TravTalk India Online Magazine
As one of the exhibitors at the upcoming MICE Engage 2021 virtual roadshow, Bahrain Tourism & Exhibition Authority (BTEA) hopes to inform the key corporates attending it about the destination’s safety and unique offerings for all their MICE requirements, helping bring the destination to the forefront.
Hazel Jain
Sharing the idea behind participating in MICE Engage 2021, Sunil Mathapati, Director, Intrepid Marketing and Communications, the India representative for the Bahrain Tourism & Exhibition Authority (BTEA), says, “In the past one year, pre-COVID Bahrain has seen good demand for MICE movements. We have successfully converted some large MICE movements with some incredible reviews from the corporate and MICE agents on how seamlessly it was managed with BTEA assisting at every stage. This shows the preparedness of the destination to handle any MICE movements. Our participation in MICE Engage 2021 is to bring Bahrain to the forefront for the corporates, and showcase to them that Bahrain can be considered for their next movement.”
Mathapati adds, “MICE movements should start as the situation gets back to normal and we think that corporate participation to this event will be to explore new destinations within close proximity to India that has direct flights.”
Sharing his perspective on virtual events, he says that while he is a firm believer of physical meetings that help in transacting business much faster than virtual, looking at the current situation, we have to do with virtual meetings. “We are positive to get good traction from this event.We have been getting some MICE queries and are working on some leads which are in the month of June and July. This brings us to understand that corporates are looking at international destinations with direct flight connectivity, support from the tourism boards and strict safety protocols. We do expect that there would be small movements,” Mathapati shares. Year 2020 has been a rough phase for all. “Even 2021, which is limping back to normal, is seeing cases rise sporadically. There is a fear of travel but there is eagerness also. MICE travel will start but, in my opinion, it would be with a smaller number of Pax. Corporates would look at closer destinations with direct flights for now. Corporate clients will also want to review their preparedness at every stage before they plan their MICE movements. ‘Safety for all’ will be the mantra in the future,” he says.
The vaccination drive in Bahrain is at very fast pace, he says, and BTEA expects that Bahrain would be able to vaccinate the majority of the population in the coming months.
“Bahrain has set up a Special Task Force which has instructed all hotels, DMCs, restaurants, malls and tourist areas to strictly follow COVID protocols. The current protocols ask travellers to board the flights to Bahrain with a negative certificate. On landing, they will have to download the ‘Beware App’ and then proceed for RT-PCR test with a fee. The travellers will be allowed to leave for their hotels, but would have to quarantine themselves till the report is available on their App,” Mathapati explains.
JTB India invites NTOs, hotel chains to participate in MICE roadshow on April 28
With MICE travel from India slowly gaining momentum, JTB India will host a unique B2C virtual platform dedicated to MICE travel slated to be held on April 28, 2021. JTB invites National Tourism Offices and global hotel chains to participate in this in order to take advantage of its wide corporate network. The event will see attendance from top corporate companies in India. For more information, contact Kritika Kunden at kritika.kunden258@jtb-india.com or Deepali Gupta at deepali.gupta040@jtb-india.com.
