The government’s robust initiatives aimed at bolstering infrastructural advancements and promoting India as a global MICE hub have played a pivotal role in the growth of MICE in India. Amaresh Tiwari, Vice Chairman, ICPB shares more
MICE in India
India is one of the fastest growing economy of the world. If the trend continues for next 6-7 years, India will become strongest world economy. Events such as the G-20 Summit created world class infrastructure across our country as we demonstrated our capabilities to organise international events in every state and Union Territory of India. Political stability, strong democracy with good governance coupled with factors such as ease of doing business, E-visa, last mile connectivity, vast network of airport, highways, rails, waterways has given the confidence to people in MICE Sector to organise events in India. ICPB has been pushing for an exclusive MICE brand – Meet In India, which will further enhance the demand for MICE in India.
Top Performing & Potential MICE Cities
Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Gandhinagar, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Cochin are the top performing MICE cities in India. With the coming up of Bharat Mandapam, Yasho Bhumi in Delhi, JIO Convention centre in Mumbai, Mahatma Mandir and Gift City in Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad and Biswa Bangla in Kolkata, India has created good MICE infrastructure, thus creating huge demand for MICE in India and in the next decade or so, atleast 3-4 Indian cities will be in the top 100 in global MICE Destinations.
The emerging MICE cities, such as Jaipur, Indore, Bhubaneshwar, Khajuraho, Greater Noida, Lucknow, Varanasi, Goa are setting new trends and creating good demand and might become good business generating MICE hubs in the future.
Unique advantages India offers as a MICE Destination
India’s major advantage is mainly industry / associations driven where for each kind of conference the local knowledge and expertise is available in abundance. Each event creates great opportunities for delegate experience, multiple languages, networking and availability of industry experts in large numbers. India’s unity in diversity, vast cultural heritage and religious tolerance along with huge Infrastructure growth in venues, hotel, rail, road, airports, last mile connectivity make good impact for MICE Industry growth as well.
What we lack
When we compare what we have in India to some of the top MICE destinations in our part of world, such as, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, South Korea etc. we realise that their MICE eco system is very strong and very professional. Whereas in India, the mindset of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India is way different as they feel that MICE is a niche market and does not need any promotion. Due to this mindset, there is no marketing or promotional strategy in place. India MICE Board was formed almost 2 years back and till now not a single Physical meeting happened and no concrete framework created. India Convention Promotion Bureau does not get any support from MoT. MICE sector has the potential to grow 3.5 times as compared to the leisure market, unfortunately without Political and Bureaucratic willingness we are lagging behind and unable to compete.
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