MICE, interrupted

Just when business travel was starting to come back, things started to take a U-turn which has led to a reversal in the trend with events being deferred or cancelled. The good news is that events scheduled for second half of 2021 have so far not been impacted.

Hazel Jain

The MICE industry came to a standstill in 2020 leading to a huge dent in the structure, functioning and finances of many businesses. But when the lockdown began to lift slowly, hotels started to witnessbookings, albeit with a significant shift in the nature of MICE business. However, amusement parks and theme parks have been one of the biggest industries to take a hit. Rajeev Jalnapurkar, Chairman, Indian Association of Amusement Parks & Industries (IAAPI) and CEO of Ramoji Film City, says that the opening of MICE for his industry totally depends upon the second wave of COVID 19 in the country. “Major states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan have already declared lockdown and other states are also monitoring the situation carefully. Given the overall scenario opening of MICE immediately looks difficult which we all were hoping for this summer season. Also, major corporates have adopted WFH for a majority of its staff and will likely continue to do so till end of the year because of which events like conference and exhibitions will be severely impacted,” he adds.

Amusement and theme parks offer new and unique venues and experiences for MICE. Amusement parks also give scope for the corporate groups’ family and spouse to enjoy when they are busy in conferences. However, this sector seems to have been the worst hit so far. “MICE business would have increase the ability to soften the impact of seasonality for our industry.Our clients include corporate groups who organise training or conferences at amusement parks, theme parks, water parks for their staff and their families. Also, since amusement park are spread across large area it can always accommodate a large number of visitors,” Jalnapurkar says.

Rohit Chopra, Regional Director, Sales & Distribution, Accor India & South Asia, feels that business from weddings, social events and sports have replaced corporate MICE, incentives and charters, which used to be demand generators. “To encourage demand, one of the key factors will be flexibility on commercial terms. While we did see an increase in demand for MICE in February 2021, in the last two months we have also witnessed an increase in cancellation or rescheduling,” he reveals.

Chopra believes that business travel and MICE will be extremely slow and we can expect a revival closer to the festival season, in October, depending on the situation and the vaccination drive in India. “While we can expect sporadic demand in segments like weddings and sports, and industries like pharmaceuticals, electronics, automobile, sports, manufacturing, movie production and white goods should witness a faster rebound Q3 onwards,” he adds.

His hotels had confirmed a few MICE bookings for the coming months. “For India, we have been receiving some queries from corporates for 100-200 pax from Q3 onwards. But they are also keeping a keen watch on the developing situation. We have been observing queries for Q4 2021 for safer, long-haul destinations, and can expect similar interest for shorter-haul destinations from Q3 2021,” Chopra says. He is confident that companies will eventually do in-person, socially distant meetings rather than continue conducting them virtually.

Being event-ready crucial
Hilton Chennai has approached 2021 as the year of road to recovery. Ruban Das, General Manager, Hilton Chennai, says they have started seeing green shoots. “While we are far from a fully active MICE segment till Q4 2021, we are definitely seeing an upswing when it comes to month-on-month actualisation in this segment which contributes to over 30 per cent of our total revenues,” he adds.

The hotel has been in touch with its corporate client roster comprising companies in manufacturing, SME, pharma, technology, BFIS and real estate to ascertain requirements. “Our approach has been to offer flexible event solutions at optimum pricing band to encourage clients to restart physical and hybrid events. Weddings and social events have continued to take place, though in a modified way. They have continued to stay active as a segment followed by hybrid events and small-sized corporate day meetings,” Das shares.

Events deferred/cancelled
Meanwhile, IHCL hotels have had a few events materialised since December 2020 with an increase in uptake thereafter. However, with the recent restrictions on travel, there has been a tapering of leads and events have been postponed for later dates, says Christopher Viegas, Associate VP (Sales, MICE), IHCL. “We had been seeing strong signs of recovery in MICE. But recent developments on the pandemic front have led to a slight reversal in the trend with events being deferred or cancelled. Events scheduled for second half of the FY have however not been impacted to the extent that we have seen for those scheduled in March-April 2021.” he says.

He feels that certain sectors that have not really been adversely impacted as others have continued with their meetings and events, within the scope of guidelines set down by the authorities. These however, have been of smaller scale. “We have seen promising signs from the pharma and healthcare sectors apart from sports, insurance and banking. We have witnessed an increase in enquiries. However, we do see closures happening very close to the event date,” Viegas adds.