NCC renews Mice contract with Hat Yai centre
Goal to strengthen business in South
NCC Management and Development Co, the operator of Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, has renewed a management contract with a convention centre in Hat Yai as the company aims to strengthen Mice business in the South.
President Sakchai Pattarapreechakul said NCC has inked a management contract with Prince of Songkla University (PSU) to run the 60th Anniversary of His Majesty the King’s Accession to the Throne International Convention Center in Hat Yai (ICC Hat Yai) for five more years (2017-22).
NCC has managed the centre for the nine years since its opening. In that time, NCC has enhanced the Mice business in Songkhla province and the southern region.
Events held in recent months fall into five categories: conferences/seminars (51%), exhibitions/trade fairs (16%), banquets/ weddings (10%), concerts (7%) and other (16%).
Regional and national events comprise 95%; the rest are international.
The centre has generated up to 6.5 billion baht in income for the province and nearby areas during the nine years and has served more than 1.8 million business visitors from domestic and international markets.
Events that had the highest number of
visitors included the Otop Fair, Motor Show Hat Yai and the Songkla Travel Fair.
For the next five years, NCC has set up marketing strategies and a plan to transform Hat Yai into a Mice centre for the South.
It will work with four PSU campuses
(Surat Thani, Trang, Phuket and Pattani) to promote Mice and encourage PSU to organise international conferences.
“This could be done by transferring Mice knowledge and management to local venues,” Mr Sakchai said. “In the next five years, NCC is also going to build Food Paradise Zone, a new and trendy food centre in Hat Yai that will help enhance the district as an international Mice destination.”
Last year, NCC earned a total revenue of 800-900 million baht and expects the figure to increase by 6% this year.
Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, president of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau, revealed that ICC Hat Yai is able to serve up to 4,000 Mice visitors. The centre has been equipped with upgraded facilities suitable for international events.
For instance, it is the first convention centre in the South certified by TIS 22300 or Mice Security Management System from the Electronic Government Agency.
Furthermore, ICC Hat Yai has held several regional-scale events such as the Thai Chamber of Commerce seminar and the IMT-GT Trade Fair, which features Otop and SME products, with national cooperation under the Growth Triangle (an economic development concept among Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia).
Songkhla province is a hub for the economy and investment in the South, and Sadao district is a designated special economic zone.
“As the province links with the upper region of the South and the lower part of Thailand and borders neighbouring countries, we are studying the possibility of transforming the province to become a Mice city, following the success seen in Phuket,” Mr Chiruit said.
Many Mice entrepreneurs from Malaysia and Singapore have come to join conferences and seminars in the South. This will help Songkhla get a leg up in becoming a new Mice city.
PSU president Choosak Limsakul said the university will improve services and Mice facilities at ICC Hat Yai to meet customers’ needs and encourage organisers to run international conferences and grandscale trade fairs.