MICE tourism (tourism combined conferences, seminars ...) is considered as a stimulus solution for tourism at the off-time. This is also a type of tourism with good profits because visitors often have high spending, use high-end services, and budget for the event...
However, MICE tourism in Vietnam has just begun to get noticed. We will be more successful if there are methodical methods right from the first steps.
Experiences from countries
Understandably, MICE tourism is a form of tourism combining conferences, seminars, exhibitions, events, companies’ rewarding travel for employees and partners. MICE tourism groups are usually crowded, sometimes up to several hundred guests. The spending of MICE visitors is usually higher than that of regular tours because the characteristics of MICE customers are mostly in the money of agencies, organizations, and businesses. They will go many times, based on the needs of the business, not just the need for the personal travel experience.
Currently, in many Asian countries, MICE tourism has contributed significantly to tourism revenue. For example, in 2018, in Thailand, the MICE industry contributed 177.2 billion baht (5.78 billion USD) to GDP and created 181,000 jobs. Singapore is also doing very well from conferences, seminars, and big profits from the US-North Korea Summit. According to preliminary statistics of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), the summit is considered to be one of the factors that helped the number of international visitors to Singapore in 2018 to reach 18.5 million, up 6.2 % compared to 2017 and the highest increase in 3 years.
South Korea has always been in the top MICE countries. In 2015, about 1.56 million MICE tourists came to South Korea and this number continues to increase year by year. The Union of International Associations (UIA) in 2016 used to rank South Korea as the world leader in the host countries. South Korea has not only Seoul but also 11 MICE cities. According to Jo Deok Hyun, Senior Director of MICE Tourism Korea, these cities all have their own charm. For example, Incheon is a smart city equipped with the most advanced conference facilities, close to the international airport. Busan is the main cargo port and also the city that hosts the Busan International Film Festival, due to its proximity to the coast, there are many hotels and resorts…
There is a strong potential for MICE tourism, but through the times your countries promote tourism promotion in Vietnam, we can learn many things. The Korea Tourism Organization has organized the Korea MICE Roadshow 2019 program (Korean MICE Travel Workshop) to introduce the country's MICE tourism. In the meeting between local promotion agencies and tourism businesses from South Korea and Vietnamese tourism businesses, the latest information about Korean and Vietnamese tourism, cultural features, and MICE tourism products worth noting... were introduced to promote the exchange of guests between the two sides.
Requires high professionalism
Recognizing the benefits of MICE tourism, in Vietnam, many localities have begun to pay attention to developing this type of tourism. Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang are the localities that successfully organized many international conferences and seminars, such as US-North Korea Summit, APEC Conference, Inter-Parliamentary Union... Mr. Nguyen Tien Dat, Former Deputy Director of TransViet Tourism Company, acknowledged: "Vietnam has successfully organized these important international conferences proving that we can completely succeed in organizing MICE travel tours. In fact, after these events, we have gained experience in all stages, such as Planning, implementing, etc. We can also see additional points. For example, in terms of personnel, Vietnam needs to have people who are very good at both the profession and the foreign language. International partners attending the conference are often very meticulous, carefully checked, if we are not professional, they will not trust and also likely to happen unexpectedly. Besides, compared to cultural tourism, resort tourism, MICE tourism is more convenient. Because when organizing MICE tourism, the organizers always want to change locations, especially international events. Therefore, we absolutely have the opportunity to attract large numbers of tourists to Vietnam.
However, according to many experts, if frankly acknowledged, MICE is not the strength of Vietnam tourism. Mr. Ha Van Sieu, Deputy General Director of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said that visitors to MICE tours not only come to eat, sleep, stay or attend seminars, but they also need more than that. Successfully organizing a MICE tour requires good information management skills, articulation helps fill gaps, regulate to avoid overload, meet the needs, connect destinations with visitors ... MICE tours are often programmed early to ensure a high success rate. In addition, the organizers must also have a good connection with the members, MICE guests need priorities, other benefits that visitors do not have to encourage and motivate them. That is what the localities, businesses, and organizations pay attention to building successful MICE tours, Vietnam's MICE locations attract many domestic and foreign tourists.
Source: vietnamtourism.gov.vn
