MODULE TITLE: Research Methods for International Business
“MICE Tourism and its Significance for Destination Promotion:
An Investigation on India as a MICE Destination”
Introduction to the Subject Area
Tourism is travel for leisure or business purposes. A tourist is a person who travels outside his city, state or country for leisure or business purposes for more than 24 hours and not more than one consecutive year. So as mentioned earlier, tourism can be broadly classified into leisure tourism and business tourism.
MICE tourism is nothing but business tourism. MICE stand for: Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions. “E” sometimes refers to as Events and “C” sometimes refers to as Conventions. According to the International Association of Professional Congress Organizers (IAPCO), Meeting is the coming together of a number of people in one place, to confer or carry out a particular activity. This can be on an ad hoc basis or to a set pattern. For example, annual general meetings, committee meetings etc. Incentive is part of a program which is offered to its participants to reward a previous performance. Conference is a participatory meeting designed for discussion, fact finding, problem solving and consultation. It is smaller in scale as compared to a congress which is usually of limited duration with specific objectives. Event is something at which products and services are displayed; for example, a career fair, an automotive exhibition etc.
Unlike the other components of MICE tourism, incentive tourism is conducted purely for entertainment, rather than for professional or educational purposes.
Justification for the Proposed Research
It is a new type of tourism, emerged with the increase of conventions and exhibitions and the gradual maturity of tourism in the context of continuous economic development. In recent years, MICE tourism fully swings with its enormous economic and social effects. It chaises the attention of the community and is called “the pearl of tourism crown”. High income and high profits are the common characteristics of the industry. The per-capita consumption of a MICE tourist is 4-5 times higher than that of an ordinary tourist. It is a kind of comprehensive economic activity highly associated with industries, involving all respects of social life; such as the economic development level of the host place, city traffic, commercial network, hotel, scenic spot, environment of the destination etc.
The MICE Industry:
The MICE segment is one of the fastest growing within the tourism industry, generating millions of revenue for cities and countries. The total national and international MICE market all over the world is in excess of US$270 billion, where in the international MICE tourism combined output accounts for about 1% of the world GDP. According to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), 5283 registered events took place in 2005, which is a rise of 479 over 2004. Europe and United States still remain the major markets worldwide in respect of the number of meetings, conferences and exhibitions.
The Indian MICE Industry:
The India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism, the Government of India aims at promoting India as a competent and credible MICE destination. India is still in its growing stage showing signs of becoming a fully fledged MICE destination. According to the ICCA, India is 27th in the global meetings market. The Indian inbound MICE segment is growing at the rate of 15 to 29% annually. The Indian inbound MICE market in the first seven months in 2004 was US$20 million, which is 40% more than the same period in 2003. As a potential MICE destination, though in its infancy stage, India has virtually everything a modern conference organizer or delegate could expect. The important MICE destinations in India are: Agra, Bangalore, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and New Delhi.
The tourism industry in any country is one of the major revenue earners. MICE tourism is an up and coming sector and a major revenue contributor to the tourism industry in countries. In order to be a hot spot for MICE, a destination needs to be developed and promoted. Infrastructural facilities accessibility, to accommodation, to venues needs to be of international standard and quality.
Since India is becoming a major MICE destination, an investigation needs to be conducted on the factors and attributes affecting convention site decision making. Conventions can be hosted anywhere, which gives rise to competition among destinations in portraying themselves as the best destination. Because of this growing competition, it is imperative that an investigation be made into the factors that contribute best in site selection for MICE within the various destinations in India. Past studies have tried to shed light on identifying many factors, though there is still room for investigation and little is known on the relative importance of each factor. Convention and visitor bureaus (CVB’s) and destination management organisations (DMO’s) lack adequate knowledge for the competitive action in promoting their destination. As mentioned earlier, India is still in its growing stage and the factors and attributes constitute to be the foundation of any potential MICE destination needs to be investigated.
Literature Review
A close look at the available literature on the subject area has revealed that various studies has gone into understanding the MICE industry in various regions and about the fundamental factors and determinants that drive the industry.
“Determinants of Convention Site Selection: A Logistic Choice Model from Experimental Data”
Geoffrey I. Crouch and Jordan J. Louviere
Meetings and conventions sites are one of the most attractive segments of the travel and tourism market. Very little is known about the factors that determine how the site for a convention is chosen from among many different alternative destinations available. CVB’s and DMO’s lack adequate knowledge for competitive action. The study was based on the Australian domestic conventions industry. Study reveals that apart from critical factors like convention facilities and accommodation, a destination must offer additional features to compete efficiently.
The key questions were: what role do individual site attributes play in the site selection process? What is the relationship among attributes in the site selection process? How does the process differ as a function of association characteristics?
Despite the importance of this market, little research has been undertaken on its structure and working. Conventions and meetings research is for most part an untapped market. The convention site selection factors that were suggested are: accessibility, local support, extra conference opportunities, accommodation facilities, meeting facilities, information, site environment, other criteria like, risks, profitability, association promotion, novelty.
The sample was a database of 500 meeting planners, based on the membership of the meetings Industry Association of Australia.
The results of the study were: proximity of the convention participants to conference sites were highly significant; accommodation connected to or part of convention is highly desired; accessibility of accommodation site and local airport was unimportant; entertainment, shopping, sightseeing opportunities were significant; weather expected was not significant; cost of the convention venue is a major factor; site attractiveness generally declines as cost increases; lowest cost sites or ‘cheap’ sites signalled poor and unattractive convention facilities; convention venue facilities is an important determinant.
“Applying the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Approach to Convention Site Selection”
Ching-Fu Chen
Convention sector is one of the fastest growing and most lucrative areas of the tourism industry. Finding out the salient determinants in selecting or organizing a destination for convention is an important research topic. The study proposes the analytical hierarchy process (AHP); and with this approach it’s proved to be a useful tool to help support decision making in convention site selection.
The convention industry is globally recognized for its valuable economic contribution to tourism destinations and its significant growth potential (Dawyer 2002).
Conventions may be hosted almost anywhere in the world resulting in keen competition among potential host destination sites (Crouch and Louviere 2004).
The factors and attributes that influence the decision making in selecting a convention site is seen as a complex multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) problem.
Crouch and Ritchie (1998) had proposed a 5-step conceptual model for site selection process; which are: convention preplanning, site selection decision, convention held, and post convention evaluation.
The factors affecting the site selection decision can be broadly classified into site-specific and association factors (Weber and Chon 2002).
Limitations of the available literature
Considering the maturity of this industry, it is still an untapped market for researchers. In spite of the importance, only very little research has gone into the subject area which gives potential researchers the opportunity to explore and study this market segment in detail. This lack of information is posing a major handicap for CVB’s and DMO’s in making decisions regarding site selection for MICE. This poses a promising opportunity for researchers.
“The convention constitutes a rich, but fallow, field for research” Zelinsky (1994)
Research Questions
1. To identify the drivers that help in the decision making for the convention site selection in India.
2. To identify the differences in the attractiveness of potential convention destinations within India.
3. To identify the role of accommodation along with other factors in India.
Research Method
Qualitative research method will be used in the study with the help of:
v Primary data
o Questionnaires will be prepared and distributed to the main organisers and event planners
o Interviews will be conducted
v Secondary data
JOURNAL ARTICLE (electronic):
CHEN, C. 2006. Applying the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Approach to Convention Site Selection. Journal of Travel Research [online]. 45, [Accessed 09 May 2010], pp. 167-174. Available from: http://www.jtr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/45/2/167
CROUCH, G.I., J.J. LOUVIERE. 2004. The Determinants of Convention Site Selection: A Logistic Choice Model from Experimental Data. Journal of Travel Research [online]. 43, [Accessed 09 May 2010], pp. 118-130. Available from: http://jtr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/43/2/118
CROUCH, G.I., J.R.B. RITCHIE. 1997. Convention Site Selection Research: A Review, Conceptual Model, and Propositional Framework. Journal of Convention and Exhibition Management [online]. 1(1) [Accessed 11 May 2010], pp. 49-69. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J143v01n01_05
WEBSITE:
BEST INCENTIVE TOURS. 2009. MICE Tourism in India [online]. [Accessed 07 February 2010]. Available from:
http://www.bestincentivetours.com/mice/india/index.html
http://www.businesstravellerindia.com/200509/miceshowcase01.shtml Road Map of MICE Tourism [online]. [Accessed 06 February 2010]. Available from:
http://www.businesstravellerindia.com/200509/miceshowcase01.shtml
EXPRESS HOSPITALITY. 2007. A Slice of MICE [online]. [Accessed 05 February 2010]. Available from:
http://www.expresshospitality.com/20071031/management08.shtml
EXPRESS TRAVELWORLD. 2009. Incentivising MICE [online]. [Accessed 06 February 2010]. Available from:
http://www.expresstravelworld.com/20090531/management05.shtml
INCREDIBLE INDIA. 2004. MICE [online]. [Accessed 05 February 2010]. Available from: http://www.incredibleindia.org/newsite/cms_page.asp?pageid=866
MICE CONTACT. 2009. Accor to Woo MICE with Expanded Indian Portfolio [online]. [Accessed 07 February 2010]. Available from: http://mice-contact.com/news/detail/article/accor-to-woo.html
MICE CONTACT. 2009. Definition of MICE [online]. [Accessed 07 February 2010]. Available from: http://mice-contact.com/definition-of-mice.html
MICE POINT. 2009. What stands MICE for? [online]. [Accessed 06 February 2010]. Available from:
http://www.micepoint.com/AboutMICE/WhatstandsMICEfor/tabid/85/Default.aspx
TRAVEL DAILY NEWS. 2006. MICE Industry Trends & Markets [online]. [Accessed 08 February 2010]. Available from:
http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/20500-MICE-Industry-Trends&Markets
TRAVELLING IN INDIA. 2009. MICE Destinations in India [online]. [Accessed 05 February 2010]. Available from:
http://blog.travellinginindia.com/2009/07/mice-destinations-in-india.html
Dissertation Rationale “MICE Tourism and its Significance for Destination Promotion: An Investigation on India as a MICE Destination”