Analysis: What Is The MICE Market?
John Ross is a Nadi-based marketing and advertising specialist with a long background in tourism. For feedback on this article, please email him: johnrossfiji@gmail.com
MICE is the name given by tourism professionals worldwide to describe a segment of the tourism market made up of four different but loosely connected groups of tourists.
It is an acronym made up of the initial letter of a word that describes each of these groups, so it includes Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events.
Probably the most interesting group is the Incentives Market.
This comprises a group of professionals who are responsible for putting together rewards for employees of companies and the trip is earned by each employer performing to a target set n by the company.
Many companies (or groups of companies) have an internal department responsible for creating a trip that will excite employees so that they will put in the extra effort needed to earn the reward.
These are usually lavish events with content that makes the experience so memorable that employees will perform year after year to win a place in the group.
There are also a number of specialist consultant groups who are very experienced in creating this type of event and they are sought after by the different destinations to try to encourage them to send business there.
The meeting segment, particularly in Fiji, is dominated by government and government associated entities or multi-national business groups.
The conference segment is also very large and comprises government and large business groups.
Each segment, while being grouped under the MICE banner, has its own special needs and objectives and each relies on the expertise of the professional organisers.
It is this group that has a significant influence on the destination chosen and the local services providers that get the business.
The organisers business is built on their reliability and they can’t risk mistakes that may cause loss of repeat business so they end to stay with the local suppliers they know.
Why is the MICE market so attractive?
Firstly, the market is very well organised. It is basically a market run by professionals offering the sort of services they know their clients want, they know their clients and work with them long-term to ensure the success of the event they are organising for them.
The clients trust their consultants and have often worked with them for a long time; they rely on their advice and will allow them to assist.
Because of this relationship it is easy for the tourism product suppliers, most of the hard decisions are taken on the advice of the consultant and there is usually very little change once the decision is made.
Planning usually starts a year before the event and everything can be carefully set up and all the components are confirmed early.
The buyer is open to ideas to improve the event and will commit additional budget for a standout idea.
MICE events are usually not particularly time sensitive so can be planned for destination low seasons, helping the suppliers in the destination by filling unutilised inventory, they are not particularly price sensitive and will not try to cut costs at the expense of the experience.
The MICE market is very cohesive and these generalities apply across the board, but within the market each segment has its own peculiarities and needs and these need to be addressed.
For example, the Meetings segment is generally very location focussed, with areas of varying capacities and scales required at different times, while the Events segment usually has a single location focus.
To become a major supplier in the MICE market a company needs to be of quite a large scale, very well equipped with material and infrastructure to handle a wide range of roles and creative in the development of their concepts and offerings.
MICE groups are generally fairly large in numbers, although there are some significant exceptions, particularly in the higher end and more specialised meetings segment.
Consultants expect the execution to be flawless, as many times this is a one off experience for the participants and suppliers need to be able to ensure that they can provide sufficient transport, supervision and planning to assure the consultant they can handle the task.
And this is where Rosie Holidays comes into the picture.
About Rosie Events
Rosie is the leading operator in the high value international meetings and incentives industry in Fiji and has invested in a new state of the art warehouse.
It is located at the Namaka Industrial Subdivision, Nadi.
It will be the central operational headquarters for Rosie Events, their division focussed on the operational side of the services for the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) market.
In a company with many “firsts”, this is another one, the first multi-purpose three storey complex to be built in Fiji to cater for the growing and lucrative overseas meetings and incentives market.
The President, Retired Major General Jioji Konrote was the chief guest at the official opening in Nadi last Friday.
The new warehouse will allow Rosie to provide dramatically increased services to the hotels and resorts in Fiji who cater to the MICE market, providing storage in one location of over 250,000 different items and props that Rosie deploys as part of their events theming and management services.
The cost of the land and building was $3 milion and the equipment was an additional $2 million making a total investment of just over $5 million.
Feedback: maraia.vula@fijisun.com.fj
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