The evolution of Indian MICE Industry

MICE- an abbreviation used specifically in the Tourism and hospitality industry refers to meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions/events. It’s one of the fastest-growing segments in the travel industry. The fascinating fact about the MICE industry is that it transforms annual business meets into glamorous and pleasurable events for delegates and attendants. This new form of business tourism is steadily drawing the attraction of many hoteliers.

A new study on ‘2019-2025 Outbound MICE’ tourism revealed that the country is expected to touch over 2 million outbound luxury and MICE tourists every year by 2020. The report suggests that India is the key player to attract maximum demand, growth, and opportunities in the MICE industry which is expected to reach USD 9 billion by 2025. Wherein as per 'India Inbound Tourism: Unlocking the Opportunity' report, India’s inbound MICE business in 2018 scaled up to Rs. 25,000 crores with a year-on-year growth rate of 8%.

Being a round-the-year destination and enjoying a strategic location, India exhibits a huge potential to swiftly grow as a MICE space. The international MICE tourism is predicted to rise at 7.5% compound annual growth that may touch 1.2 trillion dollars by 2023. India ranks 5th in the Asia Pacific region which is expected to be the prime contributor in the entire growth of the MICE industry with a share of 8.6%.

Challenges prevailing in the current MICE space in India

There is a wide scope of improvement into several domains of Indian MICE segment which is crucially impacting the entire development of the industry including:

• Mice industry has a significant dearth of efficient digital platforms for MICE procurements that make the entire MICE and group booking process tedious
• The intervention of different vendors to accomplish the process of MICE bookings that involves various segments from travel to accommodation, logistics, event management, budget planning and more.
• The exhaustive process of RFQs (Request for Quotation) takes unexpectedly long turnaround time, impeding the entire process
• No reliable data for destination comparisons on same parameters to compare and make informed choices.
• Multiple payment schedules leading to inefficiency and increasing risks of errors in the transaction and invoicing system
• Lack of authentic resources to affirm best hotel deals and offers while addressing the budget and preferences of Corporate planners.
• Conventional booking methods involve major human intervention and manual proceedings which can be prone to errors, delays and prove to be expensive in the long run.

How such challenges can be addressed to achieve the expected success goal

A great void exists in the Indian MICE industry that needs to be fulfilled to attain the levels of success. The industry is looking for new ideas in this space that can reshape the existing market with innovative business models to make MICE planning and group booking a smoother process.

Entry of platforms such as MICEONLINE in this category is a solution to simplify the tedious & detailed MICE procurement. Catering to the personalized demand of clients is the need of the hour. Such platforms may allow organizers to select from the most suitable MICE hotel options within a few clicks. Technology-driven web portals or apps may fill the existing gap in the industry by eliminating the lengthy and time-consuming back-and-forth negotiation process.

Such tech-savvy platforms should have provision to allow corporate clients to fill in all the required information and preferences in the query form to assist hotels in identifying the type of event a company is trying to create. New MICE booking platforms should focus on a linear query and response process directly between the corporate and the hotel to initiate a prompt, easy and transparent process while adhering to the allocated budget.

The prime objective of online MICE booking platform should be to add values to the entire process. These should be effective & seamless, curtailing the financial risk mitigation with formal contracts, SLA’s reduced food and beverage expenses, faster responses and transparency for all stakeholders

The Indian MICE industry this way can progressively fill the gap between demand and supply while promoting vigorous growth in this extremely dynamic and potential market segment.