The Bureau of Foreign Trade doubles MICE funding with a US$23 million boost, reports Prudence Lui
Taiwan’s MICE industry, struggling with the global downturn and infrastructure woes, welcomed some positive news as the central government announced more funds and manpower for MICE.
Taiwan relaunched its MICE Project Office and created a business events division to reel in large international conferences under a new four-year MICE development initiative.
The move follows the culmination of the island’s first four-year MICE development programme last December. This time around, the effort will be directed by the Bureau of Foreign Trade, which has created four subsidiaries to focus on different aspects of MICE development.
In addition to the business services division, the bureau relaunched the MICE Project Office, which is now headed by Ms Alice Chow, and has established subsidiaries for marketing and promotion, and also certification and training to respectively focus on winning bids for large conferences, promotions, international marketing and manpower development. According to Ms Chow, funding for this phase of the MICE project has been doubled to US$23 million as the government has come to appreciate the value of MICE in generating revenue. “My office co-ordinates the efforts of government agencies and private sectors in setting up a research centre (and is also) focusing on integrating and promoting the government’s policies nationally. In the first phase, a lot of effort was made to build up a network with international organisations and promote business. What makes this phase special is the introduction of a business events service, which aims at pulling in more international meetings to Taiwan through bidding,” she said.
Taiwan’s MICE sector made visible strides in 2007: its ICCA ranking jumped from 40 to 18 and its country ranking was 29. Its six key exhibition centres hosted 203 exhibitions last year, and 126 international meetings were held in 2008 compared with 123 the previous year.
But the global economic slowdown is taking its toll on the industry, in particular incentive travel.
Swire International Travel Services, which specialises in corporate travel, estimated MICE now accounted for 10 per cent of its overall business. General manager, Mr Norman Meng, said: “We used to have our tailor-made products before the economic crunch. Now, we push some ready-made packages for the domestic market because international corporates are foregoing overseas incentive trips. Cross-strait flights may help with numbers but the immediate benefit cannot be felt at this early stage. I reckon things will step up when mainland carriers fully establish themselves here with branch offices and networks.”
Taiwan Convention and Exhibition Association chairman, Mr Michael Tu, echoed the sentiment: “China is a huge market. We now should work on our foundation and prepare for the market. For instance, it is important to focus on building more five-star hotels, convention and banquet facilities. Depending on current demand, our existing inventory won’t be sufficient in the long-term. Whenever there is any big event, hotels fill up easily. Look at Taipei World Trade Center, which has an average usage rate of more than 90 per cent. During exhibition periods, Grand Hyatt Taipei raises its rates by 50 per cent – this goes to show the supply and demand is very tight.”
On the positive side, the island’s 2009 events calendar could potentially provide the island with an international platform as Kaohsiung and Taipei are gearing up to host the World Games in July and Summer Deaflympics 2009 in September. Both events are expected to draw thousands of athletes and spectators. In Kaohsiung, a 15,000-seat arena and 40,000-seat main stadium were built for the games.
Another feather in Taiwan’s MICE cap was its recent success in outbidding Thailand and China for the UFI Open Seminar in Asia at Taipei International Convention Center in March 2010 (see Talk of the trade, TTGmice April).
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