VietNamNet Bridge - HCM City, Vientiane, Yangon, Phnom Penh and Bangkok have been chosen as five destinations in the MICE tourism development strategy of the five countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS).

Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, or Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events (MICE) is a type of tourism in which large groups, usually planned well in advance, are brought together for a particular purpose.

The Thailand MICE 2016 conference recently chose HCM City in Vietnam, Vientiane in Laos, Yangon in Myanmar, Phnom Penh of Cambodia and Bangkok of Thailand as the five strategic destinations in the coming years.

Mr. Puripan Bunnag, Director of MICE - the Conference and Exhibition Department of Thailand, said Thailand MICE 2016 selected HCM City for its prominent potential for tourism development and the increasing number of tourists from HCM City to Thailand every year.

He said about 15,000 MICE visitors of Vietnam went to Thailand last year. He believed that this figure will increase by an average of 5% in the coming years.

Puripan Bunnag said MICE tourists are potential customers, whose travel cost is 3.5 times higher in comparison with that of other travelers.

"The cooperation in developing MICE tourism among the five countries will be one of the important tools to help develop and strengthen the economic orientation of these countries for sustainable development," he said.

The GMS countries are Cambodia, China, Lao, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Pha Le