BANGKOK, 1 July 2020: IT&CMA and CTW Asia-Pacific due to be hosted in Bangkok this September has been cancelled with new dates set for 28 to 30 September 2021 according to the organiser TTG Events.

The travel trade show was originally scheduled for 22 to 24 September 2020 at the Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld.

Ultimately it fell foul of “the continued uncertainty of travel restrictions and aviation options”. It joins a long list of international travel exhibitions that have been cancelled since the ITB Berlin failed to convene back in March. 

Unfortunately for IT&CMA it also lost its official airline partner Thai Airways International that went into bankruptcy protection recently and is unlikely to resume even limited regional flights until September.

Also, Thailand remains under stringent travel and visa restrictions. Commercial flights open to leisure travellers may not be available until August at the earliest. International business and leisure travel has ground to a halt with just over 6 million tourists recorded during the first five months of the year down, from around 16.7 million last year.

It is highly unlikely that business events or trade shows will be able to convene on a large scale in Thailand until next year or when a vaccine is released.

Established in 1993 the IT&CMA has been held mainly in Bangkok with a shift to Pattaya where it convened in Pattaya’s exhibition hall PEACH owned and managed by the Royal Cliff Beach Resort for two years in 2005 and 2006.

TTG Events says it intends to offer a virtual IT&CMA and CTW Asia-Pacific in Q4 of this year, similar in content and format to the IT&CM China and CTW China 2020 Virtual Event scheduled for 3 to 5 August.

 

TTRWeekly