THAILAND’s trade show industry is staging a strong rebound since the kingdom’s borders opened to international business event delegates.
Eleven new international trade exhibitions were successfully launched from May to September this year with the support of Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) as the “Thailand 4.0” economic plan is advanced.
TCEB has now launched the “SPIRE Thailand” campaign to boost domestic trade shows in the strategic industries of “Thailand 4.0”, which are mainly located in Chonburi province south of Bangkok.
The 11 new international trade shows are Asia Pacific Rail 2022, Byond Mobile (5G), Future Mobility Asia 2022, Maintenance, Industrial Robotics, and Automation (MiRA), Bio Asia Pacific 2022, Cosmoprof CBE ASEAN 2022, Building and Construction Technology, Enlit Asia 2022, Solar+Storage Asia 2022 (SSA), Manufacturing Transformation (MATRA) Thailand 2022, and ASEAN Tools Expo.
Two of the new shows TCEB supported in 2022 – Maintenance, Industrial Robotics and Automation (MiRA) and Manufacturing Transformation Thailand (MATRA) – were held in Pattaya, the exhibition hub for the Eastern Economic Corridor or EEC. Both covered smart manufacturing and industrial automation, and served the interests of a great number of multinationals and small- and medium-sized enterprises based in the EEC.
Industrial innovations served by the new international shows include digitalisation, intelligent automation, robotics, life sciences, healthcare, clean energy, and logistics. More than half were staged by the local offices of international organisers or in partnership with Thai organisers.
“The fact that 11 international trade shows made their debut in Thailand from May to September 2022 shows that Thailand’s exhibition industry has rebounded and organisers have confidence in Thailand and the economic prospect of the EEC,” said TCEB president, Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya.
“Our support for shows with a ‘Thailand 4.0’ orientation is a policy-level commitment to using trade shows as a tool to drive trade and investment in the strategic industries of the Thailand 4.0 economic transformation plan. We are glad to have helped organisers maximise their return-on-investment and given the industry a timely booster,” Chiruit said.
Kenny Yong, CEO of Fireworks Trade Media Group, organiser of MATRA, said: “We have chosen the EEC for our show because it is attracting a lot of investment and our show is technology-driven for industry transformation and efficiency befitting the investors in the EEC and responding to ‘Thailand 4.0’ industries. Thanks to TCEB’s support, we were able to launch MATRA as a new addition to our portfolio and the first show of its kind in this special economic zone.”
Backgrounder… Land of smiles 4.0
TCEB has also launched the “EMTEX: Empower Thailand Exhibition” project. One key initiative of the project is a new marketing campaign “SPIRE Thailand: Strengthen Power in Regional Exhibitions”. This campaign is designed to help local entrepreneurs align themselves with emerging global trends, such as intelligent automation and sustainability. It is expected that the campaign will generate 7.8 billlion baht (about US$208.5 million) in economic impact.
Under the EMTEX campaign, financial incentives of up to 1 million baht per show will be provided if the domestic exhibitions are in the following five groups of industries:
– Food, agriculture, and bio-technology
– Health and medical technology
– Smart devices, robotics and automation, Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
– Alternative energy, automotive, and logistics
– Creative economy, culture, tourism, and high-valued services
For non-financial support, TCEB will serve as the host who liaises between 11 partners to integrate rapport of exhibitors in seven areas: exhibitor database; on-site buyer database; local network; knowledge, training and seminar; in-depth information of industries, targeted markets and market insight; sourcing of funding/subsidies or sponsorship, and public relations.
Main picture: High-tech manufacturing equipment on display at MATRA Thailand 2022
