What is the “MICE tourism”?
MICE tourism is business tourism that includes Meetings, Incentives, Congresses and Events. It is characterized by its seasonality (these trips occur without distinction throughout the year) and its great economic impact, since on average they generate 30% more spending than holiday or leisure tourists.
Since 1841, with the displacement of 540 people to the annual congress of the Antialcoholic Association, MICE tourism has not stopped growing and still has great potential for development.
Today, the MICE tourism industry moves 280 million people a year in the world, which represents a quarter of the world’s tourists. These numbers make MICE tourism one of the main sectors within the tourism industry.
Types of MICE events
- Meetings/Reuniones: Occasional business trips that are generated to have a face-to-face work meeting, they are usually sporadic and with a specific reason.
- Incentives: These offsite company trips are organized by a company for its own workers as motivation.
- Conventions: Private events of a company for its workers that are held for different reasons, usually training. Its duration usually ranges around 2 days.
- Exhibitions: Events with a cultural or commercial purpose in which a certain product is shown to the attendees.
- Congresses and fairs: Meetings or conferences for professionals from a specific guild. They usually last from two days to a week, and are usually regular meetings. The purpose of the fair is to present the products or services of each company looking for potential buyers, while the congresses have an educational and disseminating purpose.
- Seminar: Training seminars to professionalize specific processes of a company. Its duration ranges between 3 and 5 days and it is usually a periodic event.
Benefits of organizing a MICE event
For the companies:
Company trips improve the work environment and help build a strong work team. Offsite events tend to increase the motivation of workers thanks to breaking with the work routine, they help to strengthen interpersonal relationships both internally and between workers and clients, and encourage the exchange of ideas and projects. Organizing a MICE event will bring advantages to your company and its workers.
For the tourism sector:
The MICE sector is a dynamic element of tourism thanks to the following qualities:
Seasonality: This type of tourism is maintained throughout the year and allows business to be generated outside of the high seasons of summer and Christmas, which is when leisure tourism moves the most. It generates employment throughout the year both for hoteliers, hoteliers and other professionals in the sector as well as for event and travel agencies.
Average spending: The other key point of MICE tourism is the high level of average spending, which is 30% higher than that of leisure tourism. Business tourists activate the economy of the cities they visit by spending an average of 206 euros per day.
MICE sector in Spain
According to a recent study carried out at European level, Spain is the leading destination for receiving MICE tourism, followed by France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
The good climate, the cost-benefit ratio and the gastronomy are the aspects most valued by the MICE professionals, while other characteristics such as accessibility from other European countries, the landscape, the gastronomy, the attractiveness of the cities and the good environment, are the factors that make attendees value Spain as the best destination for MICE tourism.
Other points that are highly valued among professionals and attendees are innovation, sustainable solutions, easy access to information and reservations, and the importance of having our own technological and production teams instead of the event.
If we focus on cities, we see how Spain has two cities in the top 10 of the best destinations for business tourism, Barcelona occupying second place, and Madrid sixth.
- London
- Barcelona
- Berlin
- Amsterdam
- Paris
- Madrid
- Frankfurt
- Rome
- Munich
- Prague
Dextail, a MICE events agency
The current situation of the sector after the stoppage of the pandemic and in the context of the war in Ukraine, is being moderately positive since beyond the uncertainty and the logistical problems that are being caused, there are no significant cancellations or modifications of dates in scheduled events.
The MICE industry in Spain has great growth potential and must focus on innovation and sustainability.
At Dextail, we are specialized in organizing events for companies and business meetings, and we have extensive experience making a multitude of corporate events a success. We care about making events a sustainable experience and always keeping ourselves updated to encourage innovation.
Contact the Dextail team if you are thinking of organizing a business event outside your city and we will make sure it is a success.