MiCE REPORT CARD for 2018
In our yearly round-up, we find out how have hotels and agents fared in 2018 in the MiCE segment and what new trends have emerged
Sudipto Mukherjee
Director of Sales & Marketing Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach
MiCE FACILITIES
Ours is a destination hotel that boasts of one of the largest convention spaces with 56,000 sqft in Eastern India. The main convention hall is a 11,600 sqft room which can be partitioned in three different halls along with eight break-out halls. The hotel can cater from ten to 1200 people in the convention halls. The prime USP of Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach is its location and the sea view from all 224 rooms and banquet spaces.
MiCE IN 2018
In 2018, we catered to many destination weddings and it won't be wrong to say that we have seen tremendous growth in this segment. The hotel has seen a steady growth in the occupancy and rates for this year which has led to a healthy rise in ARR and RevPAR. The target for the next year is to focus more on corporate incentive groups and weddings.
CHALLENGES AND MORE
Earlier, connectivity to Visakhapatnam was a major concern, however it has narrowed down to some extent with the increase in the number of flights from major cities in India. There is still scope for better connectivity.
Ashish Jagota
Executive Director Concept Conferences
MiCE IN INDIA AND GLOBALLY
While MiCE sector has experienced growth in the Indian sector in the past decade, India still has less than 0.5 per cent share of the world meetings and conventions market. Developing more world-class exhibition centres can enable India to attract global conventions and meetings in tourism as well as other sectors.
DOMESTIC AND INBOUND MiCE IN 2019
India is estimated to generate 6.5 million outbound luxury and MiCE tourists annually by 2020. The domestic market looks very promising especially with the government promoting offbeat / unique destinations like Lucknow, Indore, Bhubaneshwar, etc. The inbound market is also not far behind with the client looking for value and experience for money. The metros continue to be the preferred choice largely due to connectivity, venues and other infrastructure available.
OUTBOUND MiCE IN 2019
Top 10 outbound destinations are Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, Thailand, Russia, Abu Ahabi, Budapest, Spain, Indonesia, Prague, and Switzerland.
Disha Shah
Director
ICE Group India
MiCE IN INDIA AND GLOBALLY FOR 2018
MiCE is a segment which is growing with its pace. There is a steady growth pattern. Within India as well as globally I feel MiCE is a segment which will bear fruits for long-term.
DOMESTIC AND INBOUND MiCE IN 2019
Top 10 destinations domestic for MiCE - while there are a few off-beat destinations and stand-alone properties that are picking up good MiCE businesses, Goa, still takes the first five spot, while Hyderabad, Jaipur, North India has seen a upward trend in MiCE with a few hotels setting up good conferencing facilities like Jaisalmer and Delhi.
OUTBOUND MiCE IN 2019
Due to the elections in 2019 there may be a few months where business will be slow and our aim is to lock down maximum business for next year as early as possible.
There are addition of new flights and more sectors and a few in low cost airlines as well which means MiCE opportunities will be exponential. 2019 will see increased demand to destinations such as Croatia, Brussels, South American countries such as Mexico, Brazil and even Scandinavian countries will be on hot plate for small MiCE groups.
Jose Sebastian
General Manager
Lulu International Convention Center & Garden Hotels, Thrissur
MiCE OFFERINGS
Lulu ICC has pillar less halls of varying capacities ideal to meet the MiCE requirement of 50 to 2000 guests and an attached 16,000 sqft. of lawn area which offer plenty of space for other events in a total spread of over 15 acres of landscape area.
MiCE IN INDIA AND GLOBALLY FOR 2018
The negative impact of demonetisation across India and liquor ban in Kerala which came unannounced was immense. The market also had to cope up with GST regime.
CHALLENGES FOR DOMESTIC MiCE
The government has a major role to play in infrastructure building along with marketing and branding the country overseas. The rate of government taxes in aviation, hotel and hospitality and travel industry as a whole has also to be looked into.
REVIEW 2018, TARGETS 2019
This year, we are seeing a pipeline in business prospects which is not as strong as last year. We are still in the process of revival post Kerala floods.
Ripos Das
Managing Director
Mayuz Holidays & Director, Andaman Exotic Holidays
MiCE@ANDAMAN EXOTIC HOLIDAYS
Year 2018 was fantastic for our group as this year business became at ease for us and for our customers, The advent of GST was also manageable as potential customers were explained the necessary tariff rates and packages.
We along with my team members always research on the various destinations before providing the customers solutions to their queries and requirements.
MiCE IN INDIA AND GLOBALLY FOR 2018
Andaman Exotic Holidays has served in 2018 to various MNC customers as well as group packages and has rendered individually also. The major domestic packages served by Andaman Exotic Holidays were Goa, Kerala, Andaman, whereas, the international packages were Singapore, Kathmandu, Bhutan, Malasiya, Thailand.
DOMESTIC AND INBOUND MiCE IN 2019
The domestic outlook for 2019 is to promote the Northeast region which is a future evergreen destination for customers.The top ten destinations are Goa, Kashmir, Northeast, Andaman, Kerala, Ooty, Coorg, Rajasthan, Puri, Sunderban.
OUTBOUND MiCE IN 2019
Outlook for 2019 is to promote the Singapore, Kathmandu, Bhutan, Malasiya, Thailand. The upcoming ones are Bali, Europe, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
Ameet Raj Kundu
Director of Sales and Marketing Radisson Blu Resort Templebay Mamallapuram
MiCE@RADISSON BLU RESORT TEMPLEBAY MAMALLAPURAM
Radisson Blu Resort Templebay Mamallapuram boasts of wide variety of activities that can be organised specifically for MiCE groups – ranging from adventure sports to golf. The resort's highlight offering is the largest pillar less ballroom, which spans approximately 20,000 square feet, and approximately 65,000 square feet of expansive lawns which has proven to be the perfect venue for weddings. It's two restaurants serve global cuisine with waterfront views, signature Bodhi spa, and a 27,000-square-foot meandering outdoor pool are just a few elements that make for a perfect getaway.
MiCE IN INDIA AND GLOBALLY FOR 2018
India never far behind in developing products to keep pace with the world. The industry has been hard at work building the necessary infrastructure to cater to the potential segment. The movements of larger groups are now domestic, and the industry is benefitting from it. We have seen a growth of almost 20-25 per cent in MiCE over the last couple of years.
The occupancy is progressively increasing over the past few years in the MiCE segment at the percentage of 5 to 10 per cent YOY. The RevPar has grown by 5 to 6 per cent compared to previous year. For the year 2019, we are aiming at 10 per cent increase on the occupancy of MiCE segment compared to this year, with an increase of 6 to 8per cent on the RevPar.