Maiden Travel Business Show calls for better experiences

The maiden edition of Travel Business Show was held on December 17, 2016, at Le Meridien Gurgaon. DDP Exhibitions, in collaboration with the Pacific Leisure Group, conducted the show with buyers from different segments.

Meetings took place in a pre-scheduled one-on–one format. It also had B2B global suppliers representing interesting and diverse segments who interacted with stringently selected hosted buyers. The hosted buyers were from different segments including: Pharmaceuticals, Production Houses, FMCG, Banking, Shares, Beauty and Cosmetics, Infrastructure, Knowledge Processing/Software, Technology, Electronics, Capital Investment and Biotechnology. The day concluded with the gala dinner, where industry experts gave an informal address to the industry participants and shared their viewpoint.

Speaking at the inaugural edition, Priti Khanna, Chairperson, MCI Management India, says, “I would like to stress that MICE should not be mistaken for tourism. Tourism lies at the bottom of the inverted pyramid and feeds human development as large groups are brought together to a certain destination for a particular purpose – usually professional or educational.”

The future lies in co-creation of events producing and staging, recording and reusing the content. One needs to maximise event content

According to Rod Cameron, Executive Director, Joint Meetings Industry Council, "By failing to make a clear distinction between leisure and meetings related travel, we are trivialising our real role in global economic and professional development and threatening our individual competitiveness in the market as also not doing justice to all the investment done by destinations to cater to this industry."

Elaborating on latest MICE trends, Khanna says, “Among the top six trends for MICE, the first is talent issues. The MICE industry requires more soft skills than hard skills. Secondly, economic uncertainty is leading to shorter lead times and shorter term budget decisions. So meeting planners should be ready to turn around events at short notice. The role of procurement is increasingly becoming important and so is the return on investment. It's important to measure and determine the value of our meetings.”

“Digitalisation remains another important trend for events. It also means we have a very long event life. Sustainability remains the fourth trend; we have to make sure that none of the three P's of sustainability, People Planet and Profit are compromised. The next is event design – we need to rethink, the way we do our programme and layout structure so that people are engaged and not bored. So we need to think out of the box, have different seating arrangements; engage the attendees through their own smartphones. Lastly, content remains the king. The future lies in co-creation of events producing and staging, recording and reusing the content. One needs to maximise event content and ROI.”

MICE is not an expenditure, it's an investment by companies, says Guldeep Singh Sahni, President, OTOAI. “The trend is that MICE is going to increase further. Tour operators are very important for these events and they will always remain so. We will work hand in hand with the event management people. I must congratulate the team, this event is very well organised and I am very proud to be a part of it. We are not going to have numbers here but quality.”

Sushil Shamlal Wadhwa, Founder & CMD, Platinum World Group, says, “MICE for me is when you can give an experience to an individual in a group, which he may not be able to have otherwise. We try to make it entertaining, educative, creative and exciting; we make it classy and engaging. If you give the people an experience that they will never forget easily, you have achieved your objective and your client's objective.”

Deliberating on the successful meetings held at the Travel Business Show, Punam Singh, Associate, Pacific Leisure Group, says, “We have had an absolutely fantastic response from the corporate buyers. We have concluded at the end of today with almost 650 meetings. The next edition will take place in December next year.

Sarika Bhambani Rawal, General Manager, Travel Business Show says. “The show is a diverse forum featuring the best of MICE brands. Successful meetings took place between selected exhibitors, and top-level buyers. Meeting toplevel decision-makers along with elite meeting planners as buyers from meetings and events industry was an added advantage. At Travel Business Show, networking and building relationships enhances future dealings. It is an excellent platform for companies which are looking to gain a slice of demand or are looking to grow their existing shares.”

We have had an absolutely fantastic response from the corporate buyers. We have concluded at the end of today with almost 650 meetings