Co-locating leisure and MICE travels in ITE & MICE results in bigger scale, thus offering MICE buyers and visitors more choices on destinations and venues etc! The travel fair also brings various forms of innovation to MICE travels through, for examples, the introduction of theme travels and co-operation with associations!
 
In a world when even banks requiring executives to fly economy, some corporations may go further like having staff flying LCC or Low Cost Carriers! Could LCC be a workable solution to corporations on controlling travel budget? What are the latest trends of LCC, pros and cons of LCC usage by corporations?
 
To shed light on these issues, ACTE, the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, which for years has been supporting ITE MICE, will conduct a seminar on “The Myth of Low Cost Carrier” on June 16. It will have Andrew Cohen, Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Express as Keynote Speaker exploring latest trends of the industry, to be followed by a panel discussion.
 
Hotels, resorts and perhaps many MICE suppliers welcome business from both corporations and events by individual such as Overseas Wedding. The Hong Kong Wedding Management Association (HKWMA) will again hold an “Overseas Wedding” Seminar on 17 Jun 2016, with industry veterans sharing their views and projections on trends of destination wedding, planning a celebrity style castle wedding, taking wedding photos, and providing trendy personal services such as marriage proposal etc.
 
Both ACTE and HKWMA will promote and invite their members to the respective seminar and to visit ITE & MICE! Other MICE seminars to be featured in the coming expo include “Corporate Travel/Event Management”, “Event Technology” including social media and “MICE Destinations” etc.
 
Our visitor surveys found travel trade (24%) shows far higher interest on Overseas Wedding than the public (13%)! Why not? An overseas wedding involve not only the air tickets and hotels for, say, some thirty persons but also the booking of venues for ceremony and banquet, hiring of planner and hair stylist, and arranging sightseeing program for the guests while the newly wedding couples are busy with preparations.
 
It is all MICE business with perhaps good margin too, so it pays for MICE suppliers watching out also for groups by individual / FIT! Other similar groups by individual can come from runners joining an overseas marathon, or others traveling for a common theme etc.
 
Rather unique in Asian travel shows, ITE & MICE pioneers the promotions theme travels such as Cruise, Sport and Eco-tourism etc, which apply also to MICE / Corporate / Incentive Travels, like for examples, “holding corporate meetings on Cruise”, “Sport program in an Incentive Trip for team building” and “Corporate Events + Eco-tourism” etc. What’s more, theme travels are particularly appealing to affluent travelers/ FIT too!
 
Survey on MICE / corporate visitors found respectively 72% source for hotel accommodation and 56% for meeting / event venue in ITE & MICE. Majority of these visitors are from larger organizations - 31% with over 250 staff and 23% with 51 to 250 people. Meeting, which likely brings in less revenue than incentive travel, can make up by its greater frequency as it can target both inbound and local business.
 
A new seminar of “Hotel Mart of Meeting Package” is to help hotels marketing such facilities and services to MICE & corporations in ITE MICE!
 
Organized by TKS Exhibition Services Ltd, ITE & MICE 2016, which combines the 30th ITE (leisure) and the 11th ITE MICE is supported by China National Tourism Administration, Hong Kong Tourism Board and Macao Government Tourism Office, etc. It will be held from June 16 – 19 at halls 1A to 1E of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
 
It is expected to draw some 12,000 buyers and trade visitors with over 50% from travel agent and over 20% from MICE and corporations, and over a quarter from mainland China and abroad; and some 80,000 public visitors with over 85% prefer traveling FIT or in private tours.
 
June 16-17 open only to trade, and its program include Business Matching for buyers meeting sellers, and over 20 seminars covering Destinations and Travel Products, Travel Technology, Market Trends, MICE and Corporate Travels. Admission in trade days require registration, and related professionals and trade are invited to pre-register online www.itehk.com to apply for free admission, or buy ticket and register at entrance.
 
In 15000 SQM of space, ITE & MICE this year will feature some 600 international exhibitors with 85% from abroad, and they come from around 50 countries and regions with around half from outside Asia. Over 100 exhibitors target the MICE market.
 
Repeating official pavilions with substantial expansion include Finland, Indonesia, Switzerland, and Zagreb of Croatia etc, while new official pavilions come from Andalucía of Spain, Myanmar, Penang from Malaysia, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Solomon Islands from the South Pacific, and Ulaanbaatar of Mongolia.
 
New individual exhibitors come from Iceland, Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom, Russia and can also be found in repeating pavilions. Overall, pavilions of China (mainland), Japan, Taiwan, Macau, South Korea and Hong Kong remain the largest, with some taking as many as 70 booths remain the largest. In all, present are around 80 tourism boards at levels from national to municipal from different parts of the world, roughly 85% of all exhibitors are from abroad, and around half of the participating countries and regions are from outside Asia!
 
For expo’s details, please visit www.itehk.com while the website for public, www.travelexpo.com.hk will be available in mid May. For exhibiting or visiting, please contact the Organizer, TKS at (852) 3155 0600 or send email to travel@tkshk.com