Mice Tourism in India

1. Key Points –
Marketing strategies,MICE, Tourism Experience, Job Opportunities, Social media, marketing perspective, corporate and
associate buyers,SWOT Analysis,Conclusive Implications.
IJCAES
(Volume V Issue I)
PROCEEDS
In
Submission to
International Journalof
ComputerApplications inEngineeringSciences
For the theme
MANAGEMENT
Sub theme:
HOTEL & TOURISM MANAGEMENT
M I C E
=
Meetings, Incentives,
Conferences, and Exhibitions
Author Details:
Amritansh Mishra
Assistant Professor
Kaushik Kumar
Assistant Professor
Anjli Gupta
Assistant Professor
Department of Business Administration
Future Instituteof Management &
Technology, Bareilly 243001(U.P.) (India)
Mob:+91-9997779184, 9897211391, 9045057415
Email- amritansh.project@gmail.com
Alternate email id: qaushik6aug@gmail.com
“MARKETING
STRATEGIES FOR
PROMOTING MICE
TOURISM IN INDIA”
Amritansh Mishra[1],
Kaushi Kumar[2],
Anjli Gupta[3]
[1]
Amritansh Mishra,Assistant Professor,Department of Business
Administration,Future Instituteof Management &Technology,
Bareilly 243001(U.P.) (India)Mob: +91-9997779184
[2]
Kaushik Kumar,Assistant Professor,Department of Business
Administration,Future Instituteof Management &Technology,
Bareilly 243001(U.P.) (India)Mob: +91-9897211391
[3]
Anjli Gupta,AssistantProfessor,Department of Business
Administration,Future Instituteof Management &Technology,
Bareilly 243001(U.P.) (India)Mob: +91-9045057415
[1]
amritansh.project@gmail.com
[2]
qaushik6aug@gmail.com
[3]
anjli3101@gmaill.com
ABSTRACT
The World Tourism Organizations message in the
new awareness campaign is "Tourism enriches
individuals, families, communities,Business and the
entire world".
On the other side, Tourism business at all levels is
becoming increasingly competitive, due to
emergence of new destinations, rapid and
affordable modes of transport, new marketing
strategies, tools, changing trends etc. Tourism being
an extremely competitive industry requires a
coordinated management approach, based on a
collective vision and strong partnership among
stakeholder including governmental bodies and
local community.
Thus, tourism businesses can succeed with the help
of a strong destination marketing organization. In
promotion of destinations, the role of social media
increases day by day. Today more travelers use
online resources to learn about travel destinations,
service providers, and pricing options to inform
and make their purchases. Effective use of social
media is probably the best tool for destinations for
raising awareness about the destination. It’s cheap
and effective. But it requires time, planning, good
strategy and innovation.
In this paper; firstly, destination tourism marketing
will be mentioned. Secondly, the term and effective
use of social media will be an emphasized and
finally as the case study, social media has been a
key component of marketing perspective of tourism
& hospitality in India.

2. Key Points –
Marketing strategies,MICE, Tourism Experience, Job Opportunities, Social media, marketing perspective, corporate and
associate buyers,SWOT Analysis,Conclusive Implications.
INTRODUCTION
MICE TOURISM IN INDIA
India, a Hot MICE Destination for Meetings, Incentives,
Conferences and Exhibitions
MICE market in India is growing. More people are traveling
to India for business since the opening of Indian economy in 1991.
Even the India Tourism offices overseas put a greater emphasis
now on to promote MICE segment over leisure as this ensures
volume and increased revenue. It is estimated that 25% of the
overall tourist arrival s in India could be from MICE segment. But
other national tourist offices located in India are doing MICE
businesses from India mainly highlighting direct air connectivity
proximity and infrastructure to host mega events along with
incentive to have the clients. Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia have
been able to attract huge chunk of the Indian MICE market.
Germany is also trying to take Indian clients & planning strategies
& have developed synergies with Indian travels agents Lufthansa
Airlines is also playing a leading role to boost MICE
segment. Dubai is doing a very good business and over 500,000
visitors (approx) from India had visited Dubai for MICE purpose.
Even Macau, Switzerland, China, Spain has kept an eye on India.
MICE is thus a very niche product & need to market each
components in a focused manner Hotel, Transport Entertainment,
Shopping, Joint Marketing Promotions and what special one can be
given on offer as value additions.
There is no hard and fast rule to follow how to attract MICE
clients. The essential is to form a proper team with Airlines,
Hotels, Transport People, Cultural organizations, boutiques and
reach to the target markets MNC’s who have MICE business
clients and showcase the products. Direct marketing pays more
result than just advertisements. Mice promoters generally target
banks, automobiles & aviation industry, consumer durables
construction organization, Rail bodies, pharmaceuticals,
departmental store chains, and I.T companies- They have year
round MICE business to offer. Reach with competitive packages
for business travelers & reach major cities is the success norm. In
these respects, Thailand, Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia are very
aggressive. Thailand convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB)
Singapore Exhibition and convention bureau, Department of
Tourism and commerce marketing, Dubai, Malaysian Tourist
MICEhold regular road shows in major metro cities in India.
The importance of the MICE industry lies in the fact that it
converts the annual business meetings and conferences into a
glamorous and enjoyable event for the delegates and attendants. Be
it a meeting to bring people together either from within one
company or from a broader spectrum or an international conference
of 100 delegates or product launch party or exhibition, MICE
tourism finds itself being inevitable in all the occasions. To grow
the business tourism in India, the country boasts of some world-
class convention centers. The Ashok, New Delhi; Hyderabad
International Convention Centre, Hyderabad; Le Meridien, Cochin
are forerunner in the Indian MICE tourism facilitating both
domestic and International level of business meetings and
conferences.
TOURISM MARKETING
New Social Mediasites like Facebook have made it easy and
compelling for millions of peopleto register and connect with
dozens, sometimes hundreds of family and friends. Match this up
with the fact that, on a personal level, most tourismOperators have
also used Social Media sites to connect with their family and
friends online – and it’s like peanut butter and chocolate!
Now, more than ever, travel and tourism business owners can
target and build a relationship with their ideal client, while both
peopleare at home, without the cost of traveling to Sport Shows
remember – your ideal client now logs into Facebook /email
daily.
MARKETING STRATEGY
Fig. no.1 Source; Slide share
KEY POINT:
LET’S takes the guess-work out of
Tourism marketing, by teaching the small business owner Social
Media
strategies that build lasting, measureable results
Save time, go directly to the most effective strategies. Learn to
protect your personal privacy while boosting your business
connectedness.
I can show you how to spend just one hour each evening online
through this winter to build online relationships with new
prospects- and especially with people who have booked a vacation
with you, now, or in the past.
With Social Media Marketing prepared in advance for next season,
then you can really maximize the power of word-of-mouth
advertising from your current guests with real-time, online
exposure before your client’s entire friend networks.
Here’s an example:
Say you have a group of 6 visitors who each have 60 friends on
Facebook. Have your guests stand together for a digital picture
before they paddleoff on their trip. You post thepictureto your
Facebook Fan page, and tag them in thepicture… and instantly,
ALL of their friends and family are notified! In this example you
can leverage the relationships of your guests to reach 360 people
with your
marketing message – before your clients have paddled around the
bend!
TYPE OF EVENTS THAT ORGANIZE CORPORARE
BUYERS
 Product launch.
 Sales conference.
 Technical conference.
 Training course/ seminar.
 Annual general meeting (AGM).
 Road show.
 Symposium.
 Incentive travel.
 Exhibition/ exposition.
 Team-building event.
DEFINITION OF MICE TOURISM
The global tourism industry can be divided between leisure tourism
and business tourism. However, they both require the same
infrastructures in terms of accommodations, transports and
communications, entertainment, information services and so on.
The main differences
between leisure and business tourists lie in the “type of services
bought and thelevel of transport and accommodation”.
Establishes
Relationship
Ideal Client
Promoting Tourism&
Hospitality in INDIA
Tourism &
Hospitability

3. Key Points –
Marketing strategies,MICE, Tourism Experience, Job Opportunities, Social media, marketing perspective, corporate and
associate buyers,SWOT Analysis,Conclusive Implications.
However, business tourism needs special facilities and services
such as a conference centre, specialist contractors .In addition, the
chief activity of conventions and meetings is business but after the
working day a business tourist can became a leisure one by visiting
the city.
Besides, business tourism is also linked to leisure tourism as in
some conferences, social programmers of leisure activities are
including inside it and it is also the case when the business tourist’s
wife accompanies him as a leisure tourist.
MICE In India - The Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center
in Mumbai set the standards for the new wave of convention
centers in India.
Ideally located in the heart of the city with the airport and golf
course in close proximity, the Renaissance is set between the hills
and the tranquil Poway Lake, creating an ideal business
environment. The convention center offers 15 meeting rooms and a
full service business center along with other world -standard
amenities.
Meeting
The International Meetings Industry Glossary comes up with one
commonly accepted definition of a meeting, that is:
“A general term indicating the coming together of a number of
people in one place, to confer or carry out a particular activity. Can
be on an ad hoc basis or according to a set pattern”
Somewhere it is stresses that a meeting can have commercial or
non-commercial purpose, where the number of attendee can vary
from six to many hundreds and its duration can last few hours to a
week. Meetings are part of business tourism as they use other
tourism services and usually they are held away from the
organization place.
It should be explained that the UIA and the ICCA have different
criteria to define an international meeting. According to UIA
(UNWTO, 1997); a meeting must fulfill thefollowing criteria:
 It must be organized for at least three days.
 It must attract a minimum of 300 participants.
 It must gather at least five different nationalities; including a
minimum of 40% of foreigners.
 On theother side, all meetings included in ICCA data statistics
must meet thefollowing criteria (Rogers, 2003):
 It must be organized on a regular basis.
 It must rotatebetween at least 4 different countries.
 It must attract a minimum of 50 participants. Source of data:
www.tourismindia.wordpress.com
INCENTIVE TRAVEL
Another lucrative sector of the MICE industry is incentive travel,
which is used by organizations to motivate and reward its
employees and sometimes its distributors and retailers. As
incentives involve people who travel because of their performance
at work, it is a part of business tourism as according to me an
incentive travel is:
“A global management tool that uses an exceptional travel
experience to motivate and/or recognize participants for increased
levels of performance in support of theorganizational goals”
On the other hand, it is better to pay incentive trip to their
employees rather than give them more money. Meanwhile, these
“all-expenses-paid travel” should be beneficial for the company by
motivating the employees and as a consequence make them more
productive and in a good mood to achieve the company’s
objectives.
During the trip, some additional elements can be included such as
an educational element, a conference-type session and team-
building activities. We can visit places of interest, usually work-
related, or attend prestigious sport events and so forth so as to
make the trip memorable.
EXHIBITION AND TRADE FAIR
Last, but by no means least, exhibitions and trade fairs are a very
important and increasing sector within business tourism.
Define exhibitions, also called trade shows, trade fairs, or
expositions, as:
“Events to which businesses send sales staff in order to display
their products to potential customers, who attend in order to buy
and/or receive expert information about the goods being exhibited,
usually straight from the manufacturers”.
Thus, an exhibition is aimed at informing visitors about products
and services which are available within an industry. Usually,
exhibitions tend to be large events focused on business-to-business
(B2B) relationships. They are usually displayed to “the general
public or to invited specialists with a professional interests”. The
goal of each exhibitor is to make contracts with news clients. The
attendees can compare competitive products and exhibitors can
compare their products to those of their competitors. As exhibitions
stimulate travel for lots of people, for both exhibitors and visitors,
they are part of business tourism.
Some examples of themajor world travel trade shows are:
TOURISM EXPERIENCE
MARKETING PERESPECTIVE
The barometer for successful tourism in the 21st Century –
Tourism is in essence a personal service and the quality of the
tourism experience from the time that the desire to travel is
stimulated until the visitor returns home, is highly dependent upon
the interaction with the personals in the travel and tourism related
sectors. The primary tourism product is an experience rather than a
tangible product or service. Tourists travel to a destination to enjoy
experiences for which they have preference.
Tourism is not a basic need or commodity and is therefore highly
driven by the discretion, tastes and attitudes of the customers. Thus
while a range of supportive services like hospitality, travel and
entertainment add value to the tourist experience, the major
motivations to stimulate travel to an area are the inherent attraction
s& activities that it offers to various market segments and its
potentialto offer unique experience.
The tourism experience thus is not delivered to the consumers as
finished product. The consumer purchases various components of
the experience which are delivered at the destination as the
experienced unfolds. Again this means that the comparative
advantage of a tourism destination is mainly located in its factor
condition i.e. its inherent attractiveness to particular market
segment.
The success in this regard is highly dependent upon knowledge &
understanding of the market place & its need. There is a need for
specialized skills & knowledge to deliver an experience across the
value chain especially when it comes to specific market segments
& niches motivation & awareness of the our all workforce to
provide visitors with the highest to provide visitors with the highest
travel of hospitality. Friendliness & service is the best method to
give exceptional experience. The visitors experience is often
affected by the environmental & social quality of the destination.
In India context, hygiene and airports gives a negative experience.
Even Road signage, information network and communication
services, smooth distribution services add to positive experience.
Customers care & hospitality are fundamental to the visitors
experience is mainly dependent upon the quality for service levels
& especially when it comes to the hospitality components such as
accommodation, catering & other personal services. The quality,
speed and flexibility of services could prove determining factors in
the visitor’s choice of a suitable destination & positiveexperience.

4. Key Points –
Marketing strategies,MICE, Tourism Experience, Job Opportunities, Social media, marketing perspective, corporate and
associate buyers,SWOT Analysis,Conclusive Implications.
Similarly airlines routings to & from the destination in order to
service specific target market segments add value to the overall
visitors experience.
JOB OPPRTUNITIES IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM
SECTOR
 Best part in this education you can be employer too by opening self
sustainedcompanies like event management, tourism consultant,
travel consultant travel journalist, language interpreter/translator,
online travel agents, web designer, marketing & sales team,
training instructors.
 Once you hold communication skills, linguistic proficiency,
understand client’s need you are fit for jobs in PR agency,
journalism with travel press, bank marketing, more marketing &
sales, airlines, cruise lines, medical tourism, MICEbusiness,
restaurant & banqueting promotions.
 Tourism as an economic activity taken thetop most position as the
largest industry in theworld.
 Every country is competing with each other to better is relative
positions.
 The Indian tourism industry is also now on a roll driven by the
huge surge in both business & leisure travel by domestic & foreign
tourists supported by thecommendable Incredible India
Campaigns.
 The year 2008, was not that bad year till August when
International tourist arrival figures were in double digit growth
(over 12%) from the previous year but took sudden downward
turn since September with economic meltdown and thereafter
terror attacks in Mumbai.
 While tourism has contributed US $6000 billion into the world
economy its contribution to the country US $ 73 billion.
 The sector is giving employment to our 50 million persons
in India.
 This sector is contributing 0.56% share in international tourist
arrivals while thecountry occupies 2.2 % of geographical area in
the world.
What I am now trying to tell you Tourism Policy documents of the
Ministry of Tourism (2002) seems to enhance employment potential
within country through tourism sector as well as foster economic
integration through developing linkages with other sectors.
SOCIAL MEDIA
What is social media?
Historically, “media” simply means a way to spread information to
the world. Now we are the media. The “social” aspect of social
media is nothing more than 100’s of millions of people sharing
their opinions, reviews, photos, experiences, etc. about what is
important to them.
The real Power of “Social Media” forTourism Promotions-
Can’t you see how incredibly powerful this would be when you
have your best client selling for you 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, on your website, and in social media around the world?
I know you can do this because I have helped thousands of travel
professionals just like you learn new things, and grow their
business dreams beyond what they’veever thought.
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths:
 Proximity to the Murray River, Lake Hume and associated water
courses.
 Range of conference, business, sporting, recreational and cultural
event facilities.
 Major regional airport providing RPT services to Melbourne,
Sydney and Canberra.
 Parks, gardens and city’s general visual amenity and appeal.
 Network of tracks and trails.
 Proximity to snowfields, food and wine regions and national parks.
 Vibrant and diverse economy (supports business travel market,
investment attraction and presentation of a positiveimage).
 Strong sportingculture with links to national sporting bodies.
 Sporting facilities capable of hosting regional, state and national
events.
 Existing tourism research program and understanding of key
markets.
 Established events team with demonstrated capacity to attract,
facilitate and host major events.
 Extensive tourism and general marketing, management and
strategic planning expertise.
 Ability to develop and maintain strategic partnerships in order to
progress identified Initiatives.
 Strong working relationship with Chambers of Commerce,
business and industry.
Weaknesses:
 Lack of high quality marketing collateral and web presence.
 Historic lack of marketing strategy and successful implementation.
 Failure to maximize tourism opportunities associated with a range
of community owned assets/product.
 Limited access to Murray River.
 Historic approach to product development and provision of
facilities/services.
 Industry and key stakeholder apathy.
 Limited range and quality of tourism product.
 Lack of 5 star accommodations.
 Lack of packaged product.
 Credibility within the industry (State and National).
 Lack of permanent 800+ delegate capacity venue.
 Lack of caravan/camping/cabin style accommodation within close
proximity to theMurray River.
 Ageing tourism related infrastructureand accommodation product.
Opportunities:
 Support a strategic and targeted approach to general tourism
marketing, promotion and industry development.
 Establish a high quality Visitor Information Centre (VIC) in
Asbury’s CBD.
 Develop stronger relationships and engage with industry through a
Tourism Partner program.
 Further develop and promotecultural tourism opportunities.
 Refine tactical marketing strategies in order to continue to attract
conference, business, sporting, recreational and other major events
to the City.
 Attract new, and encourage investment in existing,
accommodation, activities and attractions.
 Improve existing community owned tourism related assets/product.
 Improve tourism signage throughout the City (including
approaches).
 Establish a strategic partnership with the new Murray Regional
Tourism Organization (Tourism VIC & Tourism NSW).
 Investigate opportunities to undertake Destination Marketing
activities with other regional councils (NSW & Vic) and/or local
tourism organizations.
Challenges (Threats):

5. Key Points –
Marketing strategies,MICE, Tourism Experience, Job Opportunities, Social media, marketing perspective, corporate and
associate buyers,SWOT Analysis,Conclusive Implications.
 Increasing domestic visitation when national trends and forecasts
suggest limited market growth.
 Establishing a strong position and point of difference in the
national marketplace.
 Maximizing returns on destination marketing spend.
 Industry engagement and investment in marketing activities and
tactical campaigns.
 Building industry and community understanding of the City’s
tourism offer and market appeal.
 Consistently presentinga positiveimage.
 Ensuring industry and government politics do not impact on the
achievement of identified objectives.
 Maximizing returns on community funds invested in supporting
tourism growth and development.
 Providing the highest standard of tourism service, across both
public and private sectors.
 Meeting community and industry expectations.
 Financing the maintenance and future development of major
facilities to remain competitive in the general tourism and
conference and major events marketplace.
 Strong competition from emerging regional event & conference
destinations investing heavily in tourism promotion and major
conference and event facilities.
CONCLUSIVE IMPLICATIONS:
Implication - 1: Tourism businesses can succeed with the help of a
strong destination marketing organization.
Implication - 2: "Tourism enriches individuals, families,
communities, Business and the entire world.
Implication - 3: Tourism business at all levels is becoming
increasingly competitive, due to emergence of new destinations,
rapid and affordable modes of transport, new marketing strategies,
tools, changing trends etc.
Implication - 4: India, a Hot MICE Destination for Meetings,
Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions. MICE market is growing
in India.
Implication - 5: Social Media have made it easy and compelling
for millions of people to register and connect with dozens,
sometimes hundreds of family and friends.
Implication - 6: Corporate & association buyers helped to develop
the paraof tourism directly or indirectly.
Implication - 7: Tourism is not a basic need or commodity and is
therefore highly driven by the discretion, tastes and attitudes of the
customers.
Implication – 8: In Indian context, hygiene and airports gives a
negative experience. Even Road signage, information network and
communication services, smooth distribution services add to
positiveexperience.
Implication – 9: There is a need for specialized skills &
knowledge to deliver an exceptional experience across the value
chain especially when it comes to specific market segments &
niches motivation & awareness of the our all workforce to provide
visitors with the highest to provide visitors with the highest travel
of hospitality.
Implication – 10: Ministry of Tourism (2002) seems to enhance
employment potential within country through tourism sector as
well as foster economic integration through developing linkages
with other sectors.
References:
Links:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism[1]
www.incredibleindia.org/[2]
www.micepoint.com/LinkClick.aspx?link=85&tabid=96
www.tourismindia.wordpress.com[3]
Books & author:
 Famous voyagers and explorers.
By Sarah Knowles Bolton
 Tourism
By Bernard Cohen, Charles R. Goeldner
Declaration:
I hereby declare that the research paper mentioned above has not
been submitted to any other journal for publication nor will it be
submitted to any other journal.
Amritansh Mishra
Kaushik Kumar
Anjli Gupta