MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Expositions) travel has let down Kerala tourism heavily this lean season. Come rain or viral fever, the fastidious MICE clientele seems to have deserted beach hotels and hillside resorts for the state’s monsoon-lashed backwaters.

As a result, the Kerala government’s `Dream Season’ campaign for lean monsoon days has fallen flat. While the hotel industry saw cancellations of company-sponsored travel of 4.6 lakh domestic tourists in 45 days from July to August this year, there seems to be a compensatory diversion of MICE traffic to the backwaters instead.

Thanks to MICE, houseboat occupancy this year is up 25-30% compared with the previous lean season, says Tomy Pulicotil, former president, Houseboat-owners’ Association. “Independent of state government, the houseboat business has its own `Monsoon Mantra’ campaign,” he says.

Houseboat rentals running in the range of Rs 6,500-7,000 per day per air-conditioned boat had pitchforked the backwater segment to super premium bracket. This is when the companies’ MICE plans came to their rescue. There are about 350 housboats in Alapuzha, which slash rentals by 25% during the June-August monsoon season.

Among the corporate biggies who braved the fever scare in the state to hold business meetings in houseboats are ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, L&T Cement, Finolex, State Bank of India, Federal Bank, Preeti Mixis and the Saravana Group. “This time, mosquito-spread diseases are on hilly contours, not on lakesides” says L Murthy, a contractor attending a national builders’ meet on the backwaters.

However, the overall travel business in state is not enthused. “During this monsoon, Kerala was hoping to lure domestic tourists who usually prop the off season with the MICE campaign. But just then the viral fever struck. Now the only hope for us is that the mood does not last till September when the foreign tourist season begins,” says KC Chandrahasan, CEO, Kerala Travels Interserve.

State tourism bosses are keeping their fingers crossed, too. “Come September and there should be a growth of 15-20% in international tourist arrivals and 5% in domestic tourist arrivals,” says Sanjay Kaul, director, Kerala Tourism.

Last fiscal, the state saw 4.28 lakh foreign tourists and 63 lakh domestic tourists.

It may be recalled that the Kerala government had stopped short of signing up Amitabh Bachchan as its rainy season brand ambassador for the Munnar slopes due to his tall fees. However, the MICE strategy, that replaced Big B, is yet to yield results.