The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has recently held the World Tea & Coffee Expo 2024 in Chiang Rai to promote the province as a premier destination for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) in all things coffees and teas.
This event was held to highlight Chiang Rai’s competitiveness on the world stage as a complete coffee industry experience, providing business incentives for investors, opening up markets for coffee and tea farmers as well as introducing the international audience to Chiang Rai’s readiness as a tea and coffee travel as well as investment destination.
The event, held between the 20th and 22nd of November, at Chiang Rai Rajabhat University, was attended by an international audience of 1,764.
Puripan Bunnag, Senior Vice President of TCEB said at the event that Chiang Rai is Thailand’s premier destination brand for teas and coffees of high quality and the bureau intends to work to push the products and entire ecosystem of coffees and teas onto the international markets in order to benefit everyone in the supply chain from farmers to roasters to businesses and brands across the entire province.
The event organised business matching opportunities, which were facilitated by TCEB, helping to find the right national as well as international contacts the opportunity to meet with their relevant counterparts in Chiang Rai. It also featured 52 booths and stalls by many of Chiang Rai’s premier brands and farms, from already renowned brands such as Doi Tung to smaller up and coming entrepreneurs. There were workshops, as well as seminars about coffee culture, latte art, sustainability as well as talks and exhibits introducing the public to newly opened tea and coffee travel destinations which include home stays and charming coffee and tea stops across the province. One such successful example was the promotion of a new tea route with Sawanbondin Tea House and Experience, which provides herbal teas and a farm stay which features some of the best teas in the region amidst their own plantation followed by a visit to Suwirun Tea Shop’s plantation of premium organic teas which serves craft tea at amidst their award-winning working farm. There was also the recommended coffee route which includes a stop at the famous Doi Tung where an entire ecosystem of coffee has been successfully implemented; farmers plant organic coffee, hand pick their beans, process them in natural ways and are now successfully earning a living from this process. Whereas highlanders in the past used to sell opium to survive economically, Thailand’s rapid developments and support infrastructure have allowed many to now turn to legal trade of teas and coffees as a substitution for the harmful drug. Today, these previous opium farmers are successfully growing their businesses legally and prosperously.
Chiang Rai’s many tourists attractions from the White Temple to its more natural destinations were all highlighted during this successful event which TCEB says it will continue to host in coming years
