Companies are ever expanding the budget they set aside to provide incentives to employees, distributors and associates, in a bid to keep loyalty and productivity intact. Tourism boards abroad are tapping this opportunity and are betting big on the meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition (MICE) segment.
According to Karan Anand, head, business development, Cox & Kings, “The outbound MICE segment is growing at about 30% per annum and will continue for some time as Indian corporates that face intense competition would like to reward its employees, distributors and associates with a free trip as an incentive.” A similar growth is expected on the inbound side, with India attracting high-end incentive business as the country has a lot to offer to such clients. This segment is also growing at 25% year-on-year, he added.
“Indian corporates send their staff for exhibitions across the world to understand new processes and help in forging alliances to grow their business. That’s why you would see more companies sending their executives to Basel in Switzerland, Berlin in Germany and Shanghai in China for such trips,” said Anand.
“Pharmaceuticals and insurance sectors are the biggest contributors to the MICE segment from India,” said Rajeev Kale, associate vice president, incentives, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd, adding that these companies not only have big budgets but are also exploring new shores.
In short-haul (outbound), the most popular destinations include Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. “These destinations are close and cheaper,” said Sushil Wadhwa, managing director and chief executive officer, Platinum Incentives & Events, who is optimistic of reaping good returns.
In long-haul destinations (outbound), Switzerland, London and Paris are the most popular ones.
Among the new destinations that are catching up in the MICE segment are Spain, Finland, Istanbul, Greece, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Japan.
“Destinations such as France, Thailand, Malaysia and Switzerland are active in promoting incentive movements from India and they have allocated budgets for the same,” explains Anand.
Consider this: Maison de la France, or, the French Tourist Office recently stated that it will run an international MICE campaign across all markets including India as they see this a segment with immense growth potential. The business tourism into France has pumped in more than Euro 4.5 billion into the economy.
“Singapore offers cash back on three years consecutive visit,” tells Wadhwa. On the inbound side, “India has always attracted the high-end incentive market from around the world. All the leading FIIs have had their annual conferences here,” said Anand. “In terms of exhibitions, we do not have such high profile exhibitions in the country,” he added.
The biggest market for inbound include Italy, UK and France, among others. The popular destinations include Kerala, Goa, Agra and Rajasthan.