Centara Hotels and Resorts' Tom Thrussell and Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen's Park's Roger Parnow
After more than two years of Covid turmoil, Thailand's hotels are
finally witnessing an uptick in MICE business as borders open and
restrictions ease in recent months.
Roger Parnow, cluster director of sales & marketing at Bangkok
Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park Hotel says the property has received many
RFPs, which he describes as a "very good sign for our hotel and the
industry as a whole".
“For the near future, the volume of business and the countries this
is originating from will depend on travel regulations,” he says. “As
governments remove their testing requirements and quarantine
restrictions, we will see a rise in business travel and MICE groups. At
present, most requests are for events in Q4 2022 and mostly from
countries in Asia Pacific.”
While Parnow expects to see business return to pre-pandemic levels by
2023, domestic business will still be the main driver for now despite
the improving global outlook. “However, we foresee the rapid return of
international meetings and events from the second half of the year,
building up to a full recovery in 2023. There is significant pent-up
demand waiting to be unleashed.”
Tom Thrussell, vice president brand, marketing & digital at
Centara Hotels & Resorts, says that Centara Grand at CentralWorld,
one of the group's major MICE properties, has received several requests
for last-minute groups from Asia Pacific countries with the phased
lifting of travel restrictions.
“We
have also received an increase in interest from long-haul markets
eyeing October and November 2022 dates,” he says, “We believe hybrid or
“phygital” (physical and digital) events will also remain a popular
format for certain markets.”
To help boost business, Thrussell says it would be helpful to have a
consistent set of authoritative guidelines such as easing restrictions
in a phased manner for events.
“That being said, I also believe it takes a bit of time to restore
people’s trust in travel and to readjust their comfort level with
in-person gatherings after avoiding it for so long,” he says.