GAURAV SINDHWANI

Director – Global Sales, India Preferred Hotels & Resorts

MICE IN 2017

The MICE industry has shown a growth trajectory across the globe in past couple of years wherein the clients from across sectors are more than willing to spend the extra money required to host an event in a destination that offers state-of-the-art facilities, new experiences and the added value of travel.

The MICE movements are now both domestic and outbound, and the industry is benefiting from it with growth of almost 25-30 per cent in MICE over the years.

Post the Goods & Services Tax (GST) roll out from 1 July 2017, MICE related activities were initially hit for the Indian market. The 28 per cent GST rate for rooms with tariff of `7500 and above is one of the highest in the world. One of the anomalies that emerged post the GST roll-out was that MICE activities and other events held in hotels outside of home state are not eligible for Input Tax Credit (ITC). But on a positive side, this has led to MICE clients shifting the business to outbound destinations due to cost implications with India.

TOP 10 OUTBOUND MICE MARKETS

Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, Thailand, Paris, London, Malaysia, Indonesia, Prague, and Switzerland.

MICE EXPECTATIONS 2018

With the Indian economy and GDP showing promising growth, the outlook for MICE travel looks quite positive for 2018 both for domestic and outbound destinations. The initial impact of the government's economic policies such as GST and demonetisation is also settling down now and MICE clients are looking for a good season ahead of them. The key segments expected to grow arecorporate MICE travel, incentive groups and destination weddings.

The MICE movements are now both domestic and outbound, and the industry is benefiting from it