MANPREET BINDRA

Vice President and Head MICE FCM Travel Solutions India

MICE SEGMENT IN INDIA IN 2017

MICE is one of the fastest growing segment in the travel and tourism industry. The year 2017 especially has offered the MICE segment an upswing. Travellers these days are looking for more expereince within their travel, and travel agencies are evolving and upgrading its MICE facilities in response to these demands. Our focus for this year has been – extravagant events, new unexplored locations and innovative ideas. However, having said the above, the industry has also experienced some challenges through the year. The introduction of the GST Bill caused few corporate houses to relook at the assigned budgets. For MICE, the biometric visas scheme on Schengen States also made matters difficult as Europe is a popular MICE destination, but the biometric process has made the visa process longer as it requires the applicants to be physically present.

MICE SEGMENT GLOBALLY 2017

Emerging new destinations have mentioned their need to concentrate on evolving markets like China and India. We are interested and eagerly waiting to see how they plan their strategies and conquer the Indian MICE market.

TOP TEN OUTBOUND MARKETS 2017

The outbound market trend observed by FCM follows as below:

Short Haul Destinations- The trends for popular short-haul MICE destinations remain constant with movements to Dubai for the newly introduced Theme Park and Thailand for its evolving event spaces. Vietnam also gained popularity as a short-haul MICE destination amongst travellers.

Long Haul Destinations - Australia saw a great interest amongst MICE travellers taking advantage of the no biometric regulation unlike Europe. In the year, New Zealand stood out as the one of the most aspirational locations for small to medium size movements. Unconventional Destinations – With an increased interest to experience the Northern Lights locations, travellers are opting for Scandinavian products - locations like Tromso in Norway and Rovaniemi in Finland are in demand. Popular destinations like Italy, Russia, Athens, Paris, Amsterdam, Prague and Zurich were also in demand. However, Cape Town in South Africa stood out as the MICE traveller's favourite in 2017.

MICE EXPECTATIONS FROM 2018

GDP is seeing robust growth at seven per cent industrial service and output is getting better; we are expecting the same to rub off on MICE, while expecting a double-digit growth.

Emerging new destinations shall concentrate on evolving markets like China and India