The Vietnam MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, exhibitions) club on June 9 made its debut in HCMC, calling on members from the country’s hospitality service to club together to promote the MICE industry in Vietnam.

The club is managed by the VinaMedia Corporation and under the support and cooperation from Vietnam Airlines and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Gilbert Whelan, president of VinaMedia, said that the club has planned a series of marketing activities in the 2011-2012 period to join travel fairs in Germany, Australia, Indonesia and Hong Kong along with events nationwide. The official website at http://www.vietnammiceclub.vn is set to launch this September.

“We are not promoting the MICE club. We are promoting the destination and MICE tourism is the main point of the activity,” he told the Daily on Thursday.

The opening ceremony attracted representatives of 35 hotels, tour operators and other tourism companies in HCMC and other localities such as the coastal cities of Nha Trang and Phan Thiet.

“We expect to have 100 members by the end of this year. We aim to bring new energy to various components that make up MICE tourism,” Whelan said.

Trinh Hong Quang, deputy general director of Vietnam Airlines, said that the Vietnamese carrier has the same purpose in promoting the country’s MICE tourism worldwide and would give more support to the club’s operation.

“We will give all-out support to the club and will do everything to help develop the MICE industry,” he said.

Nguyen Van Tinh, head of the International Cooperation Bureau under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, also said that the bureau would give more priority to the club in promotional events in foreign countries.

“We will offer good locations, good booths to the club at festivals to promote the country’s tourism and culture in foreign countries,” he told the Daily.

MICE tourism is an important segment which both hospitality players and tourism administration offices want to develop.

HCMC’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has planned more activities and called meetings with travel firms and hotels to seek ways to develop MICE in the city.

Source: SGT