BANGKOK, 28 September 2021: Organisers of the IT&CMA trade show confirmed the 2022 edition will return to an in-person format schedule for 20 to 22 September 2022.
The announcement was made on the closing day of the virtual show, 28 September. It was the second year in a row that the trade fair had to make do and convene in “virtual space” since Covid-19 paralysed international tourism in Southeast Asia.
Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau and the Thailand Incentive and Convention Association led a delegation of 20 Thailand exhibitors who fielded their MICE offers as the home team at the virtual show.
The show featured a 3D model environment offering online business appointments and live education sessions. The 20 exhibitors from Thailand included 15 hotels, a convention centre and four destination management companies from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Phuket and Khao Lak.
Ten so-called MICE cities had a virtual presence — Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Phuket, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Udon Thani, Songkhla, Surat Thani and Phitsanulok.
During the show news filtered through that Thailand’s plan to reopen to international tourism has once more been postponed, this time to November 2021. Phuket and Samui continue to welcome visitors through sandbox projects.
The “Phuket Sandbox”, since its launch on 1 July 1 through to 22 September, welcomed 35,437 overseas travellers with 540,490 booked room nights.
For vaccinated travellers, the “Phuket Sandbox” has been extended to a more flexible “Phuket Sandbox 7+7” that allows for quarantine-free travel to the neighbouring provinces of Krabi Phang-nga and Surat Thani (Samui) after a seven-day mandatory stay in Phuket.
