From the Bangkok Post today...
The government was urged to provide special services, including visa facilitation, for participants for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (Mice) businesses.
At a board meeting of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Paiboon Wattanasiritham, the board's chairman, said he would seek cabinet approval for the request. It has been stalled since last year.
According to M.R. Disnadda Disakul, TCEB's chairman, visa fees for Mice visitors and exhibitors should be scrapped. The requirement for bank guarantees on equipment imported for exhibitions should also go, he said.
TCEB and related agencies have been working hard to increase the number of visitors to 800,000 as earlier planned. The political uncertainties and tough economy might put the number of Mice visitors at 750,000 this year. In 2006, 773,496 Mice visitors came to Thailand, up from 555,294 a year earlier.
The board mainly sought to eliminate bureaucratic red-tape, give more incentives to foreign visitors, and set up a Thai Team as a unit to support the private sector. It also called for overseas alliances to access the international Mice market more efficiently.
For the rest of the year, he said, TCEB would encourage governmental agencies and corporations to conduct seminars and meetings in provincial towns in order to promote local travelling.
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