диплом англ (Тенденции развития делового туризма), страница 10

During the economic crisis, corporate profits fell in most European countries. Many companies cut their spending MICE. But times have changed for the better. According to American Express, European buyers expect an increase in all MICE related activities for 2016. They expect the overall MICE spending of European companies to increase by 1.8%. This is more than Central and South America (1.4%), and comparable to North America (1.9%).

Table 1.2

International outbound business travel spending growth in most promising European source markets, 2016 and 2017, in %

Source: Global Business Travel Association

Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy represent 70% of the European business travel market according to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). They are also among the top European markets for MICE. Together they are projected to spend €187 billion in 2016, an increase of 6.3% from 2015. For 2017, this market is expected to increase with another 6.8% to almost €200 billion. This makes these countries especially interesting source markets for your MICE products.

Table 1.3

Cost per attendee (excluding air costs), in Euro

Source: American Express Meeting & Events European Survey, august 2015

* EMEA = Europe, the Middle East and Africa

European companies’ MICE budgets are growing. They recognise the importance of meetings for the overall success of their business. Spending varies per country and per meeting type (Table 1.3). This means opportunities are increasing.

Europe is the preferred region for European MICE buyers, due to its proximity and connectivity. According to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), the most popular destinations are Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. However, European MICE buyers also organise MICE in regions outside Europe. According to IBTM:

• 43% also organises MICE in the Americas,

• 35% in Asia,

• 32% in the Middle East,

• 19% in Africa,

• 9.0% in Australia Pacific.

Combine MICE with technology trends - there is a trend in ‘hybrid events’. These combine a traditional physical event with online participation and online presentations. This is helpful for participants with economic, geographical, political, connectivity limitations or strong disabilities.

The coming years will see several technological trends that are very suitable for the MICE industry:

• QR codes: These offer guests and event planners increased convenience by quickly and easily registering or checking in guests.

• Event apps: A dedicated app for conference attendees has become a key trend in MICE. These apps allow users to download presentations, view speakers’ bios and connect with other attendees.

• Video conferencing: This is already quite common in the MICE market. Popular options are Citrix GoToMeeting and Click Meeting.

• 360-degree content recording: This technique enables live-action content, viewable in 2D and 3D. It allows users to interact with a simulated world in a physical way.

MICE events increasingly connect with social media platforms. These can be general platforms, or specific ones created especially for the event. Social media platforms can help MICE buyers and participants to connect, interact and share knowledge. Not only after the event, but also before and during. This creates a much wider impact of the event, over a longer period of time. Communication technologies and social media remain important for the development of MICE in the future.

Meeting spaces are changing from traditional ‘boardroom’ styles to innovative approaches. European MICE planners are increasingly interested in non-traditional venues as locations. For example outdoor venues, sporting venues, museums or aquariums. As non-traditional venues are especially popular with Generation Y, this trend seems to be here to stay.

Many European corporations offer incentive trips to motivate their employees, distributors or clients because. These trips are mostly recreational, but increasingly include formal meeting components. This is because having a meeting may provide corporate tax benefits. It also offers additional value in terms of networking, communication, education and team building. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years.

According to European MICE professionals, a sustainability policy demonstrates credibility and trustworthiness to clients. As a result, more and more MICE professionals add sustainability to their events, facilities and the products and services they supply. Many European companies have their own Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) guidelines. These might even state that they only work with travel companies with a sustainability label.

The two main trade channels for MICE suppliers are:

• intermediaries, such as MICE tour operators, incentive travel houses and smaller PCOs,

• a direct approach.

European corporations and associations usually don’t have a special department to organise MICE. They often use professional MICE intermediaries. These intermediaries prefer to work with one local partner that selects a MICE package for them. This is usually a DMO (Destination Marketing Organisation) or an inbound tour operator.

You can also target end customers directly, especially now the internet makes this easier. The two main end customers for MICE are:

• corporations,

• associations, such as trade associations, societies, religious organisations or political parties.

There is also a small group of individual business travellers who book their own MICE modules. Corporations represent around 65%, according to industry experts. Table 1.4 illustrates some differences between corporate and association buyers.

Table 1.4

Main characteristics of corporate and association buyers

Source: Adapted from Swarbrooke and Horner

MICE planners have many destinations and types of venue to choose from. This makes MICE tourism a relatively price sensitive and competitive industry. The spending on a long haul MICE trip consists of three dimensions:

• The exchange rate between the currencies of the country of origin and the destination country.

• The costs of transport to and from the destination country.

• The price of goods and services the traveller consumes in the destination country.

The average spending per attendee differs considerably per country and MICE type.

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