timeout30

MICE TOURISM

Vietnam needs to garner con-certed support from all sectors to develop the MICE market, writes Kai Marcus Schroter.

CATCHING THE

MICE

The Hyatt Regency Danang provides one of Vietnam’s premium MICE venues

31timeout

With the country’s global integration and economic development, Vietnam has made some progress

in attracting MICE business. However, as a hospitality and tourism manage-ment consultant living and working in Vietnam for 15 years, I have to say that I am not completely satisfi ed with the speed and quality of progress made so far.

Despite the country’s several ad-vantages, including its central geo-graphic location in Southeast Asia, Viet-nam is still far away from becoming an international MICE destination, on par, with Thailand or Malaysia. The reasons are many-fold.

MICE has become a fashionable word in the tourism industry in Viet-nam, but many still do not really un-derstand what it is, how it works, what it needs, how it is promoted and what the benefi ts for the country are. Most people think of MICE as a matter for the tourism industry alone, which of course it is not.

The attractiveness of a country as a MICE destination, its ability to at-tract, host and organise international and regional Meetings, Incentives, Con-

ferences and Events, is a mirror image of a country’s brand reputation, inter-national integration and cooperation, socio-economic development, market economy status, foreign direct invest-ment, offi cial development assistance, infrastructure development, level of re-search and development, attractiveness of living, management capacity and the quality of its work force.

International corporations and or-ganisations from the private and public sector look very carefully at all these points when selecting and bringing MICE business to a country. And here, Vietnam is in strong competition, re-gionally and even globally. To attract more and better MICE business to Viet-nam, it requires an understanding and concerted efforts of many stakeholders.

Surely, Vietnam’s central tourism authorities, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism need to take the lead in developing Vietnam as a MICE destination. This is their mandate. But of course, as all the before mentioned factors are complex, they require the attention, understand-ing, coordination and support from the government as a whole.

In terms of the private sector, many larger tour operators and hotels in Viet-nam have a keen interest that the coun-try is developed and promoted as a MICE destination.

MICE business promises a relatively high yield. Several foreign and locally invested tour operators and hotels in Vi-etnam have specialized and suited their products and services to this market segment well. In this regard, it can be said that the country is up to inter-national standards. Especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, we can fi nd suffi -cient travel and hotel capacities to cater for large-scale events.

But it should also be kept in mind that not only these two sectors benefi t. MICE travellers usually have a higher rate of spending. MICE organisers of-ten combine business purpose with a leisure program, and so MICE travel-lers usually spend extra on local tours, shopping, restaurants and so on. The local community as a whole can there-fore benefi t.

Regarding other players in the pri-vate tourism sector, I feel that Vietnam Airlines as the main air-carrier could contribute more in developing and promoting Vietnam as a MICE destina-

The InterContinental Hanoi West Lake offers fantastic views and MICE facilities to match

26 timeout2222222222222222222266666666666666666666666 tititititititititititittitititititittiiimememememememememememememeeemememmemeeeeouououououououououooooouoououoouttttttttttttttt

MICE TOURISM

tion. With its wide reach into overseas markets, it should pay more attention to MICE travellers, share more of its capacity, knowledge, experience and resources and cooperate better with local tourism authorities.

Developing and promoting MICE business in a country is a long and rath-er complex process. It is not only a mat-ter of tourist arrivals. It involves and has an effect on many different stakehold-ers from the public and private sector. That’s why I talk about MICE business, not MICE tourism.

Central tourism authorities need to develop capacity to take the lead in de-veloping and promoting Vietnam as a MICE destination. In any case, they also require good understanding, coopera-tion, coordination and fi nancial support from the government and other minis-tries as well.

In addition, Vietnam’s tourism au-thorities should actively seek and devel-

op strategic partnerships with the pri-vate sector, airlines, hotel chains,

media and others, which can help to package, mar-

ket and promote

Vietnam as a MICE destination. In this regard, much has been

done on paper, but the actual im-plementation lags behind. Plans to establish destination marketing and convention visitor bureaus, as in other countries, are moves in the right di-rection. As a German citizen, I would like to give a very concrete example of such successful collaboration. In Berlin over recent decades, the mu-nicipal authorities, the convention and visitor bureau, the tourism promotion agency, and the private sector have worked very hard and cooperated well together in developing the capital of Germany, as a ‘service sector and knowledge-based metropolis’.

As a result, it is now a leading MICE destination in Europe and around the world. Berlin has established itself as a for many science, high-tech, medicine, art, fashion and sports related events. The city of course benefi ts from Germa-ny’s nation brand image and this brand-ing is the fi rst key to attracting MICE.

There are certainly macro- and micro-economic factors in developing MICE business.Vietnam can infl uence socio-economic development, acces-sibility, infrastructure development, management capacity and product and service quality.

Firstly, socio-economic develop-ment, in this context, means the level of a country’s development in science

and research, which often gives birth to congresses or

similar events. Socio-economic devel-opment also means to what extent a destination has developed a specifi c economic sector and, for that matter, a broad knowledge base and reputa-tion for it. Here, Vietnam obviously has a long way to go. I recommend that the country focuses on developing and implementing a professional country branding strategy and on continuing to build MICE clusters in HCMC, Hanoi and Danang.

Secondly, ‘accessibility’ plays a ma-jor role in the choice of a destination. Apart from the central or strategic loca-tion of a country, accessibility means the quantity and quality of international air, land and sea routes, visa policies and ease of travel to and from a desti-nation. Vietnam possesses a relative ge-ographic advantage. Regarding travel routes, visa policies and ease of travel, Vietnam has some work to do, but it is on the right path.

Thirdly, infrastructure develop-ment goes hand in hand with acces-sibility. For the successful development and promotion of MICE business, in-ternational travel routes to and from a country need to be matched by an acceptable standard of national infra-structure - not only domestic air routes and national road systems, but also major convention centers, hotel, resort

31timeout 33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333331111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111titittitittitiitiitiititiititittitiiititiiiittititiiitiiiiitititttiitiiititititttttttitiitititttttttitititiiititititittititttittittititittitititiiitittititititttittittitititititiiiiiititttttttttiiititttttttiitttittittittittttttiititititittttiiitttitttiiitittttittttiitttttttttttittttitiitttitititttttttttiiiitttttitittiiittttttttiiittttttttititiitttttitititttiitttttititiittttiiititttiittitttiiiittttttittttttttiiiitttt mememememememmemememememmemememmemememmememememeeeeeemememememememememmemememmememeeeeeeeememememememememememememmemmememeeeememmememememmememmemememeeeeeeememememmemememmmemeemmmememmmemmememeememmmememmememmmeemememmmemmmmmememeememmmmmemememmmememmmmememmemmmmmmmmmmeemmmmemmmemmmememememeeeemmemmmmmmeeemememmmmmmeeeemmmmmeeeemmmmemmeeeemmemmeemmmememeeeeemmmmmmmmeemmmmmmemmeeemmmmmmmmeeemmmmmmmmmmeemmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeemmmeeeeeououoououooououoououuouououuuuuuuouououoououououuououououuuuuoouououooooooouuuuuooouooooouuuuuuuuuuuouooouoouuouuuooooooooouuuuoooouuuuoooooooooouououuouuououuuoouooooooooooououououuouuuuoooooouooooooooouuouuuuooouooooouououuuouoouoooooououououoooooooooouoouuooooouooooooooooooooouuooooooooooooooooouuuuuuooooouoooooooooouuuuuuoooooooooooooooouuouuuuuuuuuuuouooooooouuuuuuuouooooouuuuouuuuuuuoooooooouuouuuuuuooooooooooouuuuuuuuuoooooooouuuuuuuuuuooooooouuuuuuuuooouuuuuuuuuooooooouuuuuutttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

and conference facilities and other es-sential logistics.

In this regard, Hanoi and HCMC have made much progress for the phys-ical part, but the local capacity of host-ing, organising and managing interna-tional events remains low.

Fourthly, ‘management capacity’ is a crucial factor in executing major events successfully. Vietnam’s educa-tion sector has only recently discovered event management, with some institu-tions having added it to their tourism and hospitality curricula. In Vietnam, it will take several years to build a pool

of event managers, whilst the overall quality of the education system remains in question.

Lastly, the successful development and promotion of a country as a MICE destination depends not the least on the quality of its products and services. MICE organisers and travellers are dis-cerning customers with limited time. They usually seek smooth travel, good accommodation, tasty and healthy food, convenient transport, competent service, well organised and effective events, friendly people, and maybe a bit of free leisure time and excitement.

They want a life-time experience and value for their money.

This last point is probably the most complex and diffi cult to achieve. It re-quires the efforts of all if Vietnam wants to expand its MICE business further.

* Kai Marcus Schröter is a German

national living and working in Vietnam

since 1998. He is the founder and CEO of

HTM Management Consultancy, a boutique

hospitality tourism management advisory

fi rm, providing professional services for the

industry in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

www.ht-management.com

The natural beauty of the country must be harnessed in tandem with a solid plan for MICE sector development

Increasingly, Vietnam is drawing international MICE busi-ness, but more work is needed to expand it