Newly independent China MICE Committee seeks new members to aid inbound promotion

CHINA MICE Committee (CMC), which acts as the country’s de factor CVB, is looking to expand its membership categories to include venues, convention hotels, cruise companies and other suppliers that support the industry.

Alica Yao, deputy secretary-general CMC, told TTGmice e-Weekly the association, now with 56 member companies primarily providing MICE travel services in each of China’s provinces, wants to target a grouping of 100 members.

“Apart from Tibet and Xinjiang, CMC is well represented in all of China’s provinces. CMC used to be an association under the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), but with the policy change regarding associations, it is now separate but still functions as a MICE promotion entity.

“We are also looking for members that provide audiovisual products and services, event companies as well as PR companies that can support the MICE industry,” she added.

For the last three years, CMC has been organising courses to train employees on the event business and how to attract business.

Yao commented: “As our association members so far are companies that provide travel services, we have been helping them stay one step ahead of the end-user.

“With the separation from CNTA in the middle of the year, we now have a bigger challenge to promote China. Of our members, only about 10 per cent are involved in inbound MICE.

“It will be challenging for CMC to continue to do the job of a CVB but a wider category of members, like the international chains, will be able to help promote the destination for incentives and other MICE events.”

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