Global
News 13th Assembly of the Strategic Alliance of the National Convention Bureaux of Europe in 2019 to be held in St. Petersburg Members of the Strategic Alliance of the National Convention Bureaux of Europe will hold their meeting in Russia this year, and this will be the first meeting of the Alliance in this country. “There are several ways in which Russia can work on our country’s image as a competitive destination for international events. We can present our country at major exhibitions, and work actively with reputable associations in the industry,” Anton Kobyakov, advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, commented. “Once again we see that the event potential of this country has been clearly recognized, and sparked the interest of professional communities of Europe.” The 12th Assembly of the Strategic Alliance, which was held on February 1, 2019 in Vienna (Austria) decided to hold the next meeting of the Alliance in St. Petersburg on September 30 - October 1, 2019. The participants of the meeting voted for Russia’s Northern Capital after the presentation about the city made by the Russian Convention Bureau (RCB). The members of the Alliance noted that the megalopolis in the North-West of Russia had several advantages, such as transport accessibility, availability of modern infrastructure, and, undoubtedly, rich cultural and historic heritage. The Russian Convention Bureau joined the European Strategic Alliance in February 2018. Members of the Alliance include heads of National Convention Bureaux of twenty-eight European states. During their regular working meetings, members of the Alliance discuss key issues in development of the event industry on the European market, the current results of the Alliance’s work, strategic plans and joint projects. Aleksey Kalachev, CEO of the Russian Convention Bureau, said: “We believe it is very important for us to take part in the work of the Alliance and get fully involved in the agenda on the European market of business events. Meetings with the Alliance members serve as an excellent venue not only for sharing experience with our European colleagues, but also for defining Russia’s confident standing as a worldclass destination for events of any scale.” MICE Affairs 11
GLOBAL BUSINESS TRAVEL largely driven by the destination’s key offerings. There is an underlying emphasis on food culture, with food discussion points consistently coming up when we’re working on any event. Indian incentive groups love food! However, their preference is consistently Indian food – we could send them to Italy or France and they’ll still prefer Indian cuisine. This is partly because of strict dietary requirements from vegetarianism and religion.
headquartered in many of these Indian cities, so it makes more sense for them to maximise on budget and time by hosting conferences locally.
The key cities neighbouring India that are continuing to see growth in MICE activity are Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Nepal. The leading factors in keeping things local are safety, customer experience, and minimal travel time compared to destinations further afield. The attendee experience is second-to-none when running events in Asia Pacific. After only a relatively short flight, attendees can experience a variety of cultures and experiences that are seemingly right outside their doors. Authentic, unique, and somewhat undiscovered destinations, will provide excitement for even the more seasoned travelers among a MICE delegation. Singapore is a prime destination for its diverse cultures of Chinese, Malay and Indian, underpinned by an Englishspeaking population. Contemporary infrastructure and a variety of meeting venues with state-of-the-art facilities provides unforgettable experiences for meetings. With Thailand’s renowned hospitality, Bangkok is now a top international conference destination, and its first-class meeting venues are acclaimed for their outstanding service. It’s a highly accessible destination for travellers across the globe thanks to the Suvarnabhumi International Airport and its connection to the city via electric rail, helping guests bypass the traffic jams. Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur provides a multicultural environment, ample venues and exciting travel experiences. With increased awareness of a variety of destinations and the emergence of second-tier cities, meeting planners are able to balance positive attendee experiences with optimised cost considerations – which is really the event planner’s holy grail.
3. What to expect from Indian Incentive groups?
For companies in India, incentives trips are a key driver for international M&E, with destination choices largely driven by the prevalence of activities, venues and infrastructure. Indian workers desire to visit locations where they can have fun, relax and socialise outside of the busy atmosphere of the city. When visiting international destinations, incentives groups like to sight-see and experience the local city, and popular countries for these trips include Sri Lanka, Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia, and Thailand. In Sri Lanka, clients like to visit heritage sites like Sigiriya and Sri Dalada Maligawa, while in Singapore the focus is on trying the best restaurants. Overall, itineraries are
We also see a lot of entertainment requests from Incentives groups for local dance! Our incentives travellers see this as a way to experience the culture of that destination. Team building activities are requested as part of the mix, but this often occurs organically rather than as part of a structured itinerary.
4. What are the key factors dominating MICE groups from India?
Among businesses in India, we are seeing increased recognition of meetings & events as an expense category where significant savings can be identified. Through outsourcing the management of M&E budgets, companies that we work with often benefit greatly not only from time savings but also financial savings, that can typically be over ten percent of their overall M&E budget.
By viewing M&E as a strategic spend category, businesses are increasingly tracking and consolidating their travel spend. This can drive savings by enabling greater visibility of unnecessary M&E investments and increase the overall ability for companies to negotiate better rates with key suppliers. The improved visibility on M&E spend means businesses can get a better understanding and measure of ROI (return on investment) for their events. They can also benefit from improved metrics such as total cost per attendee.
In planning any MICE activity, it’s important to have strong communication with the event owner to understand their objectives and budget and how that can be matched up with attendee experience, to maximise the allocated spend to meet the client’s expectations. Meeting organisers also value working with operators that can mitigate compliancerelated risks that are associated with M&E such as bribery, fraudulent activities and receipts, and third-party money funnelling.
From a technology perspective, event owners want to engage attendees in different ways, including VR and social media. Fun technology like 3D photo booths allow guests to have fun while digesting the content, and work really well when they are linked back to the event content. nn MICE Affairs 13
Vivek Thapliyal
Head Sales & Operations - Eurostar Dmc
The first and the foremost thought should be to deliver on your brands promise so well that the customer satisfaction can only be admired by your competition. The biggest challenge in this service centric industry is “Client expectation management” wherein we have to be realistic about what can and cannot be done and ensuring the communication is absolutely clear making life much easier at the execution level of an event. “Preempting problem” is one area which should be focused on as this creates a very positive impact with the client and gives your brand a boost. Adhering to SOP is another critical area which is often ignored and the entire team should be following this with no exceptions compared to today’s scenario where the tendency is more of “Go with the flow” kind of attitude which might work sometimes but does not build your brand which is a key to your future business and growth. Whatever strategy you choose to employ, your entire organization should be geared up to execute on it. It only takes a small misstep which can ruin the experience of your customers. If someone forgets to tell customers about a small thing like “Banquet room with pillars” they run entire risk of getting a whole host of negative reviews and wastage of time in “fire fighting” to get out of the situation.
Mr. Vicky Soin
Seasoned MICE Professional First we need to understand that Mice Business in present time is a different ball game altogether. It’s more budget focused, demands an experience with value for money than leisure trips in the past. The procurement process of most of the corporate client is becoming dominant over marketing who initiates these plans. From matching budgets, to planning a destination or itinerary and to create an overall experience for a Traveller, is the most important aspect. Everything needs to be planned logistically and accurately starting from travel, sightseeing, stay and meals besides by creating local destination experience & entertainment. Right people managing the tour on ground as tour director or managers tops up the experience of a traveller making him feel like family and taken care of his needs. Client satisfaction is the ultimate goal whichever way the mice industry goes !!
MICE Affairs 45
April 2019
Volume 2
Issue 1
29 - 30
Mexico City - Mexico
Airport Solutions Mexico
30 - 30
Lagos - Nigeria
Tourism and Technology Summit
30 - 31
Beirut - Lebanon
Visit Lebanon B2B Forum
31 - 2
Nanjing - China
CMT China
1 - 5
Anaheim – USA
IPW (International POW WOW)
2 - 5
Kitzbuhel - Austria
M&I Forums - Peak Performers
3 - 4
Warsaw & Gdansk - Poland
OUTgoing POLAND June Edition
3 - 4
London Stansted - UK
Hotel Summit
5 - 7
Pattaya - Thailand
Thailand Travel Mart Plus
6 - 9
Seoul – Korea
KOFTA (Korea World Travel Fair)
7 - 9
Arusha - Tanzania
Kilifair
10 - 12
London – UK
ELA (Experience Latin America)
10 - 12
Santiago - Chile
FIEXPO
10 - 12
New York - USA
Adventure ELEVATE
11 - 20
Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbia, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore - India
International Travel Roadshow (India)
12 - 14
Incheon - Korea
Korea MICE Expo
13 - 16
Hong Kong - China
ITE Hong Kong
17 - 17
London – UK
City Fair (ETOA Event)
18 - 20
Beijing – China
BITE (Beijing International Tourism Expo)
18 - 20
Istanbul - Turkey
Future Travel Experience Europe
19 - 22
Sibenik - Croatia
Meeting & Incentive Forums - Europe Sibenik
23 - 26
Florida – USA
Private Luxury Forum - The Americas
23 - 25
Johannesburg - South Africa
The Hotel Show Africa
23 - 27
Guanacaste - Costa Rica
Latin America Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchange
25 - 29
Bali – Indonesia
Bali & Beyond Travel Fair
25 - 27
Limassol - Cyprus
ACI EUROPE Annual Congress, General Assembly & Exhibition
25 - 27
Coruna – Spain
IMF A Coruna (Iberian MICE Forums)
26 - 27
London – UK
The Meetings Show
27 - 30
Bengaluru - India
Skal Asia Congress
5 - 6
Hydrabad - India
TTF Hyderabad
7 - 10
Los Cabos - Mexico
World Meetings Forum
7 - 11
Stockholm - Sweden
Private MICE Stockholm
8 - 8
London – UK
London Venues Summit
9 - 10
London – UK
Serviced Apartment Summit Europe
10 - 10
London – UK
BNC Event Show
12 - 14
Kolkata – India
TTF Kolkata
15 - 17
Astana - Kazakhstan
Routes Silk Road
26 - 28
Florida – USA
Global Travel Marketplace
June 2019
July 2019
MICE Affairs 49