Meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions tourism (MICE tourism) is a type of tourism that involves large groups and it is usually planned and paid for well in advance.
This year, Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) Tourism is on track to break the record of 300,000 events observed in 2019, according to the firm Ifahto.
This has been possible to a large extent, due to the participation of firms specialized in the sector, which serve growth with innovative solutions, it indicated.
This event-organizing company relies on statistics from the Mexican Meetings Industry Council (Comir) which has already reported a recovery in the number of events registered in the country.
This sector was one of the most affected by the health contingency since in 2020, it reported a contraction of 95%, which has only been able to be overcome by the resilience of companies and their importance to the economy, according to the Council.
Meeting tourism contributes up to 1.8% of GDP per year
According to the Ministry of Tourism, this activity contributes between 1.5 and 1.8% of GDP per year and is important because each meeting traveler has a 20 to 35% higher income than one who travels only for recreation, in addition to the fact that the income from MICE tourism also takes place during low demand seasons, which generates useful economic income for destinations all year round.
Knowing this, ifahto says it is more than committed to the meeting tourism industry, its collaborators, and its clients, which is why in its three decades of existence it has strengthened its infrastructure to organize events and has included the latest technical and technological advances in its service offering to create memorable experiences.
Its founders, Nacho and Fer Famanía Gastélum, have the goal of becoming part of the Top 3 of the best Meeting Planners in Mexico. Looking ahead, this company has ambitious plans for the rest of 2024 and 2025, by promoting new specialized units such as MeetingPlanner, Engage360, ifahto WorldWide, and ifahto SOStenible, efforts aimed at responding to current market demands.
It turns out that the sector revived after the pandemic, but it adjusted since the American Express report on the activity asserts that this year the recovery is such that 59% of the events will be in person and another 20% hybrid, leaving only 21% of MICE tourism in the virtual mode.
The company sees greater potential in Health meeting tourism and also in that linked to Sports, which is why it opened its Cognfy area to better serve these areas.
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