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 Journal of

Computer Applications in Engineering Sciences

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 Institute of 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 Institute of Management &Technology,

Bareilly 243001(U.P.) (India)Mob: +91-9997779184

[2] Kaushik Kumar,Assistant Professor,Department of Business

Administration,Future Institute of Management &Technology, Bareilly 243001(U.P.) (India)Mob: +91-9897211391

[3] Anjli Gupta,Assistant Professor,Department of Business

Administration,Future Institute of 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.

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

MICE hold 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 Media sites like Facebook have made it easy and

compelling for millions of people to register and connect with dozens, sometimes hundreds of family and friends. Match this up

with the fact that, on a personal level, most tourism Operators 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

people are 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 paddle off on their trip. You post the picture to your

Facebook Fan page, and tag them in the picture… 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 the level of transport and accommodation”.

Establishes

Relationship

Ideal Client

Promoting Tourism &

Hospitality in INDIA

Tourism &

Hospitability

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 facilit ies 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 the following 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 the other side, all meetings included in ICCA data statistics

must meet the following criteria (Rogers, 2003):

It must be organized on a regular basis.

It must rotate between 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 the organizational 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 the major 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

potential to 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 & positive experience.

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 sustained companies 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, MICE business, restaurant & banqueting promotions.

Tourism as an economic activity taken the top most position as the

largest industry in the world.

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 the commendable 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 the country 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” for Tourism 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’ve ever 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 positive image).

Strong sporting culture 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 the Murray River.

Ageing tourism related infrastructure and 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 promote cultural 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):

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 presenting a positive image.

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 para of 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

positive experience. 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