As Alwin Zecha has pointed out in this edition (page 34-5), MICE business - or business events as many call it now - is a very strange beast indeed. It is not tourism per se but is still classed as a segment of tourism. If you made an analogy with the seating on an aircraft you could say that general tourism is economy class and that MICE is more likely to be business or first-class.
This is because of the amount of money that conference and incentive groups spend in comparison to independent travellers. In Australia and Europe, where much research has been done on the MICE market, the average conference or incentive traveller spends five times more per day than your average tourist. It’s no wonder that we love them so much!
But as Mr Zecha says, there are many factors influencing a group to travel to a country or city for a conference or incentive with many out of control of tourism bodies and convention bureaux. Tax issues, safety issues, issues of access, and having local commercial interests are all important for many conference and incentive groups and have nothing to do with whether the food is nice, the hotel rooms spacious, or the beach close to the bar. Price, he says, is a consideration, but certainly not the most important one.
Understanding the nuances and intricacies of the MICE market is imperative to success in this area. Singapore is clearly a leader in this regard, now standing at number three on the International Congress & Convention Association city rankings for 2006, hosting 127 meetings, just behind Paris with 130 and Vienna with 147. The city of Seoul is also doing well, in eighth place, hosting 85 international meetings that fit the ICCA criteria.
The strength that many Asian countries and cities have is that the rest of the world wants to do business in the region. This is particularly the case in China at the present time. Predictions are that it will be the global economic superpower in another decade or so (overtaking the United States of America) which will only strengthen its position as a place to hold conferences, incentives and events.
Similarly, with the growth of air travel (predicted to account for one third of the world’s travel by 2010), the strength of Asia as a convention powerhouse is very real provided the hard work is undertaken now to guarantee a strong future.
It will not be enough to have the best convention centres, the best hotels and the best beaches in the world without giving associations and corporate companies from around the world very valid and business-orientated reasons why they should hold their events in Asia. This takes time, commitment and research, and Asia must start now if it is to persuade those big-spending groups that they can do it as well if not better than the traditional European and US cities that have been doing it so effectively for many years already.
Top
|