Pattaya Deputy Mayor Bandit Khunajak touted Pattaya as a place for Thai companies to hold business meetings and conventions during the Thailand Domestic MICE Mart in Khon Kaen.
Bandit was in the northeastern city to attend July 25-27 MICE City Summit 2017, which brought officials from Thailand’s five “meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions” cities – Pattaya, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen and Phuket – together with their counterparts in MICE aspirants Rayong, Chiang Rai and Songkhla to exchange experiences and advice.
The public officials also met with the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau to develop marketing strategies for both the international and domestic MICE businesses.
The MICE Mart saw Pattaya officials sell the city to 300 tourism and travel companies in Issan. Khunajak touted Pattaya’s advantage as both an international beach resort and one with copious amounts of MICE facilities.
At the summit, TCEB officials gave participants a tour of the new Khon Kaen Conference and Exhibition center, or KICE. It is the largest facility of its kind in the Northeast and aims to attract business not only from Thailand, but Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia after it opens in December.
Bandit also was given a briefing on Khon Kaen’s planned light rail system, which Pattaya wants to copy.
The northeastern city set up Khon Kaen City Development to build the network of light rail trains and mini buses. The system is in the planning stages with completion set for 2019 or after.
Pattaya is perusing the “Khon Kaen model” to build its own light rail route around the Beach Road-Second Road “loop”. No budget or development schedule has been set for Pattaya, however.
