Tourism management (exhibition tourism direction)

MICE tourism is a form of tourism developed by holding international conferences, seminars, forums and various exhibitions, and it is a key point in the development of tourism products in Beijing. At present, international conference tourism has the characteristics of large group scale, high level of guests and consumption, long stay, involving many related service industries, low cost and rich profits. In Europe, North America, Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore, conferences have become an industry. The number of exhibitions is also increasing rapidly. There are 2 1950 internationally registered exhibitions from 1998 to 1999. All kinds of conferences and exhibitions held in Beijing every year account for 80% ~ 85% of the whole country. The number of MICE tourists and the proportion of consumption in Beijing are increasing year by year, and there is great potential for developing MICE tourism.

[Edit this paragraph] Characteristics of MICE tourism

Many scholars at home and abroad have also made various definitions of MICE tourism, but there is still no unified connotation. For example, GETZ, a scholar who is famous for studying event tourism, believes that trade and exhibition activities, such as exhibitions, expositions and conferences, are the most important components of the convention and exhibition industry. At the same time, many scholars advocate promoting the concept of mice tourism. The MICE tourism discussed in this paper corresponds to the concept of event tourism market subdivided by M, I, C and E in developed countries, that is, meetings, activities, conferences and exhibitions, including festivals and sports events. That is, MICE tourism refers to a tourism activity that attracts tourists to negotiate trade, sightseeing, carry out technical cooperation, information exchange and cultural exchange by means of various types of conferences, exhibitions, expositions, trade fairs, investment fairs, cultural and sports exchanges, and promotes the development of many related industries such as transportation, tourism and commerce.

Although convention and exhibition industry and tourism are two independent industrial sectors, the mutual involvement of convention and exhibition industry and tourism is the external manifestation of the universal connection between economic activities. Convention and exhibition industry and tourism are both tertiary industries, which have strong industrial relevance. Holding conferences and exhibitions will not only benefit local exhibition halls, restaurants and catering services, but also actively promote related telecommunications, transportation, shopping, tourism services and urban municipal construction. Being engaged in convention and exhibition industry is one of the diversification strategies of tourism, and convention and exhibition industry can make use of various services and resources provided by tourism. The two are closely linked and complement each other.

(a) The role of exhibitions in promoting tourism

Exhibition itself has the characteristics of industry, industry and large-scale organization, which will inevitably attract government, non-governmental organizations' exhibition groups, visiting groups and travel teams organized by travel agencies. Due to the high specifications of the conference, the exhibitors are all business guests with strong spending power and high cultural quality, and their consumption grade and scale are much higher than those of ordinary tourists. A large-scale or well-known exhibition will greatly promote hotels, travel agencies, scenic spots, tourism transportation and shopping in the local tourism industry. At the same time, for the general tourism team or tourists, if the exhibition is held during the tourism process, the strong atmosphere brought by the exhibition will greatly increase their interest in tourism.

MICE tourism also has the characteristics that the time period is not affected by climate and season, thus eliminating the obvious shortcomings of sightseeing tourism. Most exhibition activities are arranged in the off-season of cities, and the development of exhibition tourism is conducive to improving the utilization rate of urban tourism facilities and services. The exhibition provides a good opportunity for the city to display tourism resources and products. It is conducive to promoting the promotion of urban functions, improving the visibility of the city, and providing a good environment for the further development of tourism.

(B) the auxiliary role of tourism in the exhibition

No matter from the historical evolution of the exhibition industry or the specific activities of the exhibition, the six elements involved in tourism are closely related to the holding of the exhibition. The elements of exhibition and the services needed for successful completion are the advantages accumulated in the development of tourism. In the development of MICE tourism, tourism provides corresponding services for the holding of MICE and helps MICE to establish its brand, which has become a key factor in the intensive development trend of MICE tourism. The success of the exhibition depends on the participation of the tourism industry to some extent, in addition to the scale or professional level of the participants. Carrying out division of labor and cooperation and establishing a perfect benefit sharing mechanism are the prerequisites for realizing the professional division of reception in the convention and exhibition industry. If there is a professional division of labor between tourism enterprises and exhibition companies, exhibition companies are responsible for the recruitment, publicity, exhibition and organization and management of the exhibition, while tourism enterprises provide "six elements" services for exhibitors or visitors in different places, each with its own functions and strengths, and make exhibitors, visitors and local residents feel convenient and satisfied through professional services, thus attracting more exhibitors and gaining more and more lasting support, thus establishing the brand of the exhibition and giving full play to the driving role of the exhibition.

The integration of convention and exhibition industry and tourism industry is the inevitable trend of the development of global convention and exhibition industry. MICE tourism is the product of the combination of tourism attributes and the characteristics of MICE activities. Optimizing the relationship between convention and exhibition industry and tourism, establishing a new development model and developing convention and exhibition tourism are the only way for the coordinated development of convention and exhibition industry and tourism in China. [ 1][2]

[Edit this paragraph] Problems in the development of mice tourism in China

Among the nearly $300 billion in revenue that the convention and exhibition industry brings to the world every year, China has failed to occupy its due market share. At present, the problems existing in the development of MICE tourism mainly lie in the loose relationship between MICE industry and tourism, and the development level is still in the primary stage.

On the management level, most provinces (except a few cities with developed exhibitions) have neither clear and unified management and planning, nor the guidance of specialized management institutions. Most of the organizers focus on the application, approval and reception affairs, and rarely or even consider the extensive cooperation with the tourism department, and have insufficient understanding of the comprehensive effects of MICE tourism; On the management level, due to the limitation of multi-head management and profit orientation, it is difficult for the government to organize exhibition companies and tourism enterprises to jointly promote; In the content of activities, the main purpose of exhibitors, participants and visitors is limited to attending or watching exhibitions, and only a few people spontaneously participate in small-scale sightseeing, shopping or entertainment activities; The services provided by the tourism department for exhibitors and visitors are mainly transportation, accommodation, catering, cultural performances, shopping guides, sightseeing activities and other services are obviously insufficient; From the perspective of comprehensive benefits, the comprehensive benefits brought by convention and exhibition activities to tourism enterprises are not large enough (although they can promote the three elements of tourism, such as food, accommodation and transportation), and the benefits of various industries within the tourism industry are very uneven, with obvious accommodation, catering and transportation, and more profits; Sightseeing, shopping and entertainment have not been effectively developed, resulting in less profits, and the existing tourism resources, especially the scenic spots in the city and surrounding areas, have not been fully utilized.

Facing the new market situation and development environment, China MICE tourism must explore a new development path to achieve "standardization, intensification, branding and cooperation" as soon as possible. Therefore, China's mice industry and tourism industry should promote each other and cooperate with each other to build an optimized model for mice tourism development in China.

[Edit this paragraph] Countermeasures for the development of mice tourism-the macro guidance of the government

MICE tourism is still a new industry in China. The sustained and healthy development of MICE tourism needs the strong support and active guidance of governments at all levels. The government should play a macro-control and industry guidance role mainly in industrial planning, industry management, infrastructure construction and overall city publicity.

Exhibition activities should not only reflect the sensational effect at that time, but also take into account the long-term effect, the overall impression of participants on exhibition activities, the aftertaste of various services and the establishment of exhibition brands. The government should play an important role in coordinating and promoting industrial planning, integrating industrial advantages and promoting the overall publicity of the city, so that the exhibition department can actively cooperate with the tourism department to carry out joint promotion and combine exhibitions, festivals and sports events with the tourism resources and tourist reception facilities in and around the city; Or bring the exhibition industry into the unified management, unified promotion or joint management and promotion of the tourism department, or set up a special exhibition marketing coordination agency separately, which must have extensive contacts with major affiliated enterprises in this city and the province, and have certain contacts with key affiliated enterprises all over the country and the world to play a coordinating and communicating role. Specializing in sales of exhibitions, festivals and facilities. In July 2003, Changsha took the lead in setting up an exhibition management office directly under the municipal government, which played an important role in the management, planning, coordination and service of the exhibition industry. However, the scale and specialization of MICE tourism need to set up special institutions to coordinate the relationship between them. Just as in the selection of the best business exhibition tourism city in China, the organization of city exhibition sales includes the coordination between the tourism bureau and the operators of hotels, exhibition facilities and other tourist facilities. Whether to set up a special exhibition bureau for cooperative marketing accounts for 30% of the score, which is not only a necessary factor for the development of exhibition tourism, but also an important condition for the long-term development of exhibition tourism.

Unified planning of venue construction and surrounding hotel construction. In the smooth development of exhibition activities, reasonable hotel service facilities are an essential factor. In recent years, Changsha's urban infrastructure has been unprecedentedly improved, with developed transportation facilities, and urban infrastructure construction has better met the requirements of the development of convention and exhibition industry. There are nearly three-star hotels in the city 100, with nearly 80,000 standard beds. The hotel industry and catering industry can generally meet the needs of holding various exhibition projects. However, the number of welcome hotels around each exhibition hall is small and the layout is unreasonable, which is one of the biggest opinions of the exhibition organizers when they inspect the exhibition hall. For example, there are only five-star high-grade service hotels in the International Film and Television Convention and Exhibition Center, and there are few mid-range hotels. Changsha Hongxing International Convention and Exhibition Center is located in the southern suburbs of the city, and there are few hotels with perfect services around it. The overall layout of Hunan Exhibition Hall and Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center is better. In urban planning and design, the government should consider the relevance and unity of exhibition and tourism at the same time, so as to realize rational layout and overall planning.

[Edit this paragraph] MICE tourism is combined with theme activities.

MICE tourism should also choose a distinctive theme to provide more professional tourists and potential customers for MICE through its strong attraction. Similarly, exhibitions can also bring more tourists to the host city by holding exhibitions with strong brands. Choose theme exhibitions related to urban tourism resources and characteristics, so that exhibitions and tourism can play their respective advantages and develop interactively. As we all know, the Kunming World Expo in Yunnan has had a wide and profound impact on its urban tourism and exhibition tourism. The research shows that 1999 World Expo has promoted the status of Kunming tourism in the whole province and even the whole country, and promoted the branding process of Kunming tourism destination, which is one of the major events in the history of mice tourism development in China.

Drawing lessons from the successful experience of Kunming, Changsha should start with large-scale exhibitions such as Golden Eagle TV Art Festival, Liuyang International Fireworks Festival, National Sugar and Wine Fair and Provincial Agricultural Fair, and try to combine theme exhibition activities with theme tourism to tap the market depth. For example, Golden Eagle TV Art Festival and film and television tourism products, the establishment of film and television art center, the display of China film and television art and culture, Liuyang International Fireworks Festival tourism and local tourism resources, the development of eco-tourism, in the national sugar and wine party, the provincial agricultural fair, tea culture festival exhibition, emphasizing Hunan's unique tourism resources (such as Li Baixing Shacha Gallery, Changsha Baisha Gujing, Ningxiang tourism resources), combined with leisure tourism, rural tourism, so that traditional wine culture, rural tourism. For example, Martyrs Park in Changsha is one of the top ten parks in China. Martyrs Park attracts nearly 4 million visitors every year, and successfully holds light shows and auto shows every year, with more than 300,000 visitors each time. At present, Changsha is trying to build an "ecological, cultural, scientific and modern garden" with Martyrs Park in two years, so that visitors can not only appreciate the beauty of Martyrs Park, but also feel the charm of Changsha International Ecological Exhibition. This way of thinking fully integrates exhibition and tourism, which greatly promotes the development of both.

Tourism has a powerful driving force for gathering popularity, prospering the market, stimulating consumption and promoting investment attraction, which is a key link in Changsha's economic development strategy. Compared with other famous tourist cities, there is a big gap in the proportion of tourism in the tertiary industry in Changsha. Therefore, the only way to inject new vitality into Changsha's economy is to integrate tourism resources, speed up the development and construction of tourism industry, cultivate and develop a new tourism market-mice tourism, build a tourism network that runs through both inside and outside, and build an overall brand with strong Huxiang culture and distinctive Changsha characteristics.

The Present Situation and Development Trend of MICE Tourism in China

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. In recent one or two years, 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. At present, 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.

First, the development status 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.

In recent years, the exhibition industry in China has developed rapidly. According to incomplete statistics, since the 1990s, China's convention and exhibition industry has been growing at a rate of about 20% every year, and the total number of exhibitions with considerable scale held in 1999 reached 1326. In recent years, Beijing International Conference Center has received more than 1000 international conferences and more than 30 international conferences with more than 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. At present, the large-scale exhibition halls under construction or completed are: 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. It integrates international conference center, business hotel, office building, exhibitor apartment, shopping mall, storage center, office reception and power center. , even including theme parks. It is an exhibition complex with the exhibition field as the core. The building area is 280,000 square meters and the exhibition area is 200,000 square meters. Wuhan international convention and exhibition center. The total investment is 930 million yuan, with 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 at present, the average construction area of each venue has reached more than 127000 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.

At present, there are 0/2 large exhibition halls in Beijing, with a total area of nearly 0/40,000 square meters (see Table 6), and there are more than 25 exhibition halls with more than 500 seats. 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, Shanghai currently has a total exhibition area of145,000 square meters, which is equivalent to 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, together with the International Society for Special Events (ISES), George Washington University and Huo Jonson Welles University, will jointly organize the training on "Festival Exhibition Management" 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. At present, there are 43 websites in the exhibition industry alone (see Table 7). Some of these websites introduce exhibitions, and some have started to operate online exhibitions directly. This shows that the scientific and technological content of China convention and exhibition industry is relatively high.