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Club’s activities to promote MICE.
The
Vietnam Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events
(MICE) club, founded in 2002 by the Vietnam Airlines,
travel firms and hotels, is viewed as an important step
to promote Vietnam as an attractive MICE destination.
Reasons of the club’s birth
In the early
years of 2000,
facing negative impacts of terrorism, diseases and conflicts
on international aviation market in particular and global
tourism in general, Vietnam Airlines managed to find
a way to maintain attraction of Vietnamese destination
and restore the number of tourists from key markets
such as Australia, Europe, Japan and the Republic of
Korea.
Recognising
great potential and prospect to develop MICE (Meetings,
Incentives, Conferences and Events) tourism, Vietnam
Airlines co-ordinated with travel companies and hotels
of Vietnam to found the Vietnam MICE Club in 2002.
The
number of international-standard hotels and resorts
is rising quickly. Ho Chi Minh City has 12 five-star
hotels and Hanoi has eight five-star hotels. A large
number of five-star seaside resorts have been built
in central coastal provinces and cities such as Da Nang,
Quang Nam and Binh Thuan.
The club organising its MICE event.
Particularly, the construction of big
event-organising centres has been completed, including
newly-built modern national convention centre in Hanoi,
where the 14th APEC Economic
Leaders' Meeting
was held, that can seat nearly 4,000 participants at
the same time; an international convention centre in
Ho Chi Minh City, big exhibition and fair centres in
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. It means that, in terms
of infrastructure, Vietnam can meet the needs of organising
big international events with hundreds or thousands
of participants.
Vietnam
has many UNESCO-recognised cultural and natural heritage
sites and various kinds of tours (sea, culture, eco-tourism),
which are advantages to attract foreign tourists to
Vietnam to attend international events in combination
with joining tours. Diverse outdoor activities in Vietnam
will not cause bore to tourists who have attended many
events at luxury hotels and resorts in other countries.
Historical,
cultural and food characteristics of Vietnam are also
advantages to impress MICE tourists.
A right way to go
Members of the Vietnam MICE Club said
they focus on developing MICE because MICE tourists
spend much more money than leisure tourists. They often
choose business class in flights, stay at five-star
hotels and resorts, combine their
attendance of events with joining
tours, have high shopping demands, buy high-quality
products and use beauty-care services.
Revenues from MICE are from three to eight times higher
than from leisure tourists.
The
Vietnam MICE Club was established at the end of 2002
with founding members: the Vietnam Airlines, Hanoitourist
and five-star hotels of Hanoi Daewoo, Melia, Sofitel
Metropole, Sofitel Plaza Hanoi and Hilton Hanoi. The
founding of the club is aimed at raising money to promote
the image of Vietnam as an attractive destination of
MICE in the Asia-Pacific region.
In
2003, the club admitted new members in southern Vietnam,
including Saigontourist and five-star hotels of New
World, Renaissance, Rex and Carravelle. So far, the
number of the club has increased to 24.
MICE promoted with typical cultural items
of Vietnam.
Before
the club came into being,
the Vietnamese destination was almost not mentioned
in professional MICE newspapers and magazines. After
a year, in early 2004, the club contributed to putting
Vietnam in the list of emerging destinations in the
Asia-Pacific region. In 2005, Vietnam was voted as one
of the ten MICE destinations in the region by CEI magazine
(the magazine for key decision-makers and corporate
buyers of conferences, exhibitions and incentives within
Asia Pacific.)
Over
the past time, the number of MICE tourists to Vietnam
has risen steadily, more than 20% increase in 2006 against
last year’s, said the club’s leaders.
The club is planning to spend around
US $100,000 next year to promote MICE tourism in Vietnam,
20% higher than this year's spending. The money will
be used for promoting presentations
of Vietnam in Singapore, China's
Hong Kong and England and encouraging the
club’s members to attend trade shows in Australia, China,
Thailand and Spain. The club will also co-ordinate with
the MPI magazine in the United States to organise a
trip for MICE-organising firms in the US to Vietnam
in 2007. - Nhandan.com.vn |
