New ICPB vision for MICE
The key features include creating awareness among Indian conference organisers to bid for international conferences here and making the world aware that India can hold big international conferences...
TT BUREAU The
lack of infrastructure and amenities has hindered the growth of India as a MICE destination for years now. Realising the potential of this untapped segment and to position India as a preferred MICE destination in the world, India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) has recently launched its Vision Document as a long-term strategy. The Vision Document takes into account the time span till 2015. According to Chander Mansharamani, ViceChairman, ICPB, there is no MICE policy laid down by the Government of India. “We are keeping this as a base document for the policy in the future,” he added.
The key features of the Vision Document include creating awareness among Indian conference organisers and professional conference organisers (PCOs) to bid for international conferences and making the world aware that India can hold big international conferences.
The association will celebrate 25 years of its existence on May 16 this year. “We are hoping the government will come out with a MICE policy by then,” Mansharamani said. ICPB is
We do have the infrastructure to go for much larger events but this needs aggressive marketing
in the process of creating awareness regarding the financial benefits a city can have when it holds conferences. Going forward, the association is looking at organising roadshows in a few states that have immense potential such as Mumbai, Chennai, Kochi and Delhi NCR. “We will not only involve the professional conference organisers (PCOs) but the state governments as well. We will make the state governments aware of the benefits for the city. All these cities will be covered in the first week of April. The idea is to complete these activities before May 16,” he revealed. MICE training programme is also an important part of the agenda. As hotel management institutes do not have focussed training on MICE, ICPB is trying to work with them to add one or two modules on the subject.
Charting out roadmap for the future, the ViceChairman says the future for India as a MICE destination is bright but aggressive marketing needs to be done. “As per an analysis by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), 80 per cent of the conferences in India are of less than 1000 pax. We do have the infrastructure to go for much larger events but this needs aggressive marketing. ICPB, with the support and initiatives of the MOT, is poised to play a significant role to achieve the target of 12 per cent growth in inbound and domestic tourism during the 12th Five Year Plan,” he highlighted.