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Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand has boosted its mega-events industry, with the completion of online events derived from successful festivals.

“The Harmony World Puppet Channel” and “Bangkok Music City” demonstrated that resilience and innovation are well and truly present in the Thai events industry with an in-depth understanding of global audience behavior of Thailand’s festival organisers, when they both took place in April and May.

In taking their event business online, adopting temporary digital measures to overcome the obstacles brought about by these circumstances, the organisers of both events have shown the world that the show must go on.

The “Harmony World Puppet Channel” (aka Harmony of World Puppet Festival) engages its audience by addressing social issues through the art of storytelling. It attracted 6,164 members of its audience from Thailand, Japan, India, Bangladesh and Lao PDR to stay engaged remotely, clocking up 201.5 total watching hours for four days in April and three in May.

According to Mr. Nimit Pipithkul, Director of Harmony World Puppet Festival, the channel launched with an impressive music video collaboration created by artists in 15 countries across Asia and Europe.

Fungjai and Nylon Thailand, the co-founders of The Bangkok Music City, also invited its audience to stay entertained while at home, providing artist content online. Renamed the At Home Festival, the event reached a domestic audience of 120,757, as well as 1,828 people from 45 countries across the globe. By using live streaming services including Facebook and YouTube, the event was able to reach an audience currently deprived of the primary revenues and contact channels between the creators and their audience – namely concerts, pubs and theatres.

Another event, Thailand Toy Expo 2020, offered a new type of online experience through Virtual Tour 360 and Live Stream with strong support of TCEB during May 28-31. More than 50 international and local artists used the online platform to present their latest collections, enabling the fans to get in touch with their favorite toy brands and designers.

Moreover, mass participation mobility event Move Asia is planned to transform into a virtual experience called the Home Marathon 10KM. Event CEO Mr. Boonperm Intanapasat said: “The whole intention is to encourage active living wherever one lives. The participants can access home-based professional training programmes”.

Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has played a supporting role in more online mega-events. It has been working closely with event organisers in the country since the early signs of the outbreak, providing tools such as the TCEB MICE Intelligence Centre’s ‘Virtual Meeting Space’; a platform that accommodates up to 10,000 online participants in a single session.

TCEB’s Senior Vice President in charge of business, Mrs. Nichapa Yoswee, said: “TCEB is on hand to provide continuous support as events make the temporary transition from physical to online. The support includes a virtual platform for webinars as well as one-to-one engagement for exhibitions, so that attendees and audience can stay engaged, stay active, and also stay entertained with business events and world festivals”.