MICE Industry – Recent Trends to Shape the Landscape

MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) industry is generally concerned with gatherings of participants based on a central motive related to corporate or industry associated strategies. This industry-standard abbreviation for meetings, incentives, congresses, and events can take place personally, virtually or as a hybrid event.

The mice industry creates a significant source of revenue as it relies on many local service providers such as hotels, restaurants, venues, DMCs (Destination Management Companies), and transport providers. As mice tourists spend on average three times more than a normal tourist, hotels easily generate one-third or even two-thirds of their revenues from MICE activities.

According to a report published by Allied Market Research, the global mice industry market size is projected to reach $2.1 trillion with a significant CAGR from 2022 to 2031. The rise in number of corporate industries is boosting the growth of business activities, such as client meetings, employee training activities, brand promotions, conferences, exhibitions, trade shows, and so on, which in turn is driving the growth of the mice industry market in more than one way.

In the meantime, Africa is expected to be one of the fastest growing MICE industries. Europe region is currently dominating the industry with the highest market share in 2021 and is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period.

At the same time, India is on the verge of reaching the tip of the iceberg, with which, the focus is shifting from Europe to the Asia Pacific region. The demand for all kinds of business events is increasing day by day in emerging economies such as India, China, others. Economic growth in the developing nations is leading to increased business activity and trade, which, in turn, is making the Asia-Pacific region witness the fastest growth rate during the forecast period.

In addition, rapid urbanization and industrial growth have led to changes in the lifestyle of business travelers seeking leisure trips, which boosts the growth of the mice industry market. Several other factors such as a rise in government initiatives to promote SMEs, surge in investments for infrastructural development, liberalization of market entry to increase FDIs, an increase in accessibility of transport facilities, and continuous technological advancements are propelling the market growth to a great extent.

However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to have a negative impact on the growth of the global mice industry market. The implementation of the global lockdown along with stringent travel restrictions and social distancing norms led to temporary closure of all business in-person events. This in turn, resulted in the growing penetration of online platforms for conducting mice activities.

In December 2020, IBTM World in partnership with ENIT delivered some engaging added-value content to help event organizers plan meetings and events online durng the pandemic.  In the post-pandemic, many companies are looking at business travel as an unnecessary expense and are seeking services of online platforms for hosting MICE events in the future as well. 

Furthermore, the hybrid event is one of the major trends to emerge from the pandemic, with planners investing in technology such as live streaming, online registrations, and virtual reality booths. Hotels have also been heightening their technological infrastructure in the boardroom to enable both physical and virtual corporate interactions. 

With this drift on board, the key market players in the mice industry have started to adopt strategies such as expansion, collaborations, partnerships, acquisitions, and new product launches in order to stay competitive in the market. For instance, ITA Group in acquisition with NKD, an employee engagement and educational learning company expanded its business presence and offerings to five continents. ITA Group also acquired HTK Limited, a cloud-based solution provider, with an aim to expand customer loyalty & engagement technology capabilities.

Recently, in Feb 2023, BCD Group partnered Amadeus IT Group, S.A., to improve its productivity and technological innovation for future growth. At the same time, BCD Group opened a new office in Panama to enlarge its business presence in the Latin America region. With such initiatives by the key market players, the global mice industry market has a huge scope to gather exponential growth in the near future.

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