MICE on MoT radar

To leverage MICE in India, the Ministry of Tourism has constituted an exclusive advisory body and will also appoint professional consultants to study the market and chart out an action plan

The 9th Convention India Conclave ( CIC) organised by India Convention Promotion Bureau ( ICPB) took place from October 13- 15. The event was inaugurated by Vinod Zutshi, Secretary Tourism, Government of India, Suman Billa, Joint Secretary- Tourism, Government of India and Chairman, ICPB, Chander Mansharamani, Vice Chairman, ICPB, Pooja Joshi, General Manager, Delhi Tourism, Saurabh Bhargava, Honorary Treasurer, ICPB, and Amaresh Tiwari, Honorary Secretary, ICPB.

MICE segment of travel is the fastest growing and high yielding segment of tourism which can act as a means to tide over the seasonality of the tourism industry, feels Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.

“India's efforts in attracting big conventions to its shores need to be re- imagined, moving away from the current model of supporting integrated operators to generate business to more reserved oriented framework. In addition, pre- and post- leisure activities need to be leveraged as a way of increasing the value of MICE tourism,” he says.

GALORE OF SCHEMES

The government offers various revenue generating schemes to help fund the bidding process for large conventions. In the upcoming budget, MoT will propose the constitution of a corpus fund which would help bring in big international conferences into India, informed Zutshi.

“We have a Viability Gap Funding Scheme, which allows us to grant 25 per cent of funding of the complete amount up to ` 50 crore in case of a project. It is unfortunate that not a single request was made for this grant in my tenure of two years. The private stakeholders have to realise that such schemes can be availed,” says Zutshi.

He points out that MoT has sanctioned a huge amount in Khajuraho to build a convention centre. A similar project has been sanctioned in Bodh Gaya which is planned to be even bigger than Khajuraho and two projects in Jammu and Kashmir to link eco- tourism, leisure tourism with conventions. MoT is also supporting fam trips for international conference planners and trying to rationalise business visas.

Suman Billa, Joint Secretary- Tourism, Government of India and Chairman, ICPB pointed out, despite having world class convention centres, supporting hotel facilities, service providers and event organisors, the real challenge is that the industry has failed to connect all the above in a seamless manner which several other destinations have managed to do.

MICE segment of travel is the fastest growing and high yielding segment of tourism which can act as a means to tide over the seasonality of the industry

“We need to bring together a bid where all the stakeholders are lined up and their interests are aligned to make for an organic bid which makes India an attractive MICE destination. The biggest bottlenecks for the MICE business to come to India is the high level of taxation in the country and GST today, offers us a historic opportunity to set that right. If we are able to persuade the Ministry of Finance to bring tourism in the lower bracket of GST, I think there will be a significant amount of economic competitiveness in the global market for the tourism sector.”

The convention discussed key challenges in the MICE industry like lack of infrastructure, sustainable business events industry, opportunities in the exhibition industry among other growth perspectives.

WAY FORWARD

An exclusive advisory body will be constituted for MICE tourism with Secretary Tourism as Chairperson. The state governments, public and private sector stakeholders, associations and ICPB will all work in tandem with this advisory body. It will be a neutral body, responsible to chart out ways to push MICE travel to India, the tourism secretary informs. The ministry will also appoint professional consultants who will conduct studies on the MICE market, chart out a roadmap for 5- 10 years, define roles of the stakeholders and provide recommendations which will be implemented as a strategy/ action plan, he adds. As far as technology trends are concerned the MICE industry needs to move with the trends. Latest Event Technology is gaining popularity in the MICE industry. Technology is on- trend in the industry in 2016: QR codes, mobile applications, video conferencing and live feeding. Attendees can enjoy a better and interactive conference experience via a wide selection event applications from remote locations.

Through the mobile applications with user- friendly and evolving technologies, conference and exhibition content such as conference programme, speaker profiles, exhibitor information, presentations, and floor plan can all be downloaded in real time conveniently, which makes a life much easier for a delegate at the conference. Social media plays an equally important role as it relays important information and creates buzz.