TravTalk India Online Magazine
Post-pandemic M!CE will be dominated by hybrid events, technological advancements and making sure that clients get to experience the hospitality and ease of doing meetings and conferences wherever they are, before we reach pre-pandemic levels, which may not be before 2023.
Nisha Verma
For Rohit Chopra, Regional Director of Sales & Distribution, Accor India & South Asia, the start of 2021 was encouraging. “We received queries for small meetings, especially from few sectors like pharmaceuticals, automobiles, fertilizer industries, etc. We had a promising pipeline till March, but the second wave brought us back to a standstill. Presently, with unlocking and easing of restrictions, we are seeing some positive trends, but there is still a lot of uncertainty because of the fear of the third wave and certain state guidelines. Corporates are on wait-and-watch mode as the situation is dynamic.”
Arif Patel, Regional Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Hyatt India, suggests that in 2021, the industry needs to consider a new, emerging audience that they must cater to, where safety, security and cleanliness will be critical concerns for planners and travellers. “Event planners will seek venues that prioritise health and safety. Here, preparing for hybrid events will be an important step in this direction to ensure guest safety is being considered seriously.
Pushpendra Bansal, COO – Lords Hotels and Resorts, shares that the MICE segment was one of the first areas of travel & tourism to be hit by the global pandemic and will be the last to recover. “While large events and conclaves are restricted, small-scale events and corporate meetings will provide some respite. The focus is currently on domestic market since international travel restrictions are still in place. Besides intimate gatherings we have also seen increased requirements for hybrid events that combine both in-person and virtual experiences.”
However, Chopra adds, “We strongly believe that nothing can replace face-to-face meetings and with more people getting vaccinated, those meetings will return in a gradual manner. Till the time that happens, virtual and hybrid event concepts will be a safe alternative.”
Technology to the rescue
Technology is playing a huge role for hotels in making sure new-age events take place smoothly and the reach is more than that of a physical event. Chopra shares, “Earlier this year we collaborated with Microsoft to launch ALL CONNECT, a new hybrid meetings concept supported by Microsoft Teams. It enables corporate customers and meeting planners to combine physical in-hotel meetings with virtual interactions across multiple locations simultaneously. ALL CONNECT focuses primarily on small meetings (8 to 50 physical participants) & meeting planners will benefit from the expertise of dedicated teams and a seamless digital booking platform. Today, more than 55 per cent of our hotels with meeting rooms are already providing hybrid meetings solutions to clients, and our target is to reach 100 per cent by 2022 across all brands from economy to ultra-luxury, worldwide.”
For weddings, Accor India has rolled out a brand-new initiative called ‘Vivaah at Novotel’ which is conceptualised for the contemporary virtual weddings and extends a hybrid approach.
Patel says that technology is the first step towards enhancing the guest’s experience at events. “At Hyatt, we believe that there is a demand to create, connect and collaborate, whether that’s in-person or a hybrid format. We offer a comprehensive set of technological solutions to guarantee that our guests’ planning goes unhindered at every stage across every phase of their event. To ensure this, we have the Virtual Hotel Tour, an event concierge App, Hyatt Planner Portal and even a Group Bill that makes our guest experience easy and smooth,” he shares.
Bansal believes that hybrid events can be used as a conversion tool to reach those clients who have cancelled or turned away due to the pandemic.
“Potential group revenue derived from rooms would be reduced, but there would be incremental revenue through F&B not just for onsite catering but also home delivery for online attendees,” he explains.
Pre-COVID scenario for MICE
Chopra shares that reaching pre-COVID levels will take longer. “We can anticipate that happening by 2023-24. Though the availability of vaccination and commitment from our government to vaccinate maximum citizens by December 2021 gives us a boost of confidence for an early revival. In pre-COVID era, our segment used to contribute approximately 30% of revenue from MICE. Large conference and conventions across globe have been postponed in the last 1.5 years and I am confident that we could see few of them being executed in Q4 2021,” he adds.
Bansal, on the other hand, says, “Travel for MICE and other gatherings may not return well till end of 2021 or later. Business travel for major industry events will most likely be the last to return, as it requires a higher degree of confidence in public safety.”
WORKING TO ATTRACT MORE M!CE
Agreeing that that the MICE sector has suffered, Tourism Secretary Arvind Singh says, “It will take some time for both domestic and inbound MICE. Launch of incentives to MICE operators under the Champions Service Sector has also been done to give a boost to the MICE sector in the country by encouraging MICE operators to bring more conferences meetings and seminars to India. Under this scheme, conferences to have minimum of 250 participants and it must comprise of at least 20% foreign participants to be eligible for the incentive in the form of reimbursement of GST for the first two days of stay. This will kick in once inbound travel is being permitted.”
Talking about the expectations from the MICE tourism strategy, he shares, “The goal would be to increase the number of MICE events that take place in the country. We see that we have a very small percentage of the global MICE market, and that many Indian groups and Indian MICE events are held abroad as people like Southeast Asia, Middle East or Maldives to hold MICE events. Hence, the short-term strategy would be to attract some of them because of the restrictions on travel, and if they are doing any MICE events, to encourage them to hold them at many places in India, instead of going to neighbouring countries.”
