BANGKOK, 2 February 2018: Now in its second year a programme to support tourism start-ups in the Mekong region will launch, 7 February, at a press briefing in Bangkok.
Known as the Mekong Innovation Startups in Tourism (MIST) the initiative is the brainchild of the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office.
It declared the first round of MIST winners during the Mekong Tourism Forum hosted in Luang Prabang, June 2017, and now is recruiting nominations for a short-list of contenders for the 2018 prizes.
MTCO executive director, Jens Thraenhart describes MIST as a “not-for-profit tourism accelerator programme.”
It identifies outstanding start-up tourism enterprises and rewards them with financial prizes to aid their expansion.
Mekong Business Initiative (MBI) and Destination Mekong are the powers behind MIST, but MTCO is credited with raising the profile of the programme with the tourism business sector across the six countries of the Mekong Region. Applicants for a MIST prize must come from the six countries; Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
According to the MTCO the MIST Startup Accelerator focuses on early-stage tourism start-ups already based in any of the six countries. Another programme, MIST Market Access Accelerator targets mature businesses based anywhere in the world that wish to expand their footprint in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
Thraenhart emphasised the event is open to all companies interested in the programme as well as media representatives.
MIST Press Briefing
7 February 2018
Time: 1000
Venue: Hangar Co-working Space by DTAC Accelerate, Level 2, Samyan MRT
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