TCEB dreams of a World Expo
November 10, 2009 by Sawapat Pimchaichon
Filed under News
New TCEB president mulls over to bid the World Expo 2020 to Thailand.
Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau newly appointed president, Akapol Sorasuchart, believes the country could bid to host World Expo 2020.
Mr Akapol said he met with 22 representatives from the private sector in the MICE related industry, including inbound tourism organisations, to adjust the bureau’s three-year operational plan and bidding for an expo was on the agenda.
World Expo 2010 mascot, 'Haibaos' created from a Chinese character meaning people.
According to Mr Akapol, to work with the World Expo bidding process, TCEB will need to brainstorm feasibility with those who manage public facilities and transportation development, to create an operational plan. The bidding process would need to take place 2011 to 2012 and would require government support.
He declined to offer an estimate on the bid cost, or the return on investment that would be generated by hosting the World Expo, but noted the private sector would have to offer its financial backing, too.
Calculations on cost and benefits would need to be presented, later this month, to the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, which is involved in the Thailand pavilion at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China.
The Shanghai World Expo should attract around 70 million visitors over six months.
Mr Akapol said: “It’s a massive project and would require us to build a city of exhibits and support centres. That would require us to decide on a suitable site and build infrastructure to get visitors to the expo.”
Recommendations would need to be approved by the government first and then a budget allocated to begin a study on the various aspects of building an expo site and marketing it.
Please tell me this is a wind-up, an early April-Fool story. This bozo cannot be for real, surely??????
Already this politician is looking for a grandstand, not realising that Thailand is light years behind, say, China in a capability to host such a massive and costly event. China isn’t doing this to impress the world, but to quell the ever increasing domestic issues of unemployment and inequality. They did the same and failed with the Beijing Olympics.
The new head of the TCEB should maybe concentrate on clearing up the mess he inherited and putting one baby step forward at a time, not wasting limited resources on a totally silly idea like a world expo.
The Chinese aren’t even worried about overseas visitors to their 2010 world expo, as more than 95 per cent of visits are going to be from locals and all the infrastructure investment will be assumed into greater Shanghai when the fair is over. Does this pol see a site at Muang Thong Thani? Or is his home town looking for a fillip?
1. the site (“is his home town looking for a fillip”): I reckon Don Ross is out scouting for a possible venue right now on the banks of the mighty Mekong. Perhaps he’s not barmy after all…….
2. more seriously, one of the reasons the China authorities bothered with Expo is that Beijing had won the Games, so Shanghai had to have a ‘consolation prize’. Otherwise they would not have bothered and this daft waste of resources would have died without mourners. Has anyone you know ever voluntarily been near an Expo anywhere in the world?
3. infrastructure: at least the Airport Express might be open by 2020. No? Oh well, just a pipedream.