Meeting Professional International (MPI), US defines meetings as activities based on the organization, promotion, sales and delivery of meetings and events; products and services that include corporate, association and government meetings, corporate incentives, seminars, congresses, conferences, conventions events, exhibitions and fairs. Being a thriving industry, the impacts of the MICE industry are miscellaneous and multifaceted.
DIRECT CONTRIBUTION
Financial benefits that meetings tourism can bring to a destination are quite substantial. Putting an end to the seasonal nature of a destination is one of these. Normally meetings are organized outside of the holiday periods, this means that the financial benefits generated are spread over the year more uniformly and the jobs created by the tourism industry become more stable. Another great advantage of meetings is that the average daily spend by a business traveller is double or triple that of a holiday traveller, and a high percentage of these business travellers will return to the destination at a later date for a leisure trip or even take the opportunity to extend their stay and discover more about the city or destination.
The MICE industry, business tourism, is known to generate higher spending per head compared to leisure tourism. According to The Economic Significance of Meetings to the US Economy, only 43% of this direct spending went to travel and tourism commodities such as food & beverage and air transportation. The remainder, 57%, went to meeting commodities such as venue rental, meeting planning and production. The MICE industry generally reduces seasonality within the overall travel and tourism industry, as most MICE volume occurs during the off-peak seasons.
INDIRECT CONTRIBUTION
Hosting an exhibition is one medium that can channel products and services to potential buyers on a regional and global scale. Taking part in conventions can also expand the partnership pool for delegates who usually come from the same industry. Countries attempting to promote the MICE industry must strive to develop or at least encourage necessary development to keep national technological offerings on par with global standards. The events of the MICE have proven to be very useful in terms of bringing new ideas, knowledge and insights to a country, service providers and attendees. It has become one channel for information or knowledge to spread wider and faster especially in this era of globalisation. MICE facilitates foreign direct investment and adds spur of technology and innovation.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Hotels and meeting facilities are often forced to leave behind gigantic piles of waste consisting of plastics, paper, food, drink-related waste, toiletries, along with unwanted or unused promotional giveaways. Biodiversity harm is also caused through any new investment or expansion of new facilities to meet with growing industry demand. Pollution and greenhouse gases emission trail after every delegate and with the shipping of products to meeting venues or exhibition halls.
