VIBHA BHATIA

Vice President Alpcord Network

MICE OUTBOUND TRENDS 2016

The short- haul destinations are always the most popular choices for the outbound. Thailand and Singapore are the popular destinations. Newer destinations like Bali, Eastern Europe, France and Turkey are picking up.

FAVOURITE MICE DESTINATION

New Delhi is the evergreen MICE destination. The charm of Delhi is in its old heritage and modern facilities that make it perfect for any business meeting or conference. There are umpteen convention centres in Delhi and NCR like The Ashok, Taj Palace, India Habitat Centre and Aerocity Hotels - Hotel PullmanNovotel, JW Marriott, Hyatt Andaz etc. At AEROCITY all is within walking distance, it takes just 15 minutes to reach the different hotel and airport is hardly five minutes away from Aerocity. With the inventory of over 3,000 rooms, planners have choice of hotels which suits their budgets and requirements.

MICE DOMESTIC TRENDS 2016

India is well equipped to take on its neighbours in the MICE sector both as a market ( domestic and outbound) and as a destination ( inbound). Globally, it has been noted that around 90 per cent of the MICE business is small in nature with a maximum of 250- 300 pax. In this setting, India is well equipped with a lot of hotels that can organise both large as well as small meetings but the choices are restricted to a few destinations. Lack of infrastructure has been the greatest challenge for the growth of MICE tourism in India.

The other key issue that become prohibitive for effectively tapping this segment optimally is India being a long- haul destination.

As per ICCA 2015 Statistic report, India occupies 31st position in the world and 7th position in the Asia Pacific & Middle East, with a total of 132 Global conferences organised in the year 2014- 15. In terms of our big competitors' in Asia Pacific region, only China ( 333) leads at the world stage, Australia ( 247), Japan ( 355), Singapore ( 156), Malaysia ( 113) and Thailand ( 151) are within the striking range. Where domestic MICE business has been the saviour, the inbound MICE segment of India is growing at the rate of 15 to 20 per cent annually. The United Nations World Travel Organisation ( UNWTO) has forecast the growth of the Indian market to reach 50 million outbound tourists by 2020

STRATEGY TO GROW MICE IN 2017

The United Nations World Travel Organisation has forecast the growth of the Indian market to reach 50 million outbound tourists by 2020

To use more technology and social media to provide convenience and wow experience to the attendees and to generate buzz around the event.