Veraded Jitsakdanont said that overall exhibition and consumer-fair business would drop by 15 per cent compared to last year.
“The economic slowdown is a major factor for the fall. Many small events will be out of venues. However, most big events will remain,” he said.
Home Show enlarged the space for the “Thailand Biggest Fair 2016”, held in May at Impact Muang Thong Thani.
“In terms of space, that was the largest consumer fair in Asia, with a total space of 47,000 square metres,” he added.
Convinced that huge fairs and events will still attract visitors, the company has organised the “Thailand One Stop Shopping Expo”, which will also occupy 47,000 square metres at Impact Muang Thong Thani, from October 15 to 23.
Veraded, who expects the event to draw 2 million visitors and spending totalling about Bt800 million, said some of the highlights would include a furniture fair, smart-electronics expos, and special displays for the weddings market and personal care products.
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau revealed in a 2015 study that Thailand’s meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) industry had helped generate expenditure of Bt220 billion and the creation of more than 164,000 jobs. In the conventions segment of the MICE sector, more than Bt66 billion was spent at such events in the Kingdom, with the creation of over 46,000 jobs.
Since last October, Thailand has won bids for 16 conventions, with more than 12,000 international delegates and targeted revenue generation of more than Bt1 billion.

After chairing the cassava management committee meeting yesterday, Deputy Commerce Minister Suvit Maesincee said the government had decided to come up with a subsidy measure to assist cassava farmers during the upcoming harvest season.
The Bt1.2-billion budget will used to pay the 1.5 per cent interest rate for 500,000 cassava farmers for 24 months. In addition, the BAAC will waive interest of 1.5 per cent due from the farmers during the same period.
The government will also ask the BAAC to provide soft loans to help some 500,000 farmers. The budget allocation will cover soft loans of Bt20,000 to each farmer. Farmers will be charged an interest rate of only 0.5 per cent per month for the 12-month tenure of the loan.
To protect Thai farmers, the government will ensure stringent inspections at border checkpoints to prevent cassava smuggling from neighbouring countries. Thailand would also enforce stringently sanitary standards for cassava and tapioca imports.
The Foreign Trade Department will strive to promote cassava exports overseas in an attempt to reduce supply in the domestic market, in particular during the harvest season starting in October.
Besides China, India is one of potential markets for cassava imports from Thailand.
In the first seven months of this year, Thai tapioca export was down 16 per cent in terms of volume at 6.59 million tonnes, while the value was even lower, by 24.4 per cent, at US$1.74 billion. The export price of tapioca per unit decreased 10 per cent from $289 per tonne last year to $264 per tonne this year.
In addition, the government has asked tapioca traders to purchase cassava at Bt1.90 per kilo to protect farmers from the falling prices.
Cassava is currently traded at Bt1.60 to Bt1.70 per kilogram, lower than last year’s price of Bt2.50 per kilo.
It is estimated that cassava production this year will reach 31 million tonnes, about 21 million tonnes grown from November to April.
In the long run, the government will also support innovation to create value-added goods using cassava so that farmers will have sustainable income, and the government does not need to step in with measures to help when cassava price falls.

Speaking at an “Insurance Expo” yesterday, Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said marine insurance accounted for only 3 per cent of the Bt200 billion annual premium income from general insurance, a small amount compared with the Bt14-trillion annual value of import-export trade.
Marine insurance has been dominated by foreign firms, and local insurers should have a stronger role in this sector, he said.
The high premiums of marine insurance are a barrier to importers and exporters, so the Finance Ministry was ready to help lower this obstacle. He said the Thai General Insurance Association (TGIA) and the Office of the Insurance Commission would provide opinions on the matter to the ministry.
Local insurers have high exposure to motor insurance, which means that when car sales decline, the insurance business is affected as well. Therefore, insurance companies need new products to add value to their business, he said.
Apisak said the ministry might offer tax incentives to importers and exporters who buy marine insurance from local companies.
Anon Vangvasu, president of the TGIA, said the association would spend three months working on a strategy to enhance the usage of marine insurance.
Apisak said the personal-accident-insurance scheme for 8 million low-income earners who registered with the government would be proposed to the Cabinet in a few weeks, and he expects the plan to be implemented in November.
According to the proposal, the government will allocate a budget of Bt800 million per year to support the scheme.
About 30 general insurers have agreed to join the programme, for which registered low-income earners who want to be protected will be required to pay Bt99 per year.
Under the programme, participating insurance companies will pay up to Bt100,000 to survivors of policyholders killed in an accident, while policyholders disabled in an accident will receive compensation of Bt300 per day for a maximum of 30 days.
Apisak said the actual premium for such personal accident insurance should be Bt150 a year, but the ministry had asked for the cooperation of insurance firms and the TGIA to support low-income earners.
Further, the ministry has asked insurance firms to conduct a study on how to reduce the cost the government bears for its health-insurance scheme for civil servants.
Each year, the government budgets Bt60 billion for the medical expenses of civil servants and their families, but the expenses are typically higher than the budget. The budget should be adjusted, and the insurance firms could help manage the cost.

The ministry said feed-meal producers should buy maize at prices above Bt8 per kilogram, while tapioca traders need to pay at least Bt1.90 per kilo for cassava.
Wiboonlasana Ruamraksa, director-general of the Internal Trade Department, said the ministry would also ask for the Cabinet’s approval to suspend debt collecting from farmers during harvest season. This would give farmers enough time to adjust to low prices of crops during the harvest.
About 4 million tonnes of maize will be harvested this year. That is less than the 7 million to 8 million tonnes required each year. To ensure a fair return for farmers during harvest season, the government has asked feed-meal manufacturers to pay above the set price, Wiboonlasana said.
She said that if any feed-meal or other manufacturers purchased maize below the set price, the ministry would consider stronger measures to set up further minimum pricing or come out with other measures to help farmers.
The government has also called for feed-meal producers to delay importing wheat until the end of the maize harvest season in February so the domestic maize price will not be affected.
In past years, wheat imports have increased strongly, reaching 3.4 million tonnes last year, as there has been no import duty under the Asean Free-Trade Agreement. This has caused cereal prices to drop in the Kingdom.
In addition, the government has asked tapioca traders to purchase cassava at Bt1.90 per kilo to protect farmers from falling prices. The ministry will next week ask for the Cabinet’s approval to allocate a budget of Bt1.4 billion to compensate cassava farmers and encourage them to delay cultivating fresh cassava during the high-output harvest season.
Cassava is currently traded at Bt1.60-Bt1.70 per kilogram, lower than last year’s price of Bt2.50 per kilo.
It is estimated that cassava production this year will reach 31 million tonnes, about 21 million tonnes of which will be cultivated from November to April.