Dear Reader,

New Delhi, the Indian capital, is all set to witness its biggest international convention, five years down the line. Lions Clubs International (LCI) has announced its first conference, LCICon from July 1-5, 2022. The conference is expected to host nearly 35,000 delegates from more than 120 countries over five days. Through LCICon, India will be on the international tourism map.

Canada is celebrating its 150th anniversary of Confederation this year as well as the 35th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In an informal interview, Bardish Chagger, Minister of Small Business and Tourism in Canada and Nadir Patel, High Commissioner for Canada to India, talk about lucrative opportunities for Indian business travellers on visit to Canada.

This year, the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) will be organising its convention for 2017 in Ras Al Khaimah from September 12-14. The association wants to promote and introduce new market opportunities to tour operators. This will enable the trade to have an option of another lucrative destination, adding value to the existing markets.

South Africa is slowly emerging as an exciting option for meetings, with more than 1,700 conference venues including large convention centers located in top urban centres like Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town and East London. You can unravel more in our cover story!

Requiring a mammoth number of transactions, manual bookings can be very cumbersome. This is where technology sends a SelfBooking Tool (SBT) as a ‘guardian angel’ to help manage corporate travel better.

Training is essential to leverage skills for excellence in MICE activities. AccorHotels has partnered with the Incentive Conference & Event Society Asia Pacific (ICESAP) with an aim to professionalise the MICE industry in Asia Pacific.

Don’t know whether to drink, sip or slurp your soup? Our expert, Shital Kakkar Mehra, shares etiquettes on having soups during business luncheon and dinners.