The Korea MICE Expo 2025 (KME2025), billed as the largest business events gathering in the country, opened this afternoon at COEX, Seoul.
KME’s theme this year is Meaningful Impact Connects Everyone, and includes an exhibition, business meetings, and conferences. The exhibition hall sees the participation of all 17 metropolitan and local governments of Korea, joining forces with their respective local MICE alliances to conduct joint marketing initiatives.
Danny Hyundae Shin, chairman of Korea MICE Association (KMA), said that Seoul is already a popular destination for both business events and leisure tourists, hence KMA is working with local governments to spread the benefits of business events further afield.
Over the next three days, KME 2025 will welcome more than 5,000 domestic and international business events professionals, and feature 30 exhibition booths and 200 buyers. Of the 200, half are international buyers, all of whom are verified decision-makers with actual plans to host events in Asia within the next three years.
On the increase of international buyers this year, Shin said: “We took over the organisation of KME (from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korea Tourism Organization (KTO)) in 2023. We feel that that now is the right time to advertise KME to international markets, because they will be main buyers and visitors to South Korea.”
The top inbound markets for business events – in no particular order – is currently China, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore, he shared.
International buyers attending KME2025 can experience South Korea’s culture through two extensions: the Seoul Night Tour (supported by KTO) for after-dark city charm, followed by a two-day post-tour exploring Gunsan, Gwangju, and Gangneung, hosted by local convention bodies.
Meanwhile, domestic buyers hail from 45 organisations, and represent a diverse mix of academic, societies, associations, and corporates. In all, a total of nearly 4,000 business meetings is expected to take place.
KME 2025 is also co-located with the Korea Expo Expo, and will also host the 2025 MICE Joint Academic Conference. The conference programme is structured around two key concepts – MICE Wave and Open Session. MICE Wave focuses on Impactful MICE Planning to lead new trends and emerging concepts, while the Open Session will feature collaborative sessions with partners, pitching sessions for innovative business events tech/services, and focused training for all professional levels.
Following the successful conclusion of APEC South Korea 2025 in Gyeongju last week, Shin expressed hope that hosting such a large-scale event will serve as a powerful testament to the nation’s capability to successfully manage major international gatherings for the business event industry.
“For 2026, I believe the Korean MICE industry will shine even more brightly,” Shin stated.
