The M.I.C.E. Impact

Over the past week or so I have been reading about destination management and the planning and processes involved in getting a destination to be "tourist-attractive". From what I read, its not an easy thing to do....in fact, its quite challenging. This got me thinking about the M.I.C.E. segment of the tourist market and how much quicker it is to see M.I.C.E. activities impacting a destination or city. It is no wonder that most local/regional/national governments have in their tourism development mandate the promotion of M.I.C.E. capabilities.

The M.I.C.E. segment impacts economies in numerous ways:
- generating increased visitor traffic (business travellers attending exhibitions, conventions etcO
- bringing in higher yield visitors (business travellers tend to have higher spending power)
- generating repeat visitor traffic
- as M.I.C.E. activities increase in a destination, there is almost always some increased investments in infrastructure and services upgrading
- the non-seasonality of M.I.C.E. activities helps take up the slack in low periods....periods when leisure visitor numbers fall
- generate demand for M.I.C.E. service suppliers - hotels, convention venues, audio-visual equipment, catering, stage builders/decoraters, photographers/videographers, performance artistes etc

The list goes on. There are, however, certain characteristics that a destination must offer in order to successfully capture the M.I.C.E. mindshare. These include accessibility; infrastructure; a wide range of service suppliers; political stability and safety; etc.

My own conclusion is that its easier to attract a business visitor as opposed to a leisure visitor.

M.I.C.E.- IS THERE MONEY TO BE MADE???

Given the continuing focus on the state of health of global economies, I would like to keep the focus for the month of October on how the M.I.C.E. industry impacts economies and acts as a catalyst for new investments, infrastructure improvements, more spending by travellers etc. The one question that always comes to mind whenever I focus on the "impact" issue is, "Where is the money coming from?". Well, let me just share on example and this involves only 1 company - can you imagine how many companies there are out in the market!

In a recent article published in the New York Times, American International Group (AIG) reportedly agreed to cancel (with immediate effect) all conferences and events it hosts or organises. This number exceeds 160 per year. This cut-back will save the group more that US$8 million. This is just one company's budget.

The impact of the industry is therefore very real and in positive/growth times, the amount of money being generated by the industry can be very intoxicating.

Economic impact of M.I.C.E. - the other way round

The past couple of months have seen a tremendous change in the global economic landscape. The unimaginable has become reality. Even as I pen this entry, governments of various countries - 1st world to 3rd world - are scrambling to protect the financial assets of their citizens. What does this mean for the M.I.C.E. industry?


We often talk about the economic impacts the M.I.C.E. industry has on a city/country. In fact this relationship is one of the first few things one learns about the M.I.C.E. industry. The common terms used include: catalyst, investment, place/destination marketing, repeat visitors, length-of-stay, higher yields.......and the list goes on. These are all very valid reasons why state and national governments will continue to place emphasis on promoting the M.I.C.E. industry. It has a very strategic role to play.


There is, however, a dark side to this and we are beginning to walk under this dark side. As much as M.I.C.E. brings economic benefits to a destination, an economic downturn tends to put the breaks on M.I.C.E. activities. I have already had first hand experience with this. A conference I was supposed to attend (next week) has been postponed to 2009. I expect to see a few more similar casualties over the coming months or at least until the dust from the current financial turmoil settles.


There are no compact or pre-packed solutions to this. My personal take on this is that M.I.C.E. event organisers will need to dig in and work hard to convince stakeholders, corporate sponsors and attendees to not only continue to support such events but invest more as well. M.I.C.E. events offer one of the best platforms to reach targetted audiences - a great way to effectively spend marketing dollars.


Ben Cassim
Temasek Polytechnic