NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Nice For MICE

With the advent of the Southwest monsoon in India comes the normal slew of travel packages and special deals from all and sundry to woo the leisure traveller in what is traditionally considered an “off-season” for travel, especially along the West coast and South of the country. The traditional leisure giants like Kerala and Goa usually announce their ‘monsoon specials’ which have been responsible to a large extent for travel picking up within this period. But the real bonus here is MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions) as most business travel which is MICE-related happens during this period. Till very recently, most of the Indian business travel for MICE used to be largely overseas-centric, with a special preference for the Southeast Asian countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, etc). This trend though is seeing a dramatic reversal with most Indian companies now having the ‘cost-saving’ option of restricting their MICE travel within India. The change has been largely brought about by the realisation that Indian hotels, airlines and travel service providers can hugely benefit by retaining a chunk of Indian corporate MICE travel. A few states have also got into the fray and are backing their respective travel industries with huge marketing promotion campaigns that proclaim their newly-found ‘MICE destination’ status. For the business traveller and corporate travel manager, never before has MICE travel been so easy within India. With hotel deals aplenty, apex and super apex fares available from all domestic airlines, overseas destinations are suddenly not that attractive any more (except for incentive travel). Today, airlines and hotels have forged alliances in the country to offer even more attractive options in potential MICE destinations. While the current scenario looks so nice for MICE, the cover story in this issue of feBusiness Traveller focuses on MICE planning and the nuances of MICE-related travel that will facilitate informed decisions. In addition, our SPOTLIGHT section carries a comprehensive review of the best hotel guest loyalty programmes on offer in India today... read on for more travel perks!

Sheldon Santwan
Editor - FeBusiness Traveller

Sheldon can be reached at editor@businesstravellerindia.com