The Future of MICE business

MICE should be a local economy partner.

20 years have passed with the domestic MICE industry being called a new growth engine in Korea. The number of international conferences has increased by more than 10% annually, making Korea the world's one of best country for international conferences. Furthermore, approximately 20 convention centers will be built across the countrywide in 2-3 years, and it will create about 500,000sqm of exhibition spaces and we need more than 1,300 tradeshows to fill the spaces. There might be still huge business opportunities in MICE industry.

But in the wake of the Covid-19, things are going too badly to predict the future of the MICE industry with optimism, as exhibitions continue to be canceled or postponed this year, and rental size of exhibition halls for the next year has been gradually decreasing. Even the variables that KDI(Korea Development Institute) presented as the basis for the feasibility of constructing the KINTEX phase 3 or the 100,000 sqm exhibition center in Jamsil should be fully reviewed at this point, and if the variables are reviewed, the results of the preliminary feasibility study of the MICE facilities in Goyang and Jamsil should be completely revised. If the hybrid era combined with online approaches, there is no need for a huge offline exhibition hall. This is a common phenomenon manifested not only in convention centers but also in all offline commercial spaces such as shopping malls and banks, etc.

In an era where access to Zoom brings long-distance attendees to my room at once, the MICE industry seems to find it hard to do business in the same way it used to. With G-Star, the largest game show in Korea, being held online, the booth design companies lost its work at once, while video-conference and IT companies are suddenly emerging as key companies in the MICE industry. Is the 20-year-old growth coming to an end now?

MICE business will perish if it fails to become the main player of the local economy.

Is it because of Covid-19 or is it a matter of inherent competitiveness that the MICE industry is facing a crisis? If Covid-19 is a problem, it would be right to endure the current era, and if it is a loss of competitiveness, it should look back on the nature of the industry. The countermeasures of covid-19 are being prepared by the government, so I'd better talk about the inherent competitiveness of the industry itself.

The reason why the MICE industry is in the spotlight is because it is a business where people gather. What happens when people get together? Ideas are exchanged, funds are collected, and insights into new businesses. The MICE industry is the starting point of industrial development as a spark for generating economic power.

But MICE participants are no longer gathered for just getting information or for funding. They participate in the event to experience the unique space, local restaurants, and local culture of the city they visit. Everything they encounter should be an experience that makes them special, and they will only move when MICE creates new experiences. This is because there is already enough opportunity to simply acquire information online and Zoom in. MICE business, which has no special experience, will no longer have a reason for existence in an era when everything is connected.

Moreover, if the MICE industry should exist as a motivation for a new business, MICE should participate as a member of the local economy. The reason for its existence is only when it supports its role in drawing new investment, creating jobs and attracting companies. Already in Cleveland and many other cities, the CVB and DMO are extending its definition from MICE or tourist attraction to urban marketing organizations for corporate attraction and job creation. CVB is at the heart of the business cycle. It means that where people want to visit, where they want to live, where they want to work, and where they want to visit again. Think of the questions that companies ask the city for the relocation of headquarters or factories. "Where do people live? What do people eat? What do people do when they are not working? Where do people wander in that area?" These questions are similar to the questions that meeting planners ask to select the venue for the MICE event. When Amazon in the U.S. is about to relocate its second headquarters, it has to face up to the fact that many cities worked with CVB or DMO to attract. MICE and tourism are at a time when it is necessary to create new economic value in cooperation with local economic chambers and businesses.

Cleveland CVB takes a role for creating local business opportunities

But what about Korea? What function of the city is wrong when foreign companies do not enter Songdo International City in Incheon, leaving only foreign-only apartments empty and, in the end, enacting a special law to switch to the sale of Koreans? Do companies come in simply because cities have clean roads and well-built apartments, hotels and convention centers? When people do not understand the settlement environment and are inexperienced in urban marketing, this is the same phenomenon that can happen elsewhere as well as in Songdo.

Let's not just look at MICE as a means of holding meetings and promoting tourists. Although the MICE industry is bringing about urban development, it should not be forgotten that if MICE participants fail to stay in the city, it will only be a one-time visit. When MICE visitors want to live in a city they've visited and want to work in, MICE can play its role as a front-line striker in revitalizing the local economy that attracts people. It is important to know that the reason for the development of Germany's exhibition industry is that it has helped to meet excellent hidden champions (strong and small companies) from different provinces and to interact with key players in the industry. Korea MICE industry can be recognized as the main industry following the semiconductor, display and bio industries when excellent personnel in the MICE industry can participate as the main players of local economic development contributing to the creation of local businesses, not just focusing on the operation of meetings and holding exhibitions.