Q. How important is the MICE business for your country and what percentage of total business you comprise from the MICE?
MICE is important for Indonesia as the destination has excellent infrastructure and facilities to host small to very large MICE movements across Indonesia. From India approximate size of MICE is around 20% of total arrivals from India
Q. Why one needs to go to your country for MICE business instead of others, what are the facilities your country provide to them?
With state of the art facilities, there are many venues in Indonesia equipped to host large international conferences, world class exhibitions, and massive scaled entertainment performances. Jakarta, Bali, Manado, and other major cities in Indonesia are the perfect place venues to stage various kinds of events in at any scale. Hotels, conference centers, exhibition centers, supporting parties along with professional convention and exhibition organizers are more than prepared and highly experienced in hosting major events. There are premises throughout Indonesia ready to organize your next conference and serve each delegate, from transportation, places to stay, meals, shipping, to city tours when the fruitful meeting agenda is done. The USP of travelling to Indonesia is that you can experience different activities be it adventure, nightlife, casinos, pristine beaches & much more in a single trip. Almost all the major cities have well equipped hotels to handle and implement the needs of the MICE events.
Q. How is the response from Indian MICE segment? Are there any challenges which you’re facing in the current scenario?
The response from Indian MICE segment is very good for the last few years. The challenge has been that the destination is perceived to be expensive destination due to no direct air connectivity. The achievement has been that places beyond Bali are also popular now such as Bintan, Batam, Bandung, Lombok, Yogyakarta.
Q. Tell us the round fig. of MICE 2014 in your country from Indian MICE segment? Also share your expectations for 2015 and the marketing strategies with which you’re coming?
Indian visitors to Indonesia registered a record growth of 17%. 2,37,990 Indians travelled to Indonesia in 2014 as compared to 2,04,756 in 2013, which clearly indicates that it was a good year for the destination for India outbound market. Apart from the conferences groups , we also plan to tap the Indian wedding planners. The Indian middle class is opting for destination weddings because they can curtail the number of persons and can have a fabulous event within their budget. For the wealthy Indians, destination weddings is more about making a style statement. We also plan to showcase the new and improved offerings in Indonesia to the corporate decision makers. With the recently concluded successful TAAI Convention; we do hope India to get status of primary source market.
Q. Describe the MICE status of your country only in 1 sentence?
Indonesia has the potential to be a MICE hub of the region with excellent infrastructure and facilities
Answered by Shelly Chandhok, Country Manager, Visit Indonesia Tourism. Please find her picture attached for your perusal.