Analysis of the MICE Industry: Trends and Challenges

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The MICE Industry

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Scope of the MICE industry...................................................................................................2
The organisations involved....................................................................................................3
The range of environments used............................................................................................3
Critical elements of MICE industry operations......................................................................4
Liaise and communicate with clients, customers, and teams.................................................5
Cost and controlling...............................................................................................................5
Risk assessment......................................................................................................................6
Related legislation..................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
The tourism business has an active contribution to economic growth. The changes customer
demands and market conditions are enforcing the use of the meeting, incentives, conference
and events (MICE) industry so that more effective knowledge sharing and process
collaboration can be achieved. The presented essay has main questions: what are the
fundamental concepts and scope associated with the MICE industry and how the
organisations plan and schedule the cost in activities with effective communication with the
customers. Therefore, the research has the aim to identify the substantial information on the
MICE industry and associated elements. The tourism can be defined as the activity of a
person staying or travelling to a place which is outside the usual environment mainly for
business, leisure or other purposes. Therefore, entire tourism operations can be classified into
two categories: business and leisure. MICE industry is the major components of business
travel and tourism.
The presented essay will discuss the scope of the industry with organisations involved in the
operations. It also will address the range of the environment used to achieve services. Also,
critical elements of planning, promotion, costing, implementation, monitoring and appraisal
of the MICE industry will be discussed. It also will provide enough understanding of cost
control, and integration of the legal aspects in the operations.
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Discussion
Scope of the MICE industry
The business travellers are connected to the travel operators, and hotel service providers for
the meeting, incentives, conference and exhibitions those are core values of the MICE
industry. Therefore, the MICE industry is providing profitability for the hospitality and
tourism industry. The industry is expected to reach $1,245 billion at the end of the year 2023
and growing with the CAGR of 7.5% as measured from the year 2017. The growth of the
Asia-pacific region is high, and it is equal to 8.6%. From the analysis, it is determined that
the industry has generated revenue of $752 billion in the year 2016 (Yash, 2018).
Therefore, the industry has strong capabilities to serve the demands and expectations of the
business class peoples during their use of the hospitality and travel services. Also, the
industry is increasing the types of the meetings and venues those might be due to increasing
disposal income, travel preferences and expansion of the rapid travel and hospitality industry.
However, the traditional market of the conference and exhibition is down due to the increase
of the technology for the communication, product portfolio presentation and distributed
incentive channels (Inlead, 2018). However, the meeting segment is dominant and expected
to grow rapidly.
Figure 1: Global MICE industry
(Source: Yash, 2018)
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Figure 2: Global MICE industry by event type
(Source: Yash, 2018)
The organisations involved
There is mainly hospitality and tourism organisations in the industry, but they further can be
classified for their services and support. For example, the major stakeholder organisation in
the industry is convention and visitors bureaus those act as a central body to provide growth.
Therefore, it acts as the intermediate for MICE event organiser and qualified local service
provider. It represents the country through the investment in the marketing efforts for the
MICE industry (Introduction to MICE Industry, 2018). Besides to it, associations are not-for-
profit organisations uses service providers and professional conference organiser to schedule
a conference. Also, professional conference organisers and corporate are important
organisations in the industry as they use the services to hold business meetings, exhibitions
and conferences.
There are several incentive houses those coordinate with the corporations to design the
incentives programs towards the goals. However, such programs are more aligned with the
program details and size. Local service organisations mainly provide creative events,
consultation services and exemplary management of the logistics services. Also, professional
exhibition organisers and venues are part of the industry.
The range of environments used
Therefore, the industry provides services and support in meeting events whereas a limited
number of people establish communication for a subject. It also provides incentives through
the incentive houses. Conferences are used mainly by a group of organisations and peoples to
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discuss a critical subject or problem (Tinnish and Mangal, 2012). Exhibitions are used to
present the business products and services to the target customers.
Critical elements of MICE industry operations
Planning is the initial stage of the MICE which has booking and confirmation of the hotel or
tourism provider as important outcomes. The planning activity starts with the preparation
stage whereas goals and objectives are prepared on the business structure. Programme
subcommittee is created to ensure that the planning for the budget, time and other factor is
effective. The social subcommittee is also used to determine the number of participants and
required services for the meeting or conference. Later, registration is processed through hotel
and tour booking team. Publicity and sponsorship team is used to market the event and
overcome the expenses through supports and coordination of other organisations (MICE
industry, 2018). Besides to it, printing, on-site preparation and warp-on on the services are
used to finalise the planning.
The costing of the event and service depends on the involvement of the organisations for
support and contribution. Also, capacity, quality, per day cost and arrangements of the hotel
and tour operators for the meeting, conference and exhibition defines the total cost. Also, the
additional services including decorations, sound systems and welcome services determine the
cost.
To promote the events, the organisations need the use of the printing subcommittee those can
design the effective banners, brochures and pamphlets. The printing quality, cost of graphics
design and presentation of the information define the effectiveness of the promotions.
Besides to it, the publicity factors and characters for promotion add values to attract the
customers or participants effectively (Tinnish and Mangal, 2012). The promotional stage also
has integration of the sponsors for the contribution and support in the event organising.
Once all the activities and related planning are complete for the event, then the primary focus
is on the implementation. During the implementation, it is essential to consider the
requirements and expected outcomes. The implementation has optimal use of the resources
and capabilities to achieve the specified goals and objectives. Once the implementation
process initiated, the event organiser has to focus on the monitoring as it can reveal the
potential areas those need improvements. The monitoring process has focused on the quality
and progress of the event and program (Smagina, 2017). At the last of the MICE activities, it
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is essential to appraise the activities being executed so that the potential reviews and
outcomes can help to understand the effectiveness of the services.
Liaise and communicate with clients, customers, and teams
The organisations are moving toward the use of technology for the communication before the
execution of the event. Direct interaction with the client is used to achieve effective services.
The communication helps to understand their requirements and expectations with the events
and programs and the same information is further communicated to the customers to make
possible arrangements toward the event execution (Mair, 2013). The clients connected with
the activities communicate to the customers to meet the required changes and
implementations whereas teams are managed to ensure the required features and functions
during the services are delivered within time and quality.
Clients are also responsible for mapping the requirements, planning stage and
implementation for the program through the several interactions with the hotels and tour
operator. Later, customers determine the quality and services through the review and confirm
the services for the specific program or event (Smagina, 2017). The same also addresses the
issues and additional requirements of the customers to the clients. Once the communication
for event and arrangement is complete, the dedicated teams are used to ensure the effective
execution of the task in the service providing organisation.
Cost and controlling
However, the operations of the MICE industry are associated with quality and performance,
and in such cases, the costing is essential to manage throughout the execution of the program.
The cost with the planning, communication, sponsorship and publicity is required to control
through the proper cost-benefit analysis and requirements. The customers requesting for the
services have to analyse the need of the space, services and technology at hotel and tour
operator to execute the MICE activities and then define the cost (Mair, 2013). Also, the
service providing organisations in tourism and hospitality has to control the cost on the
human resources, welcome and maintenance services, update and execution with
collaboration to the third parties for the successful execution of the event.
Controlling and monitoring of the activities are required to ensure the customer is satisfied
with the services and there is also a rapid visit to the hotel or tour operator. The meeting and
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conference need the real-time support for the services related to communication, additional
equipment and supportive services whereas incentives and exhibitions need the control on the
individual’s actions and behaviour toward the presented products and offers (Rodríguez-
Zulaica and Ara, 2018). The controlling of the event helps to achieve the effective
performance and return on the investment.
Risk assessment
The event organiser has to determine the potential risks in the planning and execution so that
timely decisions can be made to achieve the required outcome. Therefore, the risk assessment
process has initialisation from the analysis of the business context. Risks, potential impacts
and targets and assess levels are determined related to the risk. Parallel to it, the organisation
defines the risk impacts and certainty to determine the priorities to resolve them.
Implementation controls, reassessment and documentation, are used to manage the risk
effectively (Spencer and Bavuma, 2018). During the event, the organisation has to complete
the risk assessment to achieve the required outcomes with the cost and time. The significant
risks during the MICE activity are the integration of the cost and time constraints,
communication for requirements and consideration of the legal aspects during
implementation.
Related legislation
There is the use of the MICE legislations for the activities in the hotel and tourism sector. For
example, ICASA which is an independent communication authority relocates the frequencies
being used for the communication through wireless network and systems and control the
interrupt to other devices during MICE activities. Besides to it, the fundamentals of the
MICE cannot be ignored as there are several independent but industrial bodies those also
control and monitor the quality and performance of the MICE industry. The legislation for
the data protection and privacy are used during the MICE activities such as booking and
registration.
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Conclusion
The main aim and objectives with the essay were to understand the activities and elements of
the MICE industry and determine the scope and integration in the tourism sector. The article
has identified that the MICE industry is growing rapidly and it has an active contribution to
the national economy also. The increasing MICE activities are being a source of employment
in the hospitality and tourism sector. It is determined the MICE activities are required to align
with legal aspects and control during the execution to adhere to the standards and expected
outcome.
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References
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hospitality-the-scope-challenges-80be1a3919a1> [Accessed On: 13 January, 2019]
Introduction to MICE Industry, 2018 [Online] [Accessed Through]
<http://www.citu.tu.ac.th/public/upload/Education/BSI/120528_Teaching
%20Material_EN_V01_NT.pdf> [Accessed On: 13 January, 2019]
Mair, J., 2013. Conferences and conventions: A research perspective. Routledge.
MICE industry, 2018 [Online] [Accessed Through]
<https://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/curriculum-development/kla/pshe/references-and-
resources/tourism/MICE_English_2016.pdf > [Accessed On: 13 January, 2019]
Rodríguez-Zulaica, A. and Ara, A.F.V., 2018. 15 Measuring accessibility in MICE
venues. Accessibility, Inclusion, and Diversity in Critical Event Studies.
Smagina, N., 2017. The internationalization of the Meetings-, Incentives-, Conventions-and
Exhibitions-(MICE) industry: Its influences on the actors in the tourism business
activity. Journal of Economics & Management, 27, pp.96-113.
Spencer, J.P. and Bavuma, Z., 2018. How important are mice to the tourism economy?.
Tinnish, S.M. and Mangal, S.M., 2012, October. Sustainable event marketing in the MICE
industry: A theoretical framework. In Journal of Convention & Event Tourism (Vol. 13, No.
4, pp. 227-249). Taylor & Francis Group.
Yash Doshi, 2018 [Online] [Accessed Through]
<https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/MICE-industry-market> [Accessed On: 13 January,
2019]
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