Buzz
MICE tourism (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) has long been present in Vietnam but has yet to fully meet the conditions for development. However, in recent times, with Vietnam's integration into the global economy, MICE has truly flourished due to the attention and selection of international partners, as Vietnam is a peaceful, safe, friendly destination, and an extremely attractive investment environment. So, how does MICE tourism in Vietnam develop? What benefits does it bring to tourists?
MICE and what you need to know
What is MICE tourism?
The full name of MICE is Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions, where Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions are involved. Thus, MICE tourism refers to a type of tourism that combines conferences, conventions, incentives, meetings, and exhibitions organized by companies, enterprises for employees, partners. MICE is a comprehensive tourism product of individual tourism products combined with organizing and certain infrastructure.
Delegations participating in MICE tourism are usually higher-level than regular tourist groups and quite numerous. Therefore, the development of MICE tourism will bring significant benefits to economic development.
Characteristics of MICE tourism
MICE tourists include domestic and international guests. In addition to serving the interests of the tourism service industry, MICE also has a significant impact on other economic sectors. MICE brings positive effects due to the large and frequent number of tourists. The characteristics of MICE tourist groups are wealthy, luxurious, high consumer spending, using high-end services, and staying for extended periods.
Some popular types of MICE tourism today
Meeting
This is a gathering and networking activity among organizations, individuals to enhance, discuss issues needing resolution or to creatively develop new products. The potential guests are members of international organizations, suppliers, corporations, etc. Most of them are high-level businesspeople, so they are quite selective and have strict requirements. Therefore, services need to be high-quality and special.
Incentive
This is an activity initiated by a company, organization, or group to reward and encourage teams, individuals with outstanding work achievements. The expenses will be covered by the company or group. Participants not only attend meetings but also enjoy entertainment and relaxation with fun activities, tours.
External meeting
This is a conference, seminar activity between companies to exchange information about investment, business cooperation...
Convention
This is also a strength of MICE tourism. Every year, companies, organizations, enterprises often hold conferences, seminars ranging from small to large scale, and even international scale to discuss their own opinions to reach common consensus. These activities are organized prior to international, national events and include two types: conventions organized by members and bid to host a convention. Combining work and relaxation will help improve work efficiency.
Exhibition
Related to international fairs, exhibitions, with participants being business groups or individual businesses, aimed at promoting goods and services to the target market and interested parties, thereby promoting extensively to the public. There are two main types: trade show and consumer show.
Essential factors for developing MICE tourism
- Quality assured infrastructure: Modern, high-end accommodations, with convention and exhibition centers meeting international standards for hosting large-scale international events, meetings, conferences.
- Human resources must undergo systematic, professional training to provide the best quality service.
- The venue for MICE tourism should diversify its styles to create comfort for guests, especially important corporations, organizations.
- Being a safe destination globally, attracting the attention of foreign investors (a crucial target audience for MICE tourism)…
- Possessing beautiful landscapes, numerous world cultural heritages, each province, city has unique characteristics in history, culture…
Potential for MICE tourism development in Vietnam
In recent years, the demand for MICE tourism from tourists has been increasing, especially the number of visitors to Vietnam through MICE tourism to seek investment opportunities for production and business development. Therefore, effectively exploiting this type of tourism not only brings revenue in the tourism sector but also opens up many opportunities to access and develop the economy and society through international conference and seminar events.
With its rich, beautiful natural landscapes, diverse and ancient cultural history, stable political environment, Vietnam has many advantages to promote the development of this type of tourism. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are two central cities capable of exploiting this strength. In Ho Chi Minh City, MICE tourism is identified as one of the four main tourism types that need to be strongly developed in the future alongside shopping tourism, ecotourism, and cultural tourism. Meanwhile, Hanoi has been voted as one of the five best cities in Asia. Recently, Hanoi has always been chosen to host major regional and international events, connected with many tourism programs.
Moreover, thanks to the favor of nature with beautiful scenery, well-developed tourism infrastructure (luxury hotels, international standard conference centers, convenient transportation system...), Nha Trang city also has favorable conditions for developing MICE tourism. Typical examples are attracting international tourists to Nha Trang through cultural events such as the Sea Festival, domestic and international beauty pageants. Furthermore, the World Natural Heritage Site Ha Long Bay and the city of thousands of flowers Da Lat are also opening up new prospects for attracting domestic and international tourists.
MICE tourism in Vietnam is also getting more attention due to relatively low costs, yet very stable services. Domestic tourism programs not only bring visitors to beautiful, impressive landscapes but also offer luxurious spaces for gatherings, conferences.
