Playing to win
in the meetings
industry game
How the GCC
can become a
meetings hub
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2
Strategy&
Executive summary
The meetings industry is one of the most lucrative niches within
tourism. Businesspeople who travel to a country to attend a trade show or
conference tend to spend far more than other travelers. Yet the economic
value associated with meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions
(known by the acronym MICE) is far from equally distributed. Most such
events are held in either Europe or North America, allowing Western
countries and cities to benefit disproportionately and leaving developing
countries with a small slice of the pie.
Developing countries are in an excellent position to compete for more of
the market. This is especially true of many Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC)1 countries, because of their growing trade activity, their
“crossroads of the world” location, and their increasing status as
prospecting spots for business travelers generally.
The GCC countries are
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and
the United Arab Emirates.
1
Strategy&
Gulf countries that want to increase their MICE business should use a
three-step approach: assess the MICE tourism ecosystem; forge a strategy
to win more MICE business; and develop a governance model for MICE
tourism efforts. The countries that do these things fastest and most
skillfully have an excellent chance of seeing their meetings business
increase sharply in the next few years.
3
The meetings tourism
opportunity
With global tourism set to grow rapidly over the next couple of decades,
many emerging markets have developed strategies to increase their
appeal to leisure tourists. By contrast, the efforts that most countries have
made to attract business tourists are nowhere near as comprehensive.
The reason is that businesspeople tend to travel to places where they
already have customers, partners, or prospects with whom they want to
meet. A country that does not have those attributes to begin with is not
going to receive many foreign business visitors. There is, however, one
exception — namely, a country that positions itself as a good place for
large-scale meetings, conventions, and exhibitions. This is different from
traditional business tourism as it involves large group arrivals for often
high-profile events, as opposed to individuals traveling for work-related
meetings.
This part of business tourism consists of meetings, incentives,
conventions, and exhibitions (MICE), also known as the meetings
tourism market. The formal definition of a MICE event is that it includes
at least 10 participants, takes place in a paid meetings venue, and lasts
four hours or more, that is, at least half a business day (see “The
components of MICE,” page 5).
Currently, only about 5 percent of the travelers arriving in countries in
any given year fall into the MICE category. Yet these travelers spend more
than other tourists, staying at the luxury hotels where meetings often
take place and dining at expensive restaurants, which makes them more
desirable customers. In Las Vegas, which is one of the U.S.’s most popular
cities for meetings, the average MICE tourist spends US$174 a day, versus
$148 for other tourists. The potential of the MICE market is evident in the
fact that MICE tourists account for about $11 of every $100 that tourists
spend — a disproportionately high figure compared to the 5 percent of
tourist arrivals they represent.
4
Strategy&
The components of MICE
Event type
Description
Examples
Meetings
Gatherings open only to
employees or representatives of
a specific organization. They are
typically small in scale — often
not much bigger than the 10
person minimum to qualify as a
MICE event — and oriented
around a specific business
function.
A meeting that a car
manufacturer may hold off-site
to discuss its plan for launching
a significant new product. Board
of directors meetings held
off-site also fit into this
category.
Incentives
Events typically held to reward
employees for excellent
performance
An all-expenses-paid trip to
Monte Carlo that a leading
global company may offer to its
100 highest-producing
salespeople
Conventions
Get-togethers that are focused
on sharing expertise or
exchanging ideas. There are
actually three types. Congresses
allow delegates or members of
an association to convene for a
specific purpose. Corporate
conferences let companies
convey messages, share best
practices, or open a debate.
Non-corporate conferences serve
the same function as corporate
conferences but have different
stakeholders, such as
government policymakers.
The 26th Congress of the
International Association of
Individual Psychology, held in
Paris in July 2014, was an
example of a congress. A
leadership forum for a company
would be an example of a
corporate conference. The 3rd
GCC Government Social Media
Summit (held in Dubai in
September 2014) was an
example of a non-corporate
conference.
Exhibitions
A show of products and services
for a specific industry.
Business-to-business (B2B)
exhibitions are usually by
invitation only and give
professionals the chance to gather
information and do some
networking. Business-to-consumer
(B2C) exhibitions are open to all
and give companies a chance to
showcase their products.
CeBIT, the computer-industry
show in Hannover, Germany, is
an example of a B2B exhibition;
the Consumer Electronics Show
in Las Vegas is an example of a
B2C exhibition
Strategy&
Source: Strategy& analysis
5
Moreover, MICE events can be scheduled for times of year when leisure
tourism is slow, countering the cyclicality of a city’s tourism trade. This is
one of the ways that MICE events are used in Las Vegas (see Exhibit 1).
Despite the potential of the meetings market, most emerging economies
have not developed a good understanding of this part of the tourism
industry. Nor do they have a well-considered strategy for getting a larger
share of the pie. Those gaps have contributed to a situation in which
emerging markets lag far behind the West in terms of MICE market share.
Only about 2 percent of all the exhibitions in the world take place in the
Middle East, and only about 4 percent take place in South America. By
contrast, Europe and North America, combined, are home to more than
80 percent of the world’s exhibitions, according to the most recent data.
Still, that imbalance reveals an opportunity. There is a large share of
MICE business just waiting to come to emerging markets, including the
GCC, if these countries improve their tactics and their position in the
meetings market.
Exhibit 1
MICE tourism in Las Vegas is counter cyclical to leisure tourism
MICE Tourists and Other Tourists in Las Vegas, 2012
3,200
3,100
3,000
Number of Tourists (in ’000s )
2,900
2,800
+30%
2,700
2,600
2,500
500
400
-72%
300
200
100
0
Jan
Feb
Other Tourists
MICE Tourists
6
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Source: Las Vegas
Convention & Visitors
Authority; Strategy&
analysis
Strategy&
The MICE tourism ecosystem
and success factors
The MICE ecosystem comprises four parts (see Exhibit 2). The first is the
basic set of MICE products. The second part consists of MICE services.
The third part is composed of the MICE sector-enablers, and the fourth
part is MICE sector-system enablers.
Exhibit 2
The MICE ecosystem is composed of four areas encompassing a range of key components and
subcomponents
MICE Area
MICE products
Components
Sample Subcomponents
Meetings
Meetings
Incentives
Incentives
Conventions
Congresses
Conferences
Exhibitions
Trade shows
Consumer shows
Core services
Event management
services
Transport & access
services
Lodging & food services
Ancillary services
Culture
Sports
Sun & beach
Health & wellness
Nature
Urban
MICE services
MICE sector-enablers
MICE industry planning
MICE destination promotion & marketing
MICE sales & facilitation
MICE research & statistics
Security
MICE sectorsystem enablers
Health and safety
Environmental sustainability
Infrastructure
Source: Strategy& analysis
Strategy&
7
MICE products attract MICE tourists to a country. What enables countries
and cities to develop their MICE product offering and compete in the MICE
tourism market? For starters, they need clear strength in some area of
economic endeavor. MICE tourism tends to be correlated with the level of
trade in a country and built around a country’s trade and economic
activities (see Exhibit 3). For instance, the countries that produce the most
meetings, conventions, and incentives tourists for Madrid — the U.S., U.K.,
France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal — are also Spain’s six most important
export partners. Thailand’s, Taiwan’s, and Canada’s top export categories
are also among their top exhibition topics — respectively, agriculture and
food, electronic components, and natural resources. Silicon Valley plays
host to dozens of major technology meetings each year and hundreds of
smaller ones, in part because so many technology companies have their
headquarters or large operations in the area.
Besides being able to stake a claim to an industry, regions looking to increase
their MICE-related tourism need meeting-worthy facilities. These could be
convention or exhibition centers, hotel meeting spaces, or unconventional
venues such as museums, historic buildings, or universities.
MICE services refers to core services and ancillary services. Core services
consist mainly of intermediaries that know how to bid for meetings, plan
events as they approach, and handle on-site logistics. These
intermediaries include professional congress organizers (PCOs), firms
that arrange meetings for international associations; destination
management companies (DMCs), which specialize in event logistics for
corporate events; and exhibition organizers, companies that identify the
opportunity for, create, and then organize exhibitions. Core services also
include transport, lodging, and food services. Moreover, as
businesspeople attending meetings also have an interest in leisure
activities, it helps if there are entertainment or recreational services near
the meeting locations. Indeed, some countries have built these ancillary
services, such as integrated resorts where businesspeople can meet
during the day and go to art galleries, high-end shopping malls, and
gourmet restaurants at night. Resorts World Sentosa, off the south coast
of Singapore, is an example.
MICE tourism
tends to be
correlated with
the level of trade
in a country and
built around a
country’s trade
and economic
activities.
MICE sector-enablers refers to a variety of different factors. Planning is an
important one. Countries usually tie their MICE plans to their long-term
national tourism strategy. In terms of marketing, countries and cities
align their MICE brands with their overarching destination brands, and
do extensive promotion to try to get meeting and convention organizers
to hold events at their venues. In locations such as Singapore, Glasgow,
and Dubai, convention bureaux provide services across the entire MICE
product-development value chain. Their involvement tends to be highest
in the prospecting phase and lower in the event-planning and eventexecution stages, when event-management companies often take over.
8
Strategy&
Many convention bureaux also engage in subvention such as through
financial grants. For instance, the Business Events in Singapore Fund
provides financial backing, enabling Singapore to compete for
strategically important MICE events. Convention bureaux and central
tourism planning entities (CTPEs) can also gather statistics and do
targeted research to help destinations see how they are performing with
MICE tourists and improve the effectiveness of their tourism-related
marketing.
The ecosystem’s fourth part, MICE sector-system enablers, refers to a
nation’s handling of security, health and safety, environmental
sustainability, and infrastructure. These enablers support more than just
the tourism sector; they are important to a country’s overall ability to
compete for international business.
Exhibit 3
There is a strong correlation between a country’s trade and the
number of inbound MICE tourists
MICE Tourists versus Trade1
1,600
Hong Kong
1,400
d(
MICE Tourists (in ’000s)
1,400
n
Tre
n/
io
t
ela
orr
U.K.
C
UAE
1,200
)
2%
6
R=
2
Saudi Arabia
1,000
Thailand
Spain
800
Netherlands
600
Total trade is the sum of
the country’s merchandise
imports and exports in
absolute value.
1
Sweden
400
200
Oman
0
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Total Trade (in US$ billions)
Strategy&
900
1,00
1,100 1,200
Source: United Nations
Statistics Division; World
Bank; convention bureaux’
websites; Strategy&
analysis
9
Advantages and hurdles as the
GCC looks to become more of a
MICE destination
The GCC has made progress as a destination for business travel. Total
business-tourist arrivals in the GCC reached around 10 million in
2012, representing growth of more than 5 percent annually from
2009 (see Exhibit 4).
Exhibit 4
There is strong growth in business tourism in some GCC states
Business Tourist Arrivals in the GCC, 2009–2012 (CAGR, Total in Millions of Trips,
% Share by Country)
+5%
8.6
4%
5%
4%
10.0
3%
8%
3%
23%
33%
26%
26%
37%
28%
2009
2012
CAGR by Country, 2009–2012
Kuwait
Oman
Qatar
Bahrain
UAE
Saudi Arabia
10
2%
-3%
19%
-7%
5%
16%
Source: Euromonitor;
Strategy& analysis
Strategy&
Although precise numbers are hard to come by, it is clear that business
travelers in the GCC represent an unusually high percentage of total
tourist arrivals. Whereas business tourists account for fewer than one in
five tourist arrivals around the world, in the GCC as a whole the
proportion of business tourists is higher — probably closer to one-third of
all tourist arrivals. In Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait, for example, the
majority of tourist arrivals are business-related. Of the GCC countries,
the UAE has the most robust MICE business (see Exhibit 5). The UAE has
turned itself into the region’s most important travel hub — Dubai
international airport recently surpassed Heathrow as the world’s busiest2
— and the increasing range and quality of the UAE’s leisure offerings has
also increased that country’s popularity as a place for meetings.
Airports Council
International, “International
Passenger Traffic for past
12 months, 12-MONTHS
ENDING JUL 2014”
(updated monthly; http://
tinyurl.com/c7aqqew.
2
Exhibit 5
GCC MICE tourists represent more than a third of all business travelers
MICE Tourists in the GCC (in Thousands of Trips, 2012)
1,100–1,300
~3,300–4,000
1,000–1,300
750–900
200–250
100–120
MICE
Penetration
Estimates1
110–130
Oman
Kuwait
Qatar
Bahrain
Saudi Arabia
UAE
Total
34%–40%
33%–39%
26%–32%
33%–39%
27%–34%
43%–50%
~33%–40%
MICE penetration refers
to the number of MICE
tourists out of all business
tourists.
1
Source: Middle East
TravTalk; Euromonitor;
Strategy& analysis
Strategy&
11
The competitive advantage of a central geographic location is not
limited to the UAE; to some extent, every other GCC country has it as
well. In all, GCC countries have five competitive advantages as MICE
destinations. In addition to their central geographic locations, GCC
countries also have advantages because of their considerable trade
activity and expanding economic and corporate bases; their stable
political systems; and a host of emerging ancillary services (such as
restored ancient sites and rapidly improving museums). Finally, many
GCC countries have new, technologically advanced meeting facilities
that can host sizable gatherings. For instance, the square footage of
Dubai’s largest indoor exhibition center exceeds Hong Kong’s largest
indoor space by more than 40 percent. At its base configuration, Doha’s
largest auditorium seats more people than the largest auditoria in
London, Paris, or Madrid (see Exhibit 6).
Exhibit 6
GCC countries have a developed MICE infrastructure, notably in terms of convention and
exhibition space
Total Indoor Exhibition Space (in ’000 m3)
Capacity of Largest Auditorium (in Number of Seats)
3,800
Number of exhibition centers
1
1
1
3,200
901
Dubai
Abu
Dhabi
55
Doha
43
2,242
30
Riyadh Kuwait Manama
184
94
77
40
2,160
14
Indoor Space per Largest Exhibition Center (in ’000 m3)
66
2,500
15
30
London
Hong
Kong
77
3,000
Madrid
Las
Vegas
127
Doha
152
2,671
Glasgow
2
Barcelona
1
Paris
2
Dubai2
3
Abu
Dhabi1
6
3,723
14
The Abu Dhabi auditorium
can be extended with
temporary seating to fit
6,000 people in total.
1
Las
Vegas
Hong
Kong
Dubai
Abu
Dhabi
Doha
Riyadh Kuwait Manama
The Dubai auditorium can
be extended to fit 4,500
people.
2
Source: UFI; Strategy&
analysis
12
Strategy&
However, the region also faces many challenges as a meetings
destination. On the product side, the challenges include a high
concentration of MICE tourists from other GCC countries. A person
traveling to an exhibition in Doha is far more likely to be from the UAE
or Saudi Arabia than from Germany or Australia. The advantage of
travelers from further away is that they are likely to spend more and
stay longer. There is also a limited market for congresses, the exchange
of ideas organized by international associations, because there is not a
great amount of local participation in such associations in the GCC. The
number of memberships that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and Qatar
have in international associations is lower than the number in most
other countries (see Exhibit 7).
Exhibit 7
GCC countries have limited participation in international associations
Participation in International Associations (Number of Members1)
13,218
12,263
10,337
8,517
2,090
2,030
Saudi Jordan
Arabia
1,802
UAE
7,518
6,944
6,578
5,655
5,278
2,344
1,004
979
Oman
Qatar
Middle East
949
Yemen France Germany U.S.
Europe
Canada Australia Japan
North
America
Asia
Pacific
Brazil Argentina South Algeria
Africa
South
Africa
America
Indicates number
of members, whether
individuals or national
branches or independent
organizations or companies
or any of the other many
variants of membership,
with no distinction between
the different types of
organization.
1
Source: UIA; Strategy&
analysis
Strategy&
13
In addition, there is not much use of unconventional venues in the GCC.
An alternative energy or healthcare official attending a congress in
Madrid can expect to go to an event at the Thyssen-Bornemisza
Museum and to be surrounded by fine art. In Vienna, a day spent at a
conference might be followed by an evening gala at the
Niederösterreich Palace, with its rich history and great Gothic and
Renaissance architecture. By contrast, it is unlikely that congress
attendees in the GCC will find themselves guided to a similarly
impressive location. Most GCC countries do not think about their
unconventional venues in this way yet.
On the service side, the GCC also faces challenges. The UAE has a
couple dozen internationally active PCOs and DMCs, but no other GCC
country has these critical intermediaries in anything like the same
numbers. The GCC’s venues tend to have low accessibility because of
poor public transportation systems. Hotels in the GCC have not really
become involved in promoting the region as a MICE destination. Also,
with the exception of Oman and the UAE, these countries do not have
the ancillary leisure products that add pleasure to a business trip and
that can make the difference in a businessperson’s decision to travel to a
far-flung destination. The leisure-product issue also explains why Oman
and the UAE are basically the only GCC countries that ever serve as
incentive destinations.
Finally, there is an absence of MICE sector-enablers. These include a
lack of MICE-related statistics and of a MICE brand identity. Many
countries do not regularly exhibit at key international MICE trade
shows, such as IMEX America in Las Vegas. Although most GCC
countries now have dedicated MICE bureaux, they often do not get
involved in prospecting and event-planning activities.
Exacerbating these problems are some more systemic issues linked to
sector-system enablers, such as the difficulty of obtaining visas in the
GCC. Of the 140 countries looked at by the World Economic Forum in
2013, every GCC country except the UAE was bottom-quartile in terms
of the restrictiveness of its visa policies.
14
Strategy&
A structured approach to
capturing more MICE market
share
An emerging market that wants to improve its position as a MICE
tourism destination has to take three steps: assess the MICE tourism
ecosystem; forge a strategy to win more MICE business; and develop a
governance model for MICE tourism efforts.
1. Assess the MICE tourism ecosystem.
Understanding the existing ecosystem components in the country and
comparing them with international benchmarks can help a country
determine the strengths and weaknesses of its own MICE ecosystem.
For example, in developed markets, intermediaries and suppliers
support core MICE services such as event management services and
transport and lodging, and ancillary services such as cultural
excursions and outings to sports venues. Moreover, the activities of
best-practice MICE bureaux, such as in Barcelona, Vienna, and
Singapore, provide useful insights into the development of the
important sector-enablers, namely MICE industry planning; MICE
destination promotion and marketing; MICE sales and facilitation;
and MICE research and statistics.
Strategy&
15
2. Forge a strategy to win more MICE business.
In which types of MICE events and in what topic areas does a country
have the best chance of competing? Coming up with an answer to this
nitty-gritty question is essential if a country is to figure out what its
MICE bureau should be doing and the high-impact programs it should
be undertaking to support its strategy.
From a practical standpoint, countries do not usually get involved in
meetings and incentives, which are typically spearheaded by privatesector companies. For the other two categories of events, exhibitions
and conventions, countries can weigh their strategic options by
putting everything in quantitative terms. They can use key assessment
criteria — such as attractiveness, readiness, and competitive intensity
— for making topic-oriented decisions (for a hypothetical example of
this approach, see Exhibit 8, page 17).
Attractiveness factors in to a range of matters. These include, but are
not limited to, the number of tourists that could conceivably be drawn
by a certain topic, the dollar amount the tourists would spend, and
the fit of the topic with the country’s national agenda and strategic
priorities.
Readiness measures the current number of tourists for a given topic,
the fit of the topic with the current trade and economic activity of the
country (mainly for exhibitions), and the availability of international
associations around the topic (mainly for conventions).
Once it knows
where it wants
to focus, the
MICE bureau
has to decide on
a strategic play.
Competitive intensity is a gauge of whether other countries in the
region are in a position to offer the same things as the destination.
Once it knows where it wants to focus, the MICE bureau has to decide
on a strategic play. This means deciding whether it will try to turn the
country into a destination for smaller events or larger events, and/or
for regional or international events, and how it will capture a larger
share of the events it wants to host. For that, the country can try to
create new events or persuade the license holders of existing events to
hold their meetings in its domain. The decision of whether to be an
incubator of new meetings or a buyer/cloner of existing ones will
hinge on the likely effectiveness of those different strategies and on
how easy each is to implement.
16
Strategy&
Exhibit 8
Determining where to invest
High
High-Level Analysis Indicates That the Country Should Focus on Conventions and Exhibitions
Attractiveness
I
Conventions
Exhibitions
II
Relative size of the bubble
reflects relative market size
III
Incentives
High competition
Meetings
Moderate competition
Low
Low competition
Readiness
Low
High
High
Electronics, Components, IT and
Telecommunications
Primary
focus
For Example, the Same Criteria Are Used to Determine Which Types of Exhibitions Are Likely to Be the Most
Successful
Electronics, Components,
Medical and Healthcare
Industrial/Heavy Machinery
DCS/Sporting Goods/
Travel/Amusement
Secondary focus
Attractiveness
Agriculture,
Forestry, Fishery
Consumer Goods
and Retail Trade
Education
Building/Construction/Home and Repair
Security, Fire Safety, Defense
Readiness
Consumer Goods and Retail Trade
Industrial and Heavy Machinery
Education
Food and Beverage, Hospitality
High
Security, Fire Safety, Defense
Tertiary focus
Business Services
Low
Low
Medical and Healthcare
Energy, Oil, Gas, Chemicals
Energy/Oil/Gas/Chemicals
Real Estate
Transportation
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishery
Transportation
Food and Beverage, Hospitality
IT and Telecommunications
DCS,1 Sporting Goods, Travel, Amusement
Real Estate
Business Services
Building, Construction, Home and Repair
Relative size of the bubble
reflects relative market size
High competition
Moderate competition
Low competition
Strategy&
Discretionary consumer
services.
1
Source: Strategy& analysis
17
With all of these inputs and analysis in place, it should also be possible
to build a comprehensive MICE tourism model, with targets for tourist
arrivals, number of events per type, expected revenues, and an
understanding of what it all means in terms of infrastructure
requirements and investments. This would be followed by a
socioeconomic impact assessment, which would evaluate the effect of
MICE tourism on GDP and employment.
3. Develop a governance model for MICE tourism efforts.
Countries have to decide how they want to institutionalize their respective
MICE bureaux. There are four basic models. Some destinations have made
their MICE bureaux part of their central tourism planning entities (as Abu
Dhabi and Singapore have done) or their tourism promotion agencies (as
Madrid and Vienna have done). Some developing countries such as India
and Malaysia where MICE is a nascent offering at the national level have
formed a dedicated MICE body under the control of their ministries of
tourism or trade. In developed countries where MICE events are an
economic priority on a local level, the MICE bureau is often a stand-alone
entity formed as a partnership between the public and private sectors. This
is the case in two Australian cities — Sydney and Melbourne. In cities such
as New York and Las Vegas where MICE events are already well
established, there may be no dedicated MICE entity at all. In these
locations the responsibility for different MICE-sector functions is
distributed among different units within tourism entities.
In developed countries, the private sector typically manages exhibitions.
MICE bureaux in these countries call themselves “convention bureaux”
and keep to that line of business. In countries where MICE is an emerging
priority, MICE bureaux typically have an important role in all four types
of MICE gatherings, so it is much more likely that they also will have the
word “exhibition” in their names. Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore all
call their MICE departments “convention and exhibition bureaux.”
Countries have
to decide how
they want to
institutionalize
their respective
MICE bureaux.
Most MICE destinations have only one major exhibition or convention
center, and they can be owned or managed publicly, privately, or through
a public–private partnership. In situations where a destination has
several convention centers, those that are government-owned are
generally owned by the same entity, to increase coordination.
One thing that is different in the GCC is the need to get a license from the
government before staging many types of MICE events. This requirement
generally does not exist for MICE events elsewhere. GCC countries also
shy away from allowing private membership in their MICE bureaux. By
contrast, convention bureaux in London, Madrid, and Orlando, Florida,
have already taken this step and let the private sector in.
18
Strategy&
Conclusion
MICE events are a highly promising niche within tourism — and should
be the core of any business tourism strategy pursued by policymakers.
Yet, MICE remains an underdeveloped opportunity in the GCC. Despite
the start that some GCC countries have made with their MICE
initiatives, they can do more to deepen their involvement in this
lucrative tourism subsector. Many of the challenges are amenable to
policy changes and may disappear in the face of better practices. What
is important is to use a structured approach that will allow the GCC to
develop the great potential of its meetings tourism business and win a
greater share of the meetings market.
Strategy&
19
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