In a world where the travel sector’s focus is shifting towards more experiential offerings, the importance of MICE services continues to grow throughout the world.
Based on a study conducted by MICE Hospitality back in 2023, the sector’s worth stands to grow to around US$1.4 trillion by 2028, and both hotels and stand-alone venues are scrambling to carve themselves a larger share of the market.
Following the pandemic years, large-scale MICE events are back and the range of services to ensure successful meetings, conferences, and exhibitions has grown more diverse over the past couple of years.
At the same time, countries are also ramping up their respective facilities to welcome MICE travellers, ensuring that their events are both successful and memorable.
This last point, however, raises the question of how companies select the location of their MICE events, given the increasing number of options available to them.
UCC president Li Zhang recently voiced her take on the matter at the recently concluded ITB China 2025, offering four key points for consideration.
Searching for the perfect venue on a global scale
Li said: “Corporate clients are looking for more than just service providers. They want strategic partners in their global expansion journey. This trend of going global is creating new business opportunities for MICE service providers throughout the world.”
She pointed out how corporations have become more meticulous when it comes to selecting venues for their events, especially those staged overseas.
According to Li: “There are a large number of most favoured destinations, In Europe, these are France, Italy, and Switzerland. In Southeast Asia, it’s Singapore or Thailand; of course, Japan and the United States also remain desirable destinations.”
The destinations mentioned are known for their excellent MICE facilities, but take things a step further by offering rich cultural resources to add local flavour to events and to immerse participants in their respective traditions.
Four points of consideration
Based on her company’s experiences, Li shared four key factors that need to be considered when choosing a MICE venue or destination:
- Safety and security of both organisers and participants need to come first, so locations where political instability is rife are automatically removed from any list of potential venues. The same goes for areas where the health of participants may be compromised due to the possibility of contagion;
- Convenience in terms of infrastructure, transportation, and connectivity are all key, as these enable event participants to get to venues on time, go through these venues hassle-free, and spread the word to their colleagues back home through email or social media. Convenience also means accessible facilities for differently-abled participants;
- Cultural offerings spell the difference between a conventional and staid event done within the confines of four walls, and an immersive experience that blends corporate dealings with local flavour to provide a more interesting take on conferences or exhibitions; and
- Cost-effectiveness matters; companies want to make the most of their budgets and this means looking at the most reasonably priced options, and keeping tabs on fluctuating exchange rates.
