What: The Mall Group won Tourist Attraction of the Year and Content Marketing of the Year at the Travel Daily Media Travel Trade Excellence Awards 2026 for Thailand, for its Emsphere destination and its Monchhichi New Year campaign.

Why it is important: Emsphere and the Monchhichi campaign show two levers that turn footfall into tourism value: a mixed-use destination marketed on Chinese discovery platforms, and character IP staged as city-wide experiences with measured sales uplift.

The Mall Group won Tourist Attraction of the Year and Content Marketing of the Year at the Travel Daily Media Travel Trade Excellence Awards 2026 for Thailand.

The first award recognises Emsphere at EM District, which opened in December 2023 and combines shopping, dining, entertainment and nightlife, including UOB LIVE, EM WONDER, TRIBE Sky Beach Club and more than 80 restaurants. It was the No. 1 searched destination in Thailand on XiaoHongShu in 2024, ranked in Dianping's Must-Visit Places in Thailand in 2026, and generated 3.46 billion online impressions and around 2,457 media articles in 2025. The company also worked with airlines, hotels, travel platforms and payment providers to ease access for international visitors.

The second award recognises the Monchhichi New Year Celebrations, marking the character's 50th anniversary and the launch of an exclusive Thai Edition. The campaign linked Siam Paragon, Emporium and The Mall Lifestore with digital content, KOLs and experiences in Bangkok neighbourhoods, parks and restaurants. Park Pilates with Monchhichi was fully booked within three minutes, Monchhichi Christmas Town recorded a 293% rise in participation and 107% growth in spending, and the Emporium Pop-Up saw traffic rise 549% and sales increase 83% year on year.

IADS Notes: The Mall Group's two Travel Daily Media wins follow its three awards at the Marketing Excellence Awards 2026, where the Monchhichi New Year campaign took a Gold for Experiential Marketing and a Bronze for Communications and PR (Press Release, September 2026). Its reach to foreign visitors now extends upstream of the store, as it is among the launch partners of THIM, the government app that pairs immigration procedures with retail and travel privileges and has recorded more than 600,000 downloads since 1 August (The Nation, September 2026). The destination model is spreading across Thai operators, with Siam Piwat planning IconPhuket, a 12-attraction project scheduled to open in 2029 and expected to draw 80,000 to 100,000 visitors a day once fully operational (Inside Retail, October 2026). The policy backdrop favours this formula: Thailand halved its visa-free stay to 30 days for visitors from 93 countries to attract higher-spending tourists, and retailers are urged to prioritise Thai design and better payment acceptance (Inside Retail, September 2026). Hong Kong offers a measurable comparison, as K11 Musea's tourist spending rose 26% over Golden Week against 5.3% revenue growth across 78 major mainland shopping districts, driven by new brand openings (Inside Retail Asia, October 2026).

The Mall Group wins two awards at Travel Daily Media Travel Trade Excellence Awards 2026 for Thailand