The Development Trend of MICE Tourism

Convention and exhibition industry, including conference industry, exhibition industry and incentive tourism, is a very huge industry in the world. According to the authoritative figures of international exhibition industry, the output value of international exhibition industry accounts for about 1% of the total GDP of all countries in the world. If related industries benefit from exhibitions, the contribution of exhibition industry to the global economy will reach 8%. International conferences are also a huge market. According to the statistics of International Conference Association (ICCA), the annual output value of international conferences is about $280 billion. In Hong Kong, Germany and other countries and regions with developed exhibition industry, the promotion of exhibition industry to economy has reached the level of 1: 9. Convention and exhibition industry is also an important part of urban tourism in the world today. Therefore, tourism departments all over the world attach great importance to the development of MICE tourism. Tourism management departments in some countries or regions have also set up mice tourism management departments. For example, in order to promote the development of mice tourism, Hong Kong has set up a convention bureau.

Since 1990s, the exhibition tourism in China has developed rapidly, with an annual growth rate of over 20%, much higher than that in other parts of China. Due to the law of diminishing margins, the growth rate of traditional tourism in China began to slow down, while the growth rate of mice tourism was very fast. Therefore, MICE tourism is gradually valued by the tourism industry. Tourism authorities in Beijing, Shanghai and other places began to study the role of MICE tourism in the tourism industry, and major tourism enterprises have also expanded their MICE tourism business, and some places have also established MICE tourism associations. However, MICE tourism in China is still in the primary stage, and the total market is still relatively small. There are few special studies on MICE tourism, and there is no standardized statistical index system for MICE tourism, so it is difficult to grasp the overall situation of MICE tourism. The materials used in this paper are all from the statistics of published newspapers and magazines and international exhibition websites.

The Present Situation of MICE Tourism in China

China's MICE tourism started late, but developed rapidly, especially the hardware facilities construction of MICE tourism has a trend of advanced development.

(A) the rapid development of the convention and exhibition industry has become a new growth point to promote economic development.

China's convention and exhibition industry has developed rapidly. According to incomplete statistics, since 1990s, China's convention and exhibition industry has grown by about 20% every year. 1326 exhibitions of considerable scale were held in 1999, and the Beijing International Conference Center receives more than 10/000 international conferences and more than 30 international conferences with 300 people every year. Convention and exhibition industry has become a new bright spot of China economy.

(2) Local governments actively participate in leading the development of convention and exhibition industry.

Due to the rapid development of convention and exhibition industry itself and its great driving effect on economy, local governments attach great importance to the development of convention and exhibition industry, forming a situation in which the government dominates the development of convention and exhibition industry. Beijing has set up a leading group headed by the deputy mayor to conduct a comprehensive study on the convention and exhibition industry, including setting up a research group to write a research report on the development of Beijing's convention and exhibition industry, and instructing the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics to work out a set of statistical index system for the convention and exhibition industry together with relevant units. Shanghai, Hangzhou and other places have also made plans for the development of convention and exhibition industry under the leadership of the government.

(3) All localities began to establish self-regulatory trade associations.

Under the leadership of the government, local exhibition enterprises began to set up industry self-discipline exhibition associations. From June 65438 to June 0998, initiated by the Beijing Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the first international convention and exhibition association in China was established. In April 2002, Shanghai established the Convention and Exhibition Association, and in February 2002, Shandong established the International Convention and Exhibition Association.

(D) The whole country has set off a climax of building exhibition venues.

The biggest feature of China's convention and exhibition industry development is the priority of hardware development. During the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, China Exhibition Hall developed rapidly. Before the Ninth Five-Year Plan, the area of indoor exhibition halls in China was less than 800,000 square meters, but by 200 1, the area of indoor exhibition halls officially put into use doubled, and the area of venues reached 5160,000 square meters. Large exhibition halls under construction or completed include: Shanghai New International Expo Center. The total exhibition area is 200,000 square meters indoors and 50,000 square meters outdoors. Hangzhou West Lake International Conference Center. The total construction area is 490,000 square meters, and the construction area of the conference center is 6.5438+0.2 million square meters. More than 30 conference halls, 654.38+00 simultaneous interpretation system and 7,000 international standard booths. Beijing New China International Exhibition Center is an exhibition complex with the exhibition field as the core, which integrates international convention center, business hotel, office building, exhibitors' apartments, shopping center, storage center, office reception, power center and even theme park. The building area is 280,000 square meters and the exhibition area is 200,000 square meters. Wuhan International Convention and Exhibition Center has a total investment of 930 million yuan and a total construction area of 6.5438+0.27 million square meters, including 50,000 square meters of exhibition hall, 6.5438+0.5 million square meters of conference hall and 40 conference halls.

In a word, the construction of this exhibition venue is characterized by high-grade buildings, large area and high-tech content. According to the statistics of 20 venues, the average construction area of each venue is over127,000 square meters.

Source: * Research Report on the Development of Beijing Convention and Exhibition Industry by the Research Office of Beijing Municipal People's Government, and the rest are compiled according to GOOGLE query results.

(five) the main conference reception units to join the international conference organization.

Local exhibition companies and some tourism administrative departments have joined relevant international exhibition organizations. As of May 2002, 65,438+04 institutions have joined ICCA, namely: Beijing International Convention Center, Beijing Tourism Bureau, China International Airlines, China Folk International Travel Company, China Convention Award Tourism Organization, Zhejiang China International Trade Center, China International Trade Center, China Tourism International Exhibition Company, Hua Ting Hotel, Chunqiu Travel Agency, Shandong International Travel Agency, Shanghai International Convention and Exhibition Center, Jinjiang Exhibition Company, etc. In addition, CYTS participated in the International Air Transport Association of ASTA and PATA, and the International Exhibition Center participated in UFI and BIF.

(6) Beijing, Shanghai and other international convention and exhibition center cities have initially taken shape.

Some big cities in China have certain advantages in developing international convention and exhibition industry, and have initially formed international convention and exhibition center cities with Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and other big cities as the core. The advantages of these big cities in receiving international exhibitions mainly include:

1. There are many exhibition venues.

There are 12 large exhibition venues in Beijing, with a total area of nearly10.4 million square meters (see table 6), and more than 25 exhibition halls with more than 500. In addition, there are 554 designated tourist hotels and 506 star-rated hotels in Beijing, with a total of 93,000 rooms, many of which meet international standards. Similarly, the total area of Shanghai Exhibition Hall is145,000 square meters, which is equivalent to that of Beijing. In addition, there are 354 hotels and 56,000 rooms in Shanghai. Because hotels and exhibition venues are relatively sound, these big cities have a good foundation for developing the exhibition industry.

Source: Research Report on the Development of Beijing Convention and Exhibition Industry by the Research Office of Beijing Municipal People's Government.

2. The external conditions of the exhibition are relatively mature.

As an important part of urban tourism, MICE tourism needs not only good hardware facilities, but also a high overall urban environment and comprehensive international communication ability. Beijing, Shanghai and other big cities have relatively good transportation such as subways and urban roads, and the number of international and domestic tourists is among the best in China. In addition, Beijing has established sister city relations with 23 cities in 7 countries. 147 countries have embassies in Beijing, nearly 300 foreign financial institutions have representative offices in Beijing, 17 foreign banks have branches in Beijing, and many multinational companies have offices in Beijing.

There are many conferences and exhibitions.

Since 1999, quite a number of international conferences have been held in Beijing, including the Universal Postal Union Congress, the World Architects Congress, the 1 1 meeting of signatories to the United Nations Convention for the Protection of the Atmospheric Ozone Layer, the World Mathematical Congress, and international exhibitions such as auto shows and electronic exhibitions. According to ICCA statistics, in 2000, Beijing hosted large-scale international conferences 16 times, ranking 17 in the world's major cities, which was 12 higher than the 29th in 1999. According to the statistics of relevant departments, there were 278 exhibitions in Shanghai in 20001year, and the direct income of exhibitions was1800 million yuan.

(7) The convention and exhibition industry system is taking shape.

After years of practice, the international convention and exhibition industry has formed a set of reception service system. At present, China convention and exhibition industry is also forming its own service system. For example, exhibition organizers (PCO) and destination receptionists (DMC) are being established, and many exhibition companies have begun to cultivate their own PCO.

In addition, the education and training of the convention and exhibition industry has also begun to get on the right track. In order to conform to the general trend of the development of international convention and exhibition industry and shorten the distance between China and developed countries, the Beijing International Convention and Exhibition Industry Association held a training course at the end of August, specially for middle and senior managers and employees in the convention and exhibition industry, so as to promote the development of domestic convention and exhibition industry and improve the level of convention and exhibition, and cultivate high-quality convention and exhibition professionals. Beijing Foreign Studies University will jointly organize the training of "Festival Exhibition Management" with the International Society for Special Events (ISES), George Washington University and Huo Jonson Welles University to solve the shortage of exhibition talents.

(8) Network participation

China convention and exhibition industry has participated in modern network technology from the very beginning. There are hundreds of exhibition websites in China alone. Some of these websites introduce the exhibition industry, and some have started to directly operate online exhibition business.