Conference Organization Proposal for World Association of Travel Agencies

This report is based on the conference organisation which is being planned for World Association of Travel Agencies. This conference is planned to be held in Spring 2021. This report will involve plans for how the conference can be organised and what are the different elements suitable for organising conference.

Meetings, Incentives
Conferences & Exhibitions

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Part 1................................................................................................................................................3
Literature Review............................................................................................................................3
Part 2................................................................................................................................................8
Proposal for the organization of conference....................................................................................8
a) Rationale and Background for the Conference........................................................................8
b) Conference objectives.............................................................................................................9
c) Justification for the venue and destination selection.............................................................10
d) Operational analysis- (catering, IT/AV, transport, accommodation options).......................10
e) Proposed budget....................................................................................................................12
f) Conference promotion............................................................................................................12
g) Conference Schedule.............................................................................................................13
h) Internal analysis & external analysis.....................................................................................14
i) Recommendations..................................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
Meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions, this is a type of tourism in which planned
groups are brought together. This is also known as meeting industry in order to avoid any kind of
confusion. Meetings in this refers to tourism for the purpose of meeting, incentive have different
and specific meaning in which employee are offered a tour and travel after completion of the
project or meeting specific standards. Along with this it is also provided to those who excel in
their job. Unlike other type of tourism this only have a purpose of entertainment and does not
involve any professional or educational purpose. Conferencing means travel for the purpose of
conferencing in other countries. Exhibition is another word in this and this means travelling for
the purpose of exhibition where exhibition are either presented or individual take part in
exhibition. This report is based on the conference organisation which is being planned for World
Association of Travel Agencies. This conference is planned to be held in Spring 2021. This
report will involve plans for how the conference can be organised and what are the different
elements suitable for organising conference. This report also has a literature review based on
contemporary/green issues in relation with MICE sector in order to establish credibility as a
organiser for the conference.
Part 1
Literature Review
According to (Abdullah, 2017) the sector of MICE refers businesses that maintains their
operations on big scale, delivering benefits to the economy which also reflects in the sector of

tourism and look after the development of leisure all over the world. There are various and many
benefits of MICE which goes apart from conducting just the event. As it helps to create more
opportunities for tourism and generate more people to come and visit the country. In the
assessment of global GDP the contribution made by the sector of tourism is 5 per cent and in
terms of employment it is more than 8 per cent. The sector of tourism and destination marketing
and its management has complied their hands with each other so that they coordinate with each
other in a better way through which they can enhance the level of operations and improve the
service of customers. Services of destination support and influencing them is the key challenge.
It requires a lot of efforts to think for the activities that helps to attract people which remains an
factor of importance, then it comes to meeting with the organizers of the events. There is a
reason behind that after the ending of conference people want to visit the place and explore new
places for which they will also consider facilities that offer good food and a decent place for stay
which they can use for stay for the period of trip. Organizations that are smart are successful in
attracting the visitors to their facility so that they can influence their mind to sustain the
environment and take initiatives that helps to preserve the environment. The whole industry of
MICE and their organizers has done a fantastic job to increase the awareness for this issue with
the growth and development of sector of tourism. In accordance with (NZIOKA, 2019) every
operator or organizer that is dealing in the sector of MICE needs to work on collecting the data
so that they can easily understand the footprint of operational area. This must be accurate so that
changes can be made after the analysis of other competitors and how they meet the expectations
of the business plan. Organizers of MICE has one option and that is to use the tool of hotel
footprinting through which they will be able to take out the actual and the right figure of carbon
footprint in each room or meeting for a single destination. It needs to be assessed on the basis of

size and the capacity of environment footprint it is important that destination is complied with
the centre of convention and it is the duty of the organizers to make sure that the outcome taken
out by the event is triple bottom line which is positive for the society and assess the factors that
benefits the environment socially which is apart from the returns that are gained on the economy.
As per the view of (Soler Sancho, 2018) a initiative has been taken which goes by Earth
Check and it has introduced Event Check to support and show the path to the organizers of
MICE so that they can select the venue by assessing the framework effectively for the organizers
of the event, clients, suppliers so that they can measure, minimize and take out the impact of the
environment which involves the factors of environment, social and economic events. With the
help of certification of Earth Check which is the top most centre of convention and entertainment
they have committed to make plans for the sustainability that will help them to reduce the level
of impact of these activities on environment and with that it will make the communities more
better, livable and caring. It will all be done with proper planning and a focus on the
management of destination. They have been getting appraisals for the last seven years for the
contribution they have made to the environment. They have met with the standards which are
consumption of energy, emission of gases or greenhouse, savings of water, waste that is sent to
landfill. On the basis of (RUMERUNG, and et.al.,) organizers are changing their ways and
methods as conducting an event or conference takes up a lot of energy which is why they have
changed their objective to dematerialization. Organizers have decided that they will remove
taking the use of materials to build the events that are disposable. This is because now because of
the advancement in tools it has been possible that events can be hosted with more innovative
ideas and less of these unsustainable measures. Printing, posters have been reduced by apps and
LED screens. Other than this in order to reduce the energy they are reducing cost of transport by

hosting the event where most of the attendees resides so that they can save the monetary aspects
and reduce the level of carbon released in the environment. There are initiatives being taken that
for every event and affection of environment they will farm and plant a set of trees and plants
which covers for the damage and lower the level of carbon in the environment. Some of the
organizing are taking the time of event from 1 year to 2 year so that they can reduce the level of
consumption of resources. Many of the organizations that deal in this sector are aware of the
importance of this aspect and many of them has introduced their program of sustaining the forces
of environment. This way they are making progress in achieving growth and development.
As stated by Collins and Cooper, 2017 have an important responsibility that related to
contemporary/green because they are playing key role in encouraging and promoting tourism.
This is why they should ensure that they contribute in enhancing tourism activities that are
sustainable and have considered green aspects of tourism. They also play important role in
leisure development and this is why they should increase their consideration towards leisure
activities and how they can be improved in relation with their impact on environment. This is
very important that MICE sector when plan and execute tours they should ensure that all the
tourist is educated about their role in sustainable tourism. Waste management is also important
aspect of the green/contemporary activities and this is why this is important responsibility of
MICE sector that when they organize tours or events such as meetings, conferences they take
complete care of waste management in order to ensure that event being organized is sustainable
and will not have impact on the environment. This also requires that MICE sector should take
action and initiative in future water, waste and energy initiatives. Through these sustainability
activities companies in MICE can ensure a different yet rewarding experience to all its guests
and tourists. This experience can be added value by initiatives that support local cuisine, local

entertainment and art and cultural events. Now in all these activities guests and customers have
also started taking interest and they are also looking for destinations where they can avail clean
and comfortable accommodation, along with this tourist and guest also look for having explored
local food and culture and art. Guest are increasingly taking interest in activities for conservation
and community empowerment activities and in this many of the organization are encouraging
guest and customers to do so.
According to Watts and et.al., 2018 In order to reduce impact of carbon footprint on the
environment MICE should take active initiative because organizing events use considerable
amount of energy and subsequently leave a significant carbon footprint. In order to reduce the
impact of carbon industries and organizations can take several initiatives among which they can
eliminate use of disposable material and single use plastic. There are several ways in which
material and waste can be recycled and used big organizations organizing big events should
ensure that they do not leave waste and take initiatives to recycle and before that take initiatives
to reduce the waste. During their event organization companies operating within MICE
industries consider this. Hence it is important for and is a responsibility of MICE industry that
they take care of environmental impact of all their activities regardless of their nature. This
means along with managing and providing sustainable tourism it is also important that events are
also environment friendly.

Part 2
Proposal for the organization of conference
a) Rationale and Background for the Conference
The conference that has been planned to be held in Spring 2021 is a conference that is
being organized by World Association of Travel Agencies (Zhang and Lv, 2017). This is a
organisation that brings together destination management companies on the basis of one
company per country. companies that are part of WATA are required to adhere to same ethical
values as WATA and aim at bringing best of their value for customers. There are several services
that are provided by WATA that range from tailor made leisure groups to services that fits for
Incentives, Meetings, Conference and Events. This is a non-profit organisation that was
established in 1949. This conference will contribute in engagement and involvement of all the
members of WATA. This conference will also focus on improving services of the companies
considering changing orientation and taste of the customers.
This rational suggests that this conference will address issues of the customers of the
companies and how they can enhance and modify their services according to the orientation and
preference of the customers (Huang and et.al., 2017). Another rationale for this is to enhance
coordination and through this companies will be able to provide services at international level.
This conference that is being held by WATA will attract around 250 members among
which it is has been gender based ratio is 50:50. On the basis of fields the members of the
conference are from different fields including government representatives, personnel and key
stakeholders of the organisation and along with this conference will also involve leading figures

from commerce and academic research establishment. Though conference destination is not yet
decided the conference can be held at such destination which is according to the weather
conditions that all the members are able to join the conference. Some of the destinations can be
Italy, France, Spain are some of the countries where conference can be organised (Gao, and
et.al., 2018). The reason behind this is that these countries are able to fulfil all the requirements
of the conference and along with they will also be a pleasant destination that all the members can
participate in leisure activities at the conference.
b) Conference objectives
 Enhance coordination in members companies
 Increase environmental awareness and consciousness
 Improving customer satisfaction and services
 Ensuring sustainability while carrying out operations
 Increasing technology advancement in operation
Coordination among members is one of the objectives of this conference this is because
coordination among members of the WATA will enable them to work in other country. Better
coordination will provide them assistance from those who are from that country (Sielicka,
Choma and Kowalczyk, 2019). Along with this there are several other benefits of coordination
such as sharing of knowledge and better practices with other members, enabling them to enhance
their work.

Increase environmental awareness is another objective in which conference aims at
enhancing practices of members of the organisation in context of the environment. This objective
addresses that practices of all the members are environmentally safe and sustainable.
Ensuring sustainability while carrying out operations is ensuring sustainability of the
organisation in terms of financial sustainability and managing sustainability to meet long term
goals of the company.
c) Justification for the venue and destination selection
This conference can be organised at Italy, this is because Italy is suitable for the
conference on the basis of its time and season (Girgin and Tasci, 2019). Italy is also suitable for
the conference as this is a well developed country. This suggest that it will be a good option for
the conference as it has all the required and necessary assistance to provide in terms of
connectivity, infrastructure. Members will not face any kind of difficulty while they are at
conference. Alongside conference members of the conference will also be able to entertain
themselves by offerings of Italy through its tradition, art and able to provide a excellent
experience to all the members.
d) Operational analysis- (catering, IT/AV, transport, accommodation options)
Catering- This is important to consider when members of the conference are from all around the
world. Catering at the conference can be according to the theme and purpose of the conference.
This means environment friendly green food. Considering this theme of the food can be vegan.
In context of food and catering at the conference, it can be as follows-
 On the first day of conference authentic Italian food can be provided in order to ensure
that all the delegates at conference get to know about Italy’s culture and their food. This

is one of the responsibilities of the conference and its organiser that Italy where they are
organising conference gets benefit of this (Collins and Cooper, 2017). To aware delegates
and members with culture of Italy will also serve the purpose for corporate social
responsibility.
 Second of the conference the food option and menu can include food items from different
countries of the world. This will enhance knowledge of delegates about the food items of
other countries and at the same time they will also have a taste of their home country
food.
 Third day of conference food and catering can be formal dinner and a blend of traditional
and modern food.
Food is important element of the event and organisation and this is why it should be provided
due attention. This becomes more important when conference attracts members and delegates
from all over the world. This will enhance their knowledge and food also represents culture and
heritage of the country (Dawson and et.al., 2017). Conference being organised at Italy it becomes
responsibility of the conference and WATA that it is provided due importance.
Another element of operational analysis is IT/AV. This means ensuring that connectivity
is adequate where conference is being held, another element of this is AV which means audio
and video, in conference this is used for presentation. This means setting the screen and ensuring
adequacy of required tools.
Transport is another part of this conference. This includes managing arrival of delegates
from airport to hotel where their accommodation has been decided.

Accommodation involves booking hotels and accommodation services for all guest who
will be participating in conference.
e) Proposed budget
Proposed budget of the conference is £125000.
This budget is based on £250 per delegate participating in conference. This involves their budget
included in food and also involves all the cost that will be incurred in organising event.
f) Conference promotion
Considering importance of promotion in present times it is important that promotions are
qualitative and it reaches to all concerned people. In order to promiote conference there are
several mediums. Among which social media is one of the best way that conference can be
promoted on. In relation with promotion LinkedIn is an excellent option reason behind this is
that this is a platform where WATA can access to all kinds of professionals regardless of the
field they are associated with. This is the reason that major promotional activities should be
made at LinkedIn. This can also be carried out on other social media sites and at the website of
the company as another important place and channel for promotion of the conference.
Another channel and way of promotion for conference is individual and customised
Emails to all the delegates that will be attracted by the conference. This means that all the
delegates are sent customised Emails and invited for the conference. This is one of the most
important and excellent way of promotion for the conference. This way is feasible too as number
of guest and delegates are 250 and this is why it is not difficult to communicate them about
conference through Email (Rodríguez-Zulaica and Ara, 2018). This way promotion and
invitation will make more significant and favourable impact on all the delegates that will be

invited at the conference. This is also important to communicate them through Email. The reason
behind this is that many of the delegates are stakeholders of WATA and this is why they are
required to be communicated through Email.
This means that promotion will be promoted at social media platform in which LinkedIn
will specially focused. Another platform and channel for promotion is website of the company.
This is because website serves as house for the company and people are most likely to visit
website in order to gain information regarding company (Akkhaphin, 2016). Another platform
and channel of communication is Email, for the invitation and giving knowledge about the
conference to those who will be attracted by the Email.
g) Conference Schedule
Activity Time Attendees Location Direction
Day 1
Introduction 2:00 to 4:00 pm All delegates and
participants of
Conference
Conference Hall This will involve
introduction of
key participants
attending the
conference
Break 4:00 to 4:30 pm
Teambuilding and
Icebreaking session
4:30 to 7:00 pm All delegates and
participants of
Conference
Conference Hall Individual should
be ready to
present
themselves among
all other
participants
Day 2
Meeting of Key
stakeholders of
WATA
9:00 to 12:00
am
Key stakeholders
and specially invited
members
Conference Hall Participants shall
bring notepad and
pen to remember
things for longer
Break
Leisure activity 2:00 to 4:00 pm Optional and
voluntary
Coastline by the
conference hall
Break 4:00 to 4:30 pm

Speakers session and
open discussion
4:30 to 8:00 pm All participants Conference Hall This will be
followed by open
discussion after
one speaker
finishes and your
attention will
bring value
Day 3
Open discussion
among members
10:00 to 12:00
am
Voluntary
Participation
Conference Hall All queries that
remained
unsolved can be
solved here
Break
Group activity based
on the theme of
conference
‘contemporary/green
’
2:00 to 5:00 pm All participants Conference Hall Activities teach
better
Formal Dinner 8:00 onwards All participants Hotel
h) Internal analysis & external analysis
Internal analysis
Strengths
Experience- event organiser previously had organised successful events. Organiser also
possesses effective experience of organising event that are based on contemporary and green.
Knowledge- This is strengths of event organiser as being freelancer all activities are performed
by the organiser. Hence good knowledge becomes strength.
Resources- Being a freelancer resources can be well arranged as there is no limitation and
dependence on organisational resources (Gallego-Posada and Puerta-Yepes, 2018).

Flexibility- This is strength as compared to organisations and companies a freelancer organiser is
more flexible in order to change according to requirements.
Weaknesses
Networking- This is one of the weaknesses as being a freelancer limits networking. Networking
is important when event is organised on international level.
External Analysis
External analysis involves analysis of event host. Host of the event is WATA. It is an
international organisation and it requires that event being managed for the company requires that
its event is of international level (Luible, 2018).
Suppliers for the company requires to supply requires supplying catering and food
supplies. Supplies that are required to supply supplements for conference and this requires that
supply being supplied are of such nature that it can only be supplied by a local supplier.
Sponsors are another important factor for organising conference. Sponsors of the
conference can be influenced through the theme of green. Others those are linked with
destination management companies.
Health and safety regulation that is part of legal environment is another important factor
in external environment. This means health and safety will required to managed and maintained
in conference (Bandhuseve, Limnarat and Tangthong, 2017). This is included in food and
beverages and in the premises where conference takes place.

i) Recommendations
The above report and points discussed involve how the conference can be organised in
while ensuring that it is green as well as maintain the international level. This report includes all
the necessary aspects through which conference can be successfully organised. In order to meet
the objectives conference some of the recommendations are that a list of all those who will be
attending the conference (Sielicka, Choma and Kowalczyk, 2019). This will allow ensuring that
services and organisation is conference ensures that all the elements of conference are suitable
for all the people who will be taking part in the conference. In order to ensure that objective of
improving coordination between members of WATA this list of members to be joined should be
provided to all members who will be attending the conference. This will help them in making
their research about those they want to network and establish connection while conference. Later
through ensuring activity is based on and linked with increasing awareness of the delegates
regarding environment and its sustainability. All members and delegates participating in the
conference should be encouraged to take active participation so that main and overall objective
of the conference. This is because active participation in all task and activities being organised at
conference will ensure that members and delegates have learned effectively. This is not possible
through only listening to the speakers and watching others participating (Dawson and et.al.,
2017). One of the recommendation is that when conference is contemporary/green based
members should be communicated about every element that they are using while conference and
ensure that they are aware with knowledge of green.

CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion it can be concluded that conferences are effective way
through which individuals can learn better. Through this WATA can inform and educate its
members with developments that have taken place recently. This conference is being organized
considering green and contemporary and this should be communicated to members so that they
can take measures of the knowledge while working. The above plan involves all the elements
that are required to be considered while organizing conference. The destination that has been
selected for organizing the conference is Italy because Italy is suitable as conference has been
planned to take place during Spring season in which Italy is a suitable place. Other than this Italy
also is a highly developed country hence infrastructure and connectivity is not a problem there.
This report also has included a schedule for conference.
CONCLUSION

REFERENCES
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