The most well known and best developed resort city in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) is of course Pattaya. There are many accommodation choices in Pattaya, but the Thai-owned Mytt Beach Hotel has one of the largest conference rooms in Pattaya. These include an amazing Vertical Ballroom on level 3, the biggest event and function room in Pattaya with capacity for thousands and towering ceilings for grand stage designs, and equipped with state-of-the-art AV and IT technology for all types of events. The Horizon Grand Ballroom on level 2 is smaller with lower ceiling height, and it can similarly be partitioned for more intimate meetings.
The hotel has 236 spacious and comfortable rooms and suites with high tech features such as bluetooth and other connectivity for digital devices. The offer of a complimentary mobile phone in the room for use in Pattaya is a nice touch. For more information, visit: www.mytthotel.com Rayong, which is about a 3-hour drive from Bangkok, is a fully industrialized city in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) dedicated to petrochemical and chemical industries. Hence, it is hard to imagine that such an industrialized region is home to a number of beautiful resort islands, such as Samed Island (also spelled as "Samet" in some publications and websites). The island is one of the top tourist destinations for both Thais and foreigners, and it is accessible by a 20 minutes speedboat ride from Ao Prao Pier in Rayong.
One of the most luxurious resorts on Samed Island is the Ao Prao Resort, part of the Thai owned and managed Ao Prao Resort Group. It offers 100 guest rooms and conference rooms with the scenic views of the Gulf of Thailand. This is definitely a MICE venue of choice for incentive groups heading for the EEC region because besides white sands and clear blue sea, there is a variety of activities to do, including nature trekking, portrait drawing, muay thai lesson and offering food to monks. Nongnooch International Convention And Exhibition Center is Pattaya’s latest convention center. The center boasts over 20,000 sq.m. of function area, which can be partitioned into various configurations to accommodate exhibitions, conferences and banquets for up to 10,000 persons.
The exhibition center is located within the Nongnooch Tropical Botanical Garden premises. The park consists of various themed gardens, dining venues and accommodation. While the park owner’s twin objective to serve social/educational responsibility and commercial needs of the nation is laudable, it is indeed a tough balancing act. Local kids may be drawn to the park by life-size dinosaur statues, but international MICE delegates may not find much interest in a static Jurassic park. And the presence of live animals within the park for photography, riding and entertainment purpose will not go down very well with many international MICE delegates increasingly concerned with animal welfare. Ban Krasae Bon is a community-based tourism project that gives visitors an opportunity to experience an authentic way of life of fruit farmers in Rayong. The afternoon begins at the 400-year-old community shrine. Where water level and weather permits, visitors may help local villagers pick overgrown water mimosa from the Prasae River for composting, or fish for giant river prawns, which will be cooked and served along with other local dishes for a simple yet memorable meal. It is interesting to note that while the project is supported by the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Public Organization), one of Ban Krasae Bon’s main objectives was also to counter efforts to establish a biomass gasification power plant on the banks of Prasae River. This seems a little intriguing when Ban Krasae Bon is promoted alongside mega industrial and infrastructural development of Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor. Sriracha is also home to Vajiravudh Scout Camp, well-known among primary and secondary school students in Chonburi and nearby provinces, especially Bangkok. The camp offers various outdoor activities for young scouts to develop teamwork skills and discipline. Well, a camp is a camp, hence it is pretty much open fields and nature here, the rest is up to your imagination and the camp master’s guidance. It is an excellent venue for team-building activities and campfire dinner. An indoor hall in the camp grounds with built-in stage accommodates about 100 attendees for sit-down buffet dinner. This comes in really handy in case of heavy rain. The Balcony group in Sriracha has its origins as a city hotel catering to the companies in the industrial estates near Sriracha District. As a result of the increase in demand due to the expansion of the industrial estates in the area, the Balcony Seaside was launched as the second branch. This is another fine example of local Thai entrepreneurship rising up to meet demand before the international big boys set foot here.
Just to clear the air, firstly, Balcony Seaside is more a service apartment than a hotel; secondly it is not really situated by the sea. In fact, the sea here is meant for fishing and is not suitable for swimming. Nevertheless, the sea and green views from the apartments provide a relaxing feel. The Balcony Seaside has 234 units of studio apartment, one-bedroom and two-Bedroom suites, complete with kitchen and cooking utensils. Perhaps an area requiring improvement would be sound proofing the apartments, as there were some reports of noise from next door units, corridor and engine rooms. Function rooms in this hotel come in a variety of sizes, accommodating 25 to maximum 130 people. Balcony Seaside is suitable for small to medium corporate meetings in Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor. For more information, visit: www.balconythailand.com The Regional Observatory for the Public, Chachoengsao, is one of the astronomical infrastructures by the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, the Ministry of Science and Technology. The National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) promotes astronomy education for all, especially children and young people, partly by offering the opportunity to observe celestial phenomena via telescope or in a planetarium.
MICE organisers looking for venues within Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) can rent the Observatory’s spaces, even if the facilities are more educational rather than tourism in nature. For example, the open amphitheater can be turned into a spectacular ‘star-gazing’ theme dinner, complete with astronomy tour and shows... weather permitting. For CSR and team-building activity, MICE visitors can participate in a project to help create tactile star maps using clay, which allow those with visual impairment to feel the shapes and positions of stars in the sky. These learning materials created are donated to the Chachoengsao Panyanukul School under the patronage of Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. Situated on New Petchaburi Road, Lancaster Bangkok is a five-star luxury hotel, owned and managed by a Thai family. The family’s experience in the hospitality business dates back to 1967 when they first launched the Siam Hotel on this same location. In the 1980s, they opened the Landmark Hotel and Plaza on Sukhumvit Road. The family expanded its business to London when it acquired the Royal Lancaster Hotel and another hotel property in the 1990s. The original Siam Hotel was demolished in 2007, and in its place is the new Lancaster Bangkok.
Although rather inconspicuous from the outside, Lancaster Bangkok's atrium lobby is grand and its guests rooms offers luxurious space starting with 40 to 72 sqm. For business meeting and conference, there are nine fully customisable meeting rooms and the Siam Ballroom, accommodating 10 to 300 guests. Given Bangkok's traffic condition, it is good to note that the hotel is just a short distance from the Airport Rail Link’s Makkasan Station, and the Asok BTS Station and the Phetchaburi MRT Station. For more information, visit: http://lancasterbangkok.com The first ever Trump-Kim Summit, F1 night race, high profile IMF meeting in the past, and the "Crazy Rich Asian" have surely proved that Singapore has what it takes to host successful meetings, incentive groups, conventions, exhibitions and even 'crazy rich' parties. Singapore, as a MICE destination, scores high on accessibility, security, ease of communication, hotel and meeting facilities and IT.
Below is an overview of Singapore's MICE industry in Chinese, written by MICEreview's Editor, commissioned by EventPlatform magazine of Taiwan. |
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