TravTalk India Online Magazine
Optimistic about India’s MICE potential, Naveen Kundu, MD, EbixCash Travel, says that the market is expected to grow at 15.6 per cent, making it the fifth-largest in the world. To handle an outburst of travel and tourism business in India, we need to worry about where the human resources will come from, he adds.
Surbhi Sharma
The Moscow City Tourism Committee recently organised a conference in Delhi for the representatives of Indian MICE industry to introduce them to the tourism strengths of the Russian capital. The conference included panel discussions, thematic sessions and meetings of entrepreneurs coming from the two nations. The event also discussed collaboration opportunities and innovative MICE venues.
Speaking during the event as a key speaker, Naveen Kundu, Managing Director, EbixCash Travel, highlighted the emerging trends of MICE in India, based on his sector-wise research on ‘Business Tourism in MICE – Knowledge, Innovation & Collaboration’.
Picking up the knowledge part of his study, Kundu gave a brief analysis as to where MICE is headed from India and said that currently UAE, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Europe and the UK are getting a larger share of the business from India. He added that according to allied market research, the global MICE industry was US $598 billion in 2022, which is going to be $2,309 billion in 2032. Globally it’s growing at 11 per cent, but in India it is growing at 15.6 per cent. India had $5.8 billion of MICE revenue in 2022, which is expected to be $7.8 billion in 2024 and is expected to be over $10 billion by 2030. He added that India will grow at 15.6 per cent, which is the highest growth rate, making the country the fifth-largest MICE market in the world.
India’s MICE potential
Naveen Kundu, said, “The size of the MICE market is about 30 million today, which includes domestic and international pax. Therefore, there is a huge potential for the organised MICE industry in India to come together, collaborate, innovate and then handle the mammoth business that is heading our way.”
The focus of the Governmment of India should be on creating ease of visas, building airline capacity and creating favourable ecosystem for making ‘Meet in India’ programme successful, he added.
Today, the Indian market seems one of the most promising in terms of increasing both inbound and outbound tourism.
“The vision right now is to ensure that we get to the root of the total size and spending of the industry. India is a market that is on the verge of being one of the largest in the world. Hence, the emerging trend is to create accessibility by providing more flights and bringing in ease of visa that will open gates for more destinations,” Kundu said.
Sectors driving growth in India
- In the past 10 years, the corporate tax collections have increased by 160% and remain at `16,63,686 crore.
- Insurance sector is growing at 4.5%, employing 2.5 million people.
- Consumer Durable sector is growing at 10% year-on-year with 2 million growth driven by air conditioners and white goods.
- FMCG sector is growing at a rate of 14.9% due to the access to online and offline retail stores available in India that employ over 3 million people.
