In the first Interactive Luncheon meeting held by the new Governing Board of ICPB, a string of initiatives, wish-list and plans and policies were disclosed to the members of the association and media in New Delhi recently. Another highlight of the event was the launch of its E-Newsletter – MICE Pulse, which will be taken out bi-monthly to let the industry and its members know more about the activities being undertaken by the association. Here’s a detailed report on the same –
Priyanka Saxena Ray and Arushi Bajaj
A new young and dynamic team came to power as ICPB Office Bearers a few months back and the association has been on a roll since. There is plenty that the energetic team wants to put in place with the sole aim of not just boosting MICE movement within and to India but also gain visibility of the association on a national as well as international platform.
Kick starting the first interactive luncheon meeting at the J W Marriott, New Delhi, Girish Kwatra, Hony Secretary, ICPB talked about how ICPB is striving towards creating more business opportunities for the members of the association. “Our aim is to promote India as a MICE destination and we are doing so by promoting different cities in the country. The membership base of ICPB has grown by 35% in 2019 as compared to 2018 and we are positive of boosting this number further. The members of our Governing Board are Pan India, which says a lot about our approach towards boosting MICE Traffic in India. We are extremely grateful to MoT for always showing support and solidarity towards MICE Trade Industry and we hope that going forward, they will continue to help us further. The year 2020 at ICPB is going to be all about Training and Education and we are looking forward to the first ICPB International Roadshow from May 5 – 8, 2020,” shared Girish.
The newly elected Vice Chairman of the Bureau, Amaresh Tiwari, had an inspiring “wish list”, which he announced during the meet, laying down his expectations and targets in his new role. “MICE or we can say business tourism is the future of travel. We would be working towards a promoting Indian cities for MICE and have a target to bring atleast of 5 Indian cities into the top 100 list of MICE cities in the world by 2023. We would like infrastructure status to be given to our convention centres and hotels to enable long term fund flow to create world class infrastructure. Besides this, creation of a suitable sub-brand for MICE promotion under the Incredible India master brand to make communication streamlined; provision of IGST for DMCs, PCOs on hotels to provide ITC for companies not registered in a particular state; empower Indian missions abroad to promote India MICE stories; etc. are some integral points on my wish-list, which we will all work towards achieving,” elucidated Mr. Tiwari.
He further went on to explain in detail regarding some of the recent initiatives that have been undertaken by the new Governing Board, such as, 10 new committees have been formed under the Bureau, which will be responsible to look into their respective fields of work. These include Membership Development Committee; Research & Publication Committee; Training / Skill Development Programs / Interactive Meetings Committee; Social Media and e-newsletter Committee; Government Liaison Committee; Hotel, Venue Liaison Committee; Grievance & Ethics Committee; ICPB Ancillary Suppliers Club Committee; Marketing, Communication and Road Show Committee and Advisory Committee.
Another initiative was the launch of the ICPB E-Newsletter – MICE Pulse, which has been introduced with the sole aim of highlighting the activities being undertaken by the members of not just the Governing Bureau but the complete association as well. With an exhaustive content plan, the bi-monthly Newsletter will be circulated far and wide to position ICPB strongly and also increase its visibility in the tourism sector – both nationally and internationally.
Ashish Gupta, Consulting CEO, FAITH, was the Guest Speaker at the event and shared an interesting presentation on India’s contribution and position in the Global MICE market. Talking about the strength of Domestic MICE market he said, “If you are not strong domestically, you will not be powerful globally. You – the MICE stakeholders must have specialists, specialisation and expertise for your clients. If figures are correct, around 42% of the leisure traveller coming to India are “Business Travellers”. Thus the growth and future of MICE in India has immense potential.”
Anuj Wadhwa, Hony. Treasurer, ICPB, giving the Vote of Thanks, expressed gratitude and hope for not just a bright future of MICE in India but also a strong foundation of ICPB, towards which the members are working.
