Contemporary Issues in MICE Sector

This document discusses the contemporary issues faced by the MICE sector in the travel industry. It covers topics such as destination meetings vs virtual meetings, keeping up with new advancements, lack of creativity, maintaining budgets, and rising costs of food and beverages. The document also provides recommendations for event planning and discusses the ideal destination and venue for a professional conference.

MICE: Meetings, Incentives
Conferences & Exhibitions
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................3
‘Contemporary’ issues in relation to the MICE sector................................................................3
EVENT PLANNING ......................................................................................................................7
Reason for the destination and venue being ideal.......................................................................7
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................7
Proposed budget..........................................................................................................................8
Marketing Plan............................................................................................................................9
Tentative Schedule....................................................................................................................10
Internal and external analysis....................................................................................................11
Recommendations.....................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14
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INTRODUCTION
Meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions (MICE) sector has been refereed as a
specific niche which are associated for making successful planning, conducting conferences,
booking hotels, arranging seminars and other broad events which are the real reason for
enhancing the revenue in travel industry (Francisco, Olfindo and Tiongson, 2017). The report is
based on the World Association of Travel Agencies for organising a professional conference.
Such agency play an essential role in regulating the travel trade, which was established in 1937.
The main objective is to promote the travel business for organising seminars and events at
domestic, regional as well as at worldwide scale. The report will cover all the contemporary
issues which are face in the MICE industry, along with this, a professional conference will be set
up by making its market plan, budgets, schedules, destination. Various recommendations for
achieving the aim of conference by stating the venue, transport, catering, support activities and
leisure programs will also be mentioned in this report.
LITERATURE REVIEW
‘Contemporary’ issues in relation to the MICE sector
According to the views of Yong and Xue (2016), MICE is used in travel industry which
clearly encompasses all the relevant element for making the travel market successful and
authentic. The MICE travel basically involves meeting travels where a group of people or
specific number of individuals are coming together for attending a particular event either one
time or regularly. Incentive travel are those facilities which are provided to the employees as a
reward, such practice make the employees more motivated to work effectively for the company.
Conference travel includes in sharing specific objectives and recent advancement over a
conference, such travel majorly comprises of people having same working background. The
exhibition travel assist in displaying several products and people from the world may attend such
event, such exhibition may also be included together with the business meetings and
conferences. As the demand of such sector is increasing day by day due to high requirement of
regular exhibitions, professional meetings and event, the sector looks promising and have bright
future ahead. Due to such vast growth and development of the particular industry, challenges and
issues are seemed to evolve. Such events requires labour work depending upon the scale of the
meetings and the conference, thus due to some of the challenges and the issues the MICE sector
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have been facing some major problems which has to be amended as soon as possible for making
the travelling market smooth and supple. Some of the major contemporary issues faced have
been discussed below.
Destination meetings vs Virtual meetings – Recently it has been observed that the
virtual meetings are preferred more over the destination meetings because they do not require the
staff members to attend the event in person, they can attend any kind of meetings and
conferences while real at home. Such practice do not even require to reserve a hotel room or get
a air plane ticket due to such activities they are less expensive than destination meetings. The
destination meetings on the other hand lends various opportunities to meet different authority
people in–person which ultimately helps in providing various opportunities to the people for
growing their personality as well as their business in large scale. The MICE industry must lay
emphasis on both the meetings and try to evaluate the merits and demerits of both the meetings.
The industry gets more benefits from the destination meetings rather than virtual meetings
because it require the reservation of hotels, restaurants, places and every asset which help in
making the event successful (Lee and Fenich, 2016). The industry should work and plan more
for promoting the destination meeting more. They are recommended to make people aware about
the benefits of the destination meetings by making them understand the value of face to face
interaction and the opportunities behind them. The problem of networking while conducting
virtual meeting will also make people aware about the importance of the destination meetings, as
the poor network may lead in miscommunication or loss of some important data or information
which may be used in favour or in against of the company.
Keeping up with the new advancement – The technology have been found to be
evolving at a very fast track, due to such practice the expectation of the meeting holder and the
clients have been enhanced. Though, according to the sayings of Rendr and et.al., (2019), the
clients which are likely to attend the meeting and some events prefer to book the flight and hotel
rooms on their own without having even a little problem. One of the issues in such industry is
lack of high speed services in internet and upgraded system in some hotels. Due to such
drawback, the companies face criticism and lower their capacity in making the customer less
satisfactorily. Sometimes, it has been observed that the planners lack basic facilities when
compared to the client in the area of using high tech software and technologies for making quick
arrangements in very less amount of time. The leaders in such sector does not have knowledge
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about the newly emerging technology and they usually not able to keep a pace with the clients.
All these practices lower the productive level of the meetings and make the clients frustrated.
Thus, making progress in the current techniques is very much required for accomplishing a
successful outcome of each events and social gathering. Good and reliable internet services and
high software must be installed in such hotels as well as airlines for lowering the occurrence of
error and diminishing the redundancy. The technologies must be high tech and the hotels should
improve their interaction level and logistics with the events planners and the brokers in respect to
totally eliminate the chances of making mistake. More use of LCD players as well as iPads must
be promoted for making the arrangements of the meeting in the most organised way while
making a check list. The clients must be provided with a virtual set for drawing the notes in the
meetings, such practice is more influencing as the recent generation is more relied on the use of
mobile phones, social media, texting and highly communicative applications.
Lack of creativity – As per the perspective of the author Hoque, (2016), it has been
found that the large branded hotels demands more and more creativity in the process of events
and meetings every time any events are being held. Dull and less creativity make every event
quite boring and people tends to find some other location for organising meetings, thus a major
issue in such industry. They require such environment which is far more innovative as well as
restful so that the interaction and the high end communication at any social events can be
conducted smoothly. Sometimes the boundaries and the limitation which limits the working of
the hotels does not allow the planners to push their extent further for making large innovative
modification in the setup of the meetings or any exhibitions. Irrespective of such cause the
managers tends to demand for constant alteration in the planning and the arrangements of the
events so that every time a new look can attract large amount of customers towards such hotel
thereby, increasing the productivity. The desire for creatively demonstrating the events, using
imaginative software and techniques, efficient staff generation practice, changing destinations for
making the social events memorable is required and may be challenging for many planners. For
overcoming the issue of lack of creativity, the hotels must collaborate with such resorts or
planners that are recognised for their innovation and extra ordinary thinking to that they can meet
with the expectations of the clients and more number of customers are attracted towards the
brand. The small scaled property which are working independently or the freelancing employees
are much more passionate about their work and has large number of ideas for proving their
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capability and meeting the demands and the mission of the professional planners. The out of box
thinking of such group assist in building an effective team as well who collectively aid in
programming the concert.
Maintaining Budgets – Inadequate funds and budget in such industry is one of the
biggest challenge which are being faced. According to the view points of It has been commonly
seen that the demands of making the event more innovative and trendy sometimes leads in high
cost, the hotel which are at the verge of promoting their brand tends to make such cost so that
more customers gets stringed to them (Ahmad and Daud, 2016). Due to such practice, the hotel
have to pay from their own pockets which make the predefined budget of the business unstable.
The complexities of enhancing the budgets exponentially increased by several corporate
divisions which have an drastic impact on each and ever aspect of the process which are involved
in the meetings and the events which are being held. It has been reported, that various hotels do
no get enough amount of fund for organising the event, which eventually being reflected in the
quality of the events. The demands of the attendees now a days are very much different because
they require everything to be entertaining in the most professional and innovative way, due to
this the less budget problem comes in the way and make the planning less effective and efficient.
The planners in such situation has to thoroughly interact with the high authorities in the hotels
regarding the issues of less budget, they must illustrate the issue transparently and they planning
of the budget has to be maintained. The planner are also recommended to negotiate more with
the clients to spend money for up levelling with the budget.
Rising cost of food and beverages – As it has been examined that people from various
cultural and language background have very different type of taste and the choices of the food,
thus many food items are required to be presented in conferences or meetings. Such practice
complicate the system and the demand of such items leads in high cost meetings. As per the
Developing more awareness and sustainability issues have also made the process more costlier
and difficult (Sudharatna and Chetthamrongchai, 2018). The demands of traditional, vegan, non
veg, Italian, Mexican are some of the fresh trends which are being demanded in the conference
or in the event dining. The staff sometimes not trained enough to make all the items skilfully,
thus the skill should either be developed or such manpower has to be trained or hired in such a
way that they can attain all the asked task. The national as well as international food availability
is also a big issues which has to be maintained for making the foreign clients satisfied. The
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governmental bodies keep on auditing the quality of the food for keeping the record and ensuring
that the served food and the place where the food is being made is hygienic enough. The small
brand hotel are much more creative for planning such creative modes, as they actually offer such
food items which are healthy as well as delicious enough for satisfying the attendees and also
decreasing the cost. It has been recommended that working along with good chefs from the
planning stage assist in making all the arrangements within the budget. Such banquet managers
have the capability to reduce considerable amount of cost in food and at the same time delivering
potential creativity.
EVENT PLANNING
Reason for the destination and venue being ideal
The conference will be held in London in a huge conference ground to encompass all the
250 guests that will come from all over the world (Agustino, 2015). London is an ideal
destination to conduct the conference for the World Association of Travel agencies because it is
among the most visited places world wide by tourists and generates a huge amount through
tourism. Thus, the guests will be interested in visiting the place as then they can also see other
major attractions that London offers. The region is known to adopt all the latest trends in the
market, be it related to fashion or environment.
The venue, which is a huge ground will be ideal because the weather will be pleasant and
the seating arrangement will be easier (Sumithra and Mishra, 2016). Also, since the conference is
a three-day event, various activities can be held by the management to ensure complete
participation of the guests. The expected guests include representatives, key stakeholders and
leading figures who are coming from various regions of the world. Thus, having the venue near a
prime landmark i.e., The London Eye will make it easier for them to locate and commute as there
are a lot of options for transportation there. The venue has a lot of hotels for the guests to stay
and reach when they arrive at the place as it is easily accessible to the railway station and airport.
Recommendations
The management of the venue is recommended to keep different cuisines for the guests as
they will be coming from different parts of the world and might have different eating habits.
Thus, offering a single cuisine may not leave a good impression on them (Bandhuseve, Limnarat
and Tangthong, 2017). The caterers should offer small boxes of snacks to the guests at their
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places as this is help them concentrate more on the activities of the conference instead to
wandering around searching for food. Since the accommodation and transportation costs are not
included in the cost of the conference, the organisation can hold the event at an easily accessible
place that is not very far away from the main city and is easily accessible to the railway station
and airport (8 TIPS FOR CHOOSING THE PERFECT CONFERENCE VENUE, 2020). The
organisation can cut its costs on catering as it will have to hire an outside agency which will
include additional cost. Instead, it can use the catering services that are offered at the venue.
The management of the respective organisation should enquire with the manager of the
venue well in advance regarding if parking is available well in advance. Because if it is not, it
will then have to make arrangements for the same. The fees for renting a venue for three days is
usually high. Thus, the management should negotiate for the same. The management should also
enquire if the venue has IT/AV and Wi-Fi facilities as they will be required by them and the
guests during the three day conference (Hernandez-Carrion and Rawlins-Loureiro, 2017) . Thus,
if they are not present hey guests will have to struggle using their electronic devices which will
not leave a positive impact on them.
Proposed budget
A budget can be defined as a financial plan that is developed by an organisation for a
definitive period of time, mostly one year. A budget can include planned revenues and volumes
of sales, expenses and costs, inflow and outflow of cash, liabilities as well as assets. The
available budget for the conference is £250 per delegate which makes it £62,500 excluding
flights and accommodation. It is necessary for the respective organisation to forecast its budget
before holding the conference as this will give it an idea of the expenses and costs related to the
same. The organisation should also make a priority list of all the items that will be needed during
the conference like furniture, venue, catering, speakers, projectors, internet as well as various
marketing techniques.
Since, a budget helps to plan the spending pattern of money, it makes sure that enough
finances are always available with an organisation for conducting various activities that are
necessary for it (Huang, 2016). Also, having a budget will help the organisation to ensure that it
does not overspend and guides the management while formulating and developing effective
plans as well as strategies. It also describes the main objectives of the organisation or any
specific event it undertakes. The budget for World Association of Travel agencies is as follows -
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PARTICULARS Amount(£)
Team building activity 12500
Leisure activity 12000
Formal Dinner 15000
Parking 23000
Total 62500
Marketing Plan
A marketing plan is a document that explains the ways in which an organisation can
achieve its goals and objectives (Jamgade, 2018). It includes an analysis of the situation, a sales
forecast, the budget and various promotional and marketing activities etc. The marketing plan
not only guides an organisation to improve its overall performance but also attains its set targets
effectively.
Executive Summary
A marketing plan is essential for all organisations and should me adopted to complete
tasks on time. In context to this organisation, it will have to adopt various techniques to generate
awareness regarding green technology.
Objectives
 To facilitate ideas, learning and implementation of eco-friendly vehicles that are safe for
the environment and in-sync with the latest trends of the market.
 To promote the latest green technology in the market to enhance the overall performance
of Travel Agencies across the world.
Marketing Mix – 7Ps
 Product – The vehicles offered are environment friendly and energy efficient. There is
no usage of fuel. Therefore, no harmful gases are emitted during use as they are
sustainable.
 Price – Since the vehicles are green products, they will be priced higher than usual
vehicles as they will run on renewable source of energy that are used by travel agencies.
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 Place – Since people are increasingly becoming conscious about the environment, there
is an increase in the number of travel agencies that are purchasing such vehicles. Thus,
the vehicles will be available with more number of retailers.
 Promotion – Various online as well as offline platforms will be used for promoting the
idea of using environment friendly vehicles among travel agencies across the world.
Social media, hoardings, digital marketing are some examples (Jones and Li, 2015).
 People – The employees or workers at various stores will work indirectly and directly in
promoting these vehicles to the agencies.
 Process – This will include effective as well as efficient processes for the owners of the
agencies to place their order, track it and also communicate with the delivering partner.
 Physical Evidence – The retail stores and employees can act as physical evidences for
the respective organisation.
Strategy
 Segmentation – The company is planning to facilitate the idea of electric and
environment friendly vehicles (Mureșan and Nistoreanu, 2017) Therefore, various factors
like demographics of various regions and behaviour of the visitors should be analysed.
 Targeting – Once this is done, the appropriate market can be targetted on this basis. The
respective organisation will have to target travel agencies that have high and premium
class customers.
 Positioning – The respective organisation has positioned itself as a brand that is offering
high quality products globally with a specific motive. Thus, in order to reach out to
agencies in various regions it can make use of channels like Social media, television,
various international magazines etc.
Measure and Control
Control is the final stage of a marketing plan wherein a professional performs an
evaluation. If any problems or issues arise during this process, they are immediately addressed as
well as corrected to avoid problems coming up in the future. Thus, the respective organisation
should set a deadline for completing each task on time.
Tentative Schedule
A tentative schedule can be defined as a schedule that is not yet confirmed and still
changes can be made to it. The conference is planned to be a three day event wherein people
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from different parts will come and attend it. Thus, the respective organisation has planned the
event in such a way that the guests gain a lot of information regarding the same. The tentative
schedule for the conference is described below -
Day 1
The first day will start with an inaugural ceremony which includes breakfast for all the
guests as this will allow them interact with each other and get to know their backgrounds, the
place they come from, etc. This will be followed by a round table discussion of the various new
technologies that have emerged overtime and how are increasing impacting the travel industry
(Rogerson, 2019). This activity will be beneficial for those guests who are looking to enhance
their knowledge regarding this topic. Also, everyone will get a chance to put forward their ideas
and suggestions and this can lead to emergence of new and creative ideas for the organisation.
They will also be given the chance to volunteer during various activities which will help them
gain confidence and also get to know the purpose of the organisation more clearly.
Day 2
There will 4 leisure activities that will run alongside the conference so that if any of the
guests get bored, they can engage themselves in those activities (Sandy Sou and McCartney,
2015). The activities will include bicycling, skating, yoga and swimming. These activities will
help the guests in getting refreshed if they feel tired and get bored of attending the sessions of the
conference. Since the guests are mostly young adults and adults they will enjoy these activities of
indulging themselves in swimming, bicycling as well as skating. Adults will find the concept of
yoga attractive and interesting and may indulge themselves in the same.
Day 3
The final day will include a lot of guest lectures with the most influential speaker at the
last and various other sessions that will be followed by a formal dinner in the evening after the
closing ceremony of the conference. Also, there will be various entertainment facilities like a
band will play while the dinner goes on, food and beverages of various cuisines will be served to
suit the requirements of the guests and in making sure that they are satisfied. This will help the
guests network each with each other more effectively. Also, there will be several other facilities
like casino etc.
Internal and external analysis
SWOT Analysis
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 Strengths – Since this is a global organisation, more people will be attracted and would
want to visit London and attend the conference because of the brand name.
 Weaknesses – The conference is being held in London which might be difficult for a lot
of people who live in different countries to attend (Seebaluck, Naidoo and Ramseook
Munhurrun, 2015).
 Opportunities – Various online platforms can be used as an opportunity to promote and
advertise the event.
 Threats – Climate change can act as a threat for the conference which will lead to the
wastage of the whole investment that is done by the respective organisation.
PESTLE Analysis
 Political – London is politically stable which means that the conference can be held
without any issues or concerns rising.
 Economic – The economic status of the region can change which will impact the people
who will book tickets for attending the conference.
 Social – The level of income can differ among the guests, their age differences and other
cultural barriers (Simiyu and et. al., 2016).
 Technological – New technology can affect the conference as the guests might not be
familiar with the way it works.
 Environmental – These factors are important because people have now become more
conscious about the environment and support such activities.
 Legal – These factors include more specific laws that prevail in different regions and can
thus impact the event (Smagina, 2017).
Recommendations
It is recommended that the organisation that is conducting the conference uses
environment friendly products excluding the usage of plastics etc. so that the objectives are more
clearly communicated to the guests.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that, MICE is defines as a particular niche
which are related to achieving prospering planning, managing conferences, reserving hotels,
arranging events and other wide seminars which considered as the actual reason for enhancing
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the income in travel industry. Virtual meetings, Keeping pace with high advancement,
Deficiency of creativity, Keeping Budgets, Ascending value of food and beverages are some of
the contemporary issues which are being faced by MICE sector. The conference is planned to be
a three day event where group of people from contrary parts will visit and attend. It has been also
suggested to conduct the conference in most environmental friendly manner.
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REFERENCES
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Sudharatna, Y. and Chetthamrongchai, P., 2018. The opportunities and strengths of Thailand’s
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Online
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