32 foreign buyers at 1st GMTM
The maiden edition of the Global MICE Travel Mart hosted 32 buyers from 12 countries and witnessed around 800 pre-scheduled meetings.
The Global Mice Travel Mart (GMTM) was held from May 19-21, 2016, at The Lalit, New Delhi, where close to 32 buyers from 12 countries participated. Organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) and India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB), the conference is a step towards promoting India as a MICE destination, expressed Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Immediate Past President, FICCI, and Chairperson, FICCI Tourism Committee at the inaugural session of the mart.
She revealed that around 800 pre-scheduled meetings were held over the three days, adding that, “MICE tourism has shown the maximum potential across the globe and a deep impact in developing a destination and its economy.” In all, 42 buyers and 27 sellers were in attendance. The next edition of GMTM will be held in July 2017, Dr. Suri said.
According to Chander Mansharamani, Vice Chairman, ICPB, the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) recorded more than 12,000 events all over the world in 2015 where India’s share was very nominal. “But this year, India’s global ranking for the number of meetings hosted in 2015 has improved from 35th to 31st position,” he revealed. “The major concern here is how we market the destination. Roadshows are quite effective for this purpose.”
Not only does tourism offer a direct person-to-person connection but is also extremely good for business, opined Dr. A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI. “India is the only large economy which is growing at more than 7 per cent – 7.6 per cent is the rate we aim to grow this year and is an indicator that business is growing in India. This means that tourism is continuously growing with the MICE segment comprising over 50 per cent of business travel; this is a tremendously strong business that is enhancing personal interaction,” he shared.
Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Tourism, identified some obstacles in the area and remarked, “The challenge is really to be able to drive growth on a multipronged area where the communication strategy works across different segments and platforms. If we have to make these numbers grow with the quality we want, I think that the growth has to come from MICE.”
The FICCI-MRSS report on ‘ India Inbound MICE Tourism – Trends and Opportunities’ was released during the inauguration which also saw a panel discussion on ‘Furthering MICE Tourism into India – Rejuvenating the Roadmap’ take place with several well-known industry professionals.