(TITC) – With dozens, even hundreds of guests attending each group, MICE is currently a type of tourism that brings a large source of revenue to the tourism industry in Vietnam, post-pandemic.
On 14th September, Vietnam Tourism Association, MICE Tourism Club (conference and seminar tourism) organised the MICE EXPO 2023 and Forum “MICE tourism – opportunities and challenges”.
According to the Vietnam Tourism Association, MICE tourism is a popular type of tourism in the world. In Southeast Asia, Singapore is the leading country in this type of tourism.
Meanwhile, in Vietnam this type of tourism is still quite new, yet is being focused on development and has great potential to bring in large revenues for the entire industry.
MICE EXPO 2023 and Forum “MICE tourism – opportunities and challenges” took place in Ha Noi on 14th September (Photo: baovanhoa)
Ms. Cao Thi Ngoc Lan, Standing Vice President of Vietnam Tourism Association said, after the pandemic, the demand of the MICE tourism market in Vietnam is quite large. Many travel companies have taken the opportunity to develop this type of tourism and achieved positive results. In the coming time, developing MICE tourism is a strategic goal of Vietnamese tourism.
MICE is confirmed by many Vietnamese business representatives to be the sector with the best recovery, accounting for about 60-70% of the current number of visitors. However, since Covid-19, Vietnam tourism has not had a real “playground” for businesses and travel agencies to participate and connect with each other.
Representatives of many travel businesses also said that the biggest loss for professionals is key market information and target markets. Currently, tourism businesses are following experience and habits, so they cannot create competition.
At the MICE Expo 2023, nearly 100 real estate businesses, hotels, cruise ships, and travel agencies participated in 20 trading sessions.
Mr. Vu The Binh, Chairman of Vietnam Tourism Association indicated that after the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism trends are changing. In addition to small and family travel, there is also a form of tourism following event activities of large-scale businesses and units. This requires professional organisers. Therefore, this is an opportunity for people working in this type of tourism to connect, identify development trends and create destinations that attract tourists.
MICE Expo 2023 is an annual activity of Vietnam MICE Club aiming to become a domestic and international connection event for MICE tourism. At the same time, with the formation of side events maintained annually for the tourism industry, such as Golf sports tournaments, running tournaments, private shows for tourists… held in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh.
At the Forum, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research said: Vietnam needs to soon have a direction for developing MICE tourism. First is the planning and development plan for this type of tourism, followed by training and quality of human resources.
Tourism Information Technology Center