 33,000 times, generating online visibility of over seven million views.

"Key highlights during the last quarter of the 2016 fiscal year included a Blogger Familiarization Trip, an addition to the Spice Up Your Business Agenda 2016 campaign, held from 4-7 September 2016, to help raise awareness of Thailand as a premiere Bleisure (business with leisure) destination in Asia. 10 major bloggers from five target markets such as China, Singapore, Taiwan, UK, and Australia have been able to experience MICE events in Thailand, visit state-of-the-art venues, and world-class facilities. Additionally, special benefits and privileges from the Spice Up Your Business Agenda campaign will also be incorporated into the familiarization programme, which covers key MICE Cities (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya) and major tourist cities such as Koh Samui, and Hua Hin," Mrs Sarita added.

All participating bloggers have been live feeding throughout the trip, and will develop their testimonials for the Spice Up Your Business Agenda website, as well as on their own social media platforms. The activity has helped engage online target audiences through interaction, comments, and sharing to help amplify the campaign. TCEB's Bloggers Familiarization Trip has played an important role in promoting the campaign. With an efficient strategy, TCEB expects that the campaign will be able to reach coupon redemption to the expected target of 30,000 occasions, or 15 per cent increase compared to 2015.

"During the fourth quarter of 2016, TCEB's domestic digital marketing campaigns aimed at promoting

MICE activities among public and private organizations in Thailand also include the launch of the Meet in the Village campaign, highlighting online initiatives to drive sustainable MICE events in communities across the country, in line with the Government's Pracha Rath policy, and the Digital MICE Award 2016 – Young Video Contest, which serves as an online creativity platform for young generations to showcase video clips, stimulating the number of domestic MICE events in Thailand. We are confident that TCEB's aggressive Digital MICE marketing strategy will help Thailand's MICE industry to attract a total of 1,060,000 MICE visitors, generating 92 billion baht MICE revenue in 2016," Mrs Sarita concluded.