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
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2 comments:
I guess it's inevitable that the recession is going to hit the MICE industry hard and fast. In my internship period, I often come across organisers that try to stinge and save anywhere and everywhere they can. For example, if providing a 2-way transfer to an event outside the venue cost a lot more, a 1-way transfer might be considered. Somehow, it's a matter of whether you provide this service or not rather than how much to the extend you provide it.
However, although the economic downturn would lead to some events being cancelled or postponed, this aspect of tourism will not be removed from the industry. The government, recognising that this is a good economic tool, should try to encourage he delegates to travel more. Like during the SIngapore International Water Week, we saw many third world country people attend the event as they were funded.
- Carol Yeo (TP)
Hi Mr Cassim!
Great effort for the blog! I'm currently interning at the Four Seasons Hong Kong, which is primarily a hotel targeted at business travellers. We do hold business conferences and the hotel is indeed affected by the financial crisis. With more people cancelling their event or scaling it down.
Look forward to your next post!
Ling Wei
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