TCEB Transforming the Upper North Tea & Coffee Destination for International MICE

7 July 2023: TCEB is scaling up creative economy and local community product initiatives by supporting Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in the upper north of Thailand to become a hub of international MICE events on tea and coffee.

Mr. Puripan Bunnag, Senior Vice President, Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (Public Organization) or TCEB, disclosed that to promote MICE industry in the North of Thailand, TCEB is pushing the upper north into a hub of international MICE events on tea and coffee. In the first stage, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai have been selected to become a global-scale city of tea and coffee. This is due to their geographical location suitable for the two crop plantation, apart from their wealth in natural resources and distinctive cultures.

“Towards that goal, TCEB is implementing 3 major projects this year. The first project is to scale up the creative economy and local community product initiatives by supporting such event as World Tea and Coffee Expo that have taken place in Chiang Mai for two consecutive years. The second project is to lend support to MICE Cities and other cities in the North that exhibit potential for destination marketing by developing their City DNA into a unique selling point. The third project is to integrate business travel promotion with Creative MICE initiative and involve local communities in the North in developing new MICE routes and local community products for MICE.

In this connection, TCEB is lending its continued support for holding MICE events in the North. One key event is the “Conference of Thailand Tea and Coffee Network 2023” which is held between 6 and 8 July in Chiang Rai. Running for 2 consecutive years now, the 2023 edition is a collaboration between TCEB, Tea and Coffee Institute of Mae Fah Luang University, related government agencies in Chiang Rai and tea & coffee entrepreneurs. The conference is expected to attract over 350 visitors and generate around 1.5 million baht in revenue.

This conference is playing a part in upgrading tea and coffee industry of Chiang Rai and driving the province to become a city of tea and coffee in response to the provincial policy. It is also in line with TCEB’s five-year (2023 – 2027) strategic plan, one focus of which is to highlight the city’s unique identity as a means to lift up its potential in attracting and holding MICE events. In this regard, TCEB is using MICE events as a platform to promote tea and coffee, whether they are conventions, exhibitions or corporate incentive travel. The ultimate goal is to drive the upper north of Thailand to become a global tea and coffee MICE destination.

There are other key activities under the project to scale up the creative economy and local community product initiatives, one of which is World Tea and Coffee Expo. Under this umbrella, the 4th Tea and Coffee International Symposium is scheduled in August 2023 in Chiang Rai. The event aims to develop business network that will lead to investment channels. Capacity-building initiatives will be implemented to raise the potential and create network between northern farmers and producers from outside the region so that their collaboration will result in the upper north of Thailand becoming a center of production, trade, investment and business travel on tea and coffee of the ASEAN region. Towards this end, tea and coffee routes of the North and the South will be developed and connected for MICE purposes, which will make a debut in Songkhla province between 7 and 10 September 2023.

To extend support for tea and coffee industry in Chiang Rai and raise wider public perception, TCEB is holding “Experience new MICE dimension in Chiang Rai” activity as part of its domestic marketing promotion campaign “MICE Dimension-New Dimension. Discover Your MICE Experience in Thailand”. To do this, TCEB is taking a group of press members on its familiarization trip to experience tea and coffee routes. The visit is made to “Ban Pha Hi”, an eco-tourism community, which is one of the largest coffee production sites of Thailand. This is where the press can learn sufficient way of life of the Akha hill tribe. They will join the demonstration of tea brewing using water with different TDSs (Total Dissolved Solids), which affect taste and colour of the tea, at Sawanbondin Farm & Tea House. The trip also includes a CSR activity at Len Dai Museum. Here, visitors will be exposed to the woods that is home to ideal raw materials for the making of unique folk toys for children, which ensures sustainability for the community.