DESTINATION MICE

Over the last few months I have come across various articles in travel publications, business magazines and even financial dailies in India on MICE (Meetings Incentives Conventions and Exhibitions) and MICE related activity in the corporate world. This new-found focus on the MICE travel segment is a clear indication that India Inc is also going the global way and MICE is fast becoming a major part of its travel and promotional budgets. In the Indian context, incentives is at present the largest component of MICE but in a maturing market, it's only a matter of time before the entire gamut of MICE activities are undertaken by the Indian corporate world.

MICE in India has often been confused and construed as mainstream business travel but the demarcation is now getting more defined as both corporates and service providers start to recognise MICE's significance and potential. Today, there are distinct travel divisions within tour companies and airlines that exclusively target MICE movement. Destinations have also begun to market MICE products to specialised agencies and the corporate world at large. On our part, the feBusiness Traveller has taken the opportunity to create a platform for dissemination of MICE-related information. By showcasing destinations and MICE service providers to a focussed audience from the corporate sector and the travel trade, we believe that MICE can be popularised and more importantly, a much-needed clarity and focus can be brought to a concept that is destined to play a major role in future Indian business travel. Destination MICE, the recently concluded MICE event last month in conjunction with Tourism Malaysia, was our pioneering effort in this direction. feBusiness Traveller will continue to organise more MICE-specific events in future.

While MICE continues to take centre-stage in our efforts, it would be worthwhile mentioning that the monsoon is also one of the best times for innovative conferencing, team building and other MICE activity. The rains are also a great time for taking time off for corporate vacations and de-stressing as our cover story will reveal. So what better way to do it than combine your MICE activity in this season with some indulgence in a few exclusive monsoon therapies. And for adding a zing to the good old-fashioned holidaying check out our special feature, Wet-n-Wild Getaways... So Chill Out!!!

Sheldon Santwan
EDITOR, feBusiness Traveller
Sheldon can be reached at editor@businesstravellerindia.com