Bangkok - The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has revealed for the first time it is seriously considering adding the growing business travel market to its list of responsibilities.

TCEB corporate meetings and incentives director, Ms Malinee Kitaphanich, said the agency had been tracking the movements of the business travel market in Thailand and abroad and had realised it could play a substantial role in helping the kingdom achieve the status of a regional business hub.

"We are paying attention to this market and are considering this (making it part of TCEB's brief) but we have no definite guidelines on how to go forward at this stage," she said.

Ms Malinee said TCEB's structure was still being adjusted as the agency was only launched last year and was unsure at this stage how it would accommodate the business travel sector.

But she said the sector went hand-in-hand with the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) industry.
She added TCEB getting involved in business travel would ensure visitor numbers would be more accurate.

"The problem with MICE in Thailand is we have to work very hard on our database statistics. Business travel would give us a better platform to make decisions on which way we should go. We don't have a clear picture - and we have to go for that. Having this sector should be a good platform for us to dev-elop the MICE sector further."

If TCEB decided to take business travel on board, Ms Malinee estimated it would take about two to three years before the agency made its presence felt in the sector.

"We would have to develop a vast database. From what I've studied, it takes two or three years for a database to become reliable," she said.

BTI Thailand director of marketing, Mr Frank Fioravanti, applauded TCEB's expression of interest in the sector.

"I'm absolutely delighted to hear this. If they have anything to contribute, which obviously they have, it would help out," he said.