GreenBkk.com Tourism | Upcoming publishing event seen as good image-lifter

Upcoming publishing event seen as good image-lifter

Published: 4/04/2011 at 12:00 AM

A major gathering of international media leaders is being seen as a good opportunity for Thailand to restore an image tarnished by political unrest last year.

Publish Asia 2011, to be held in Bangkok from April 27-29, will attract more than 500 media executives from around the globe to discuss business trends.

The event, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), would showcase Thailand's ability to stage major meetings, said Akapol Sorasuchart, the president of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau or the TCEB.

The TCEB is supporting the event as part of the "Believe in Thailand Campaign" it launched after the violent turmoil of April and May last year.

"The conference will help restore confidence among foreign tourists through these participating media," he said.

Publish Asia 2011 is being staged under the theme "Driving Future-Proof Media Growth" Participants will discuss the growing competition to newspapers from multimedia channels, as well as review new technologies and trends in cost-saving production techniques.

An advertising conference, meanwhile, will look at the changing relationships among media companies, advertisers and agencies.

Thailand had lost the opportunity to hold the conference in the last two years because of political unrest, said Pichai Chuensuksawadi, the chairman of the WAN-IFRA Asia-Pacific Committee.

He said the country and the industry worked hard last year to persuade the organisers to choose Bangkok for the 2011 event.

Apart from the TCEB, support from Thai Airways International and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) were crucial, said Mr Pichai, who is also editor-in-chief of Post Publishing Plc.

Gilles Demptos, the director for publications and events of WAN-IFRA Asia-Pacific, said Thailand's newspaper industry remained very vibrant with a lot of published titles and intense competition.

As well, he said, Thailand was one of the most favoured destinations in Asia for leisure and business.

"We've found that Thais have a wonderful sense of hospitality. Bangkok also offers a large variety of top-level business facilities at competitive prices. It's also a fun city where there are always plenty of things to do and see," he said.

Credit: Bangkok Post (www.bangkokpost.com)