Tourism Ministers from 10 ASEAN countries recently presented the certificate of ASEAN MICE Venue Standards (AMVS) to successful MICE venues from member countries during the 37th ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF2018) held during 22-26 January 2018, in Chiang Mai. The milestone certifies TCEB’s pivotal role as a lead coordinator to develop the AMVS, driving the development of the region’s MICE venues to meet internationally recognised standards and enhancing ASEAN region to become a destination for global MICE travellers.

Mrs. Supawan Teerarat, Senior Vice President, Strategic Business Development and Innovation said, “The AMVS programme has been developed as a result of the nationwide success of the Thailand MICE Venue Standard (TMVS) which initiated by TCEB.  Last year, during the ATF2017, the 10 ASEAN Tourism Ministers unanimously voted for Thailand, through TCEB, to take a role of lead coordinator for the AMVS development. TCEB has defined a strategic roadmap throughout the development course and has been working closely with the nine member countries, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. TCEB had organised five meetings to provide details and clarify the criteria of the AMVS standards for the member countries. At present, the AMVS cover three categories, namely (1) Meeting/Conference Venue or Room (2) Exhibition Venue, and (3) Event Venue. The standards include three key criteria namely 1. Physical Setting (32 indicators) 2. Technology (10 indicators) and 3. Service (13 indicators). There are altogether 55 indicators while all of the country members had participated and nominated the venues for the assessment.”

The ASEAN Member States has agreed to award the successful MICE venues which receive the highest scores in the top five positions. The AMVS Certificate Presentation Ceremony was held on the 26th January at the ATF2018. For Thailand, five successful venues which won the AMVS certificate and plaque are: the Centara Grand at Central Plaza Ladprao Bangkok, the Centara Grand at CentralWorld, the Chaophya Park Hotel, the Chatrium Hotel Riverside Bangkok and the Sheraton Hua Hin Resort & Spa.

At present, the AMVS implements on the standards of meeting venue within a hotel setting. In the next step, TCEB will continue to lead the development of standards for Meeting Room in Convention & Exhibition Centre (Public and Private Sector) and standards for Exhibition Hall and Event Venue.