The visit was announced at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce yesterday (May 26), held at the Royal Phuket City Hotel in Phuket Town.
Present for the event was Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew, who delivered a keynote address.
The AGM was held to review the chamber’s achievements over the past year, and used to highlight and raise awareness of Phuket’s bid to host the World Specialized Expo.
Pattanachai Singhavara, Director of the Southern Regional Office of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), confirmed, as he did on Tuesday, that Phuket has formally entered a bid, under the theme: “Future of Life: Living in Harmony, Sharing Prosperity”.
The full proposal will be submitted to the BIE at the end of next month, Mr Pattanachai said.
Phuket is competing with four other countries ‒ the United States, Argentina, Serbia and Spain ‒ to host the expo, he added.
The BIE delegation will arrive in Phuket for a four-day inspection tour, from July 25-28, confirmed Thanusak Phungdet, President of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce.
If Phuket is selected, the island will be the “home” of the event, with satellite meetings, mini expos and events also being held in other popular areas in the greater Phuket area.
Mr Thanusak and Mr Pattanachai, along with Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, President of the Phuket Tourist Association, and Somyot Pathan, President of Phuket Old Town Tourism Community Enterprise, together delivered their presentation titled: “What will Phuket and Thailand get? And how to prepare?”
In proposing that the national government support Phuket’s bid, it was pointed out that the expo is the second-largest of its kind in the world.
If Phuket is successful in its bid, hosting the three-month event is estimated to attract more than 1 million visitors a month, generate about B40 billion for the economy and create more than 100,000 jobs for local people.
The bid is part of a plan to help broaden Phuket’s economic base and reduce the island’s overdependence on destination tourism, Governor Narong explained in announcing the bid on Nov 3 last year.
In response, the Cabinet in January approved a budget of B4.18bn for Phuket to host the expo.
“The event that will make a big difference in Phuket. It will make Phuket the perfect MICE CITY, because the project will have a 5,000-seat convention centre that will be able to drive the convention and exhibition events in full,” said Mr Thanusak.
“In addition, the Medical Plaza project, when combined with a medical research centre, will bring Phuket closer to being a centre of health-promoting tourism. In order for Thailand to be selected as a host, cooperation must be obtained from the people in the area in preparing to be a good host,” he said.
“Most importantly, this will be a catalyst for infrastructure to support this event. At the same time, for the next six years, Phuket has to prepare personnel to support the MICE industry, which is likely to grow greatly if Phuket is chosen as the venue to host the event.
“Let’s be a good host. Success will be achieved through the cooperation of all of us,” Mr Thanusak said.
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