Korea declares 2012 as its ‘Convention Year’

Qualified conventions, meetings and incentives going to Korea between 2012 and 2015 will receive maximum government support and incentives. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Korea and the Korea Tourism Organization have come together with seven MICE Alliances in the regional convention destinations to provide better services and support to MICE participants and organisers.

As part of this supporting MICE campaign, Convention centres and hotels will offer discounts on meetings venues for up to 30 per cent of the published rates and hotels will slash rates by up to 40 per cent on rooms, added to which will be complimentary room upgrades and welcome amenities for designated guests. In addition to this, complimentary site inspection trips can also be arranged for qualifying organisations and convention organisers and participants will receive preferential rates from national carriers, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines. On a national level, Korea Tourism Organization will increase financial subsidies to the organisers of MICE events. The government is also looking at sponsoring incentives such as tickets to traditional performances, souvenirs or tour programmes for qualified events.

There are more cookies in the jar as MICE planners in Korea have joined forces with the Korea MICE Alliance – a union of regional convention bureaus, destination management companies and professional congress organizers – so that each city’s unique incentive plans are maximised for participants going to any of the nine convention destinations in the country.

To qualify for the Korea Convention Year’s incentive programme, conventions need to meet Union of International Associations (UIA) meeting standards while incentive tours and corporate meetings should have more than 100 participants and events with more than 500 participants from the Asian region only or those with more than 1,000 international participants may qualify for airline discounts. Korea is eyeing a spot among the top five convention destinations in the world, and expects the 2012 Korea Convention Year to become the driving force behind this goal.