Tag Archives: MICE

India’s ranking among the Philippines’ top source markets has gone a notch higher this year with the country occupying 12th position, up from 13th last year. Speaking at the launch of a promotional campaign in New Delhi, SanJeet, Tourism Attaché, Philippines Tourism said, “In 2015, over 74,824 Indians travelled to the Philippines, recording a growth of 22.36 per cent while between January-July 2016, 53,498 Indians have already visited the country. That’s a growth of 25.41 per cent more than the same duration last year. India is now the 12th most important international source market for the Philippines. Once there is direct flight connectivity, we expect the numbers to grow even further.” It has been observed that an increase in MICE movements has lead to the rise in tourism. Additionally, the country is also working on launching visa-on-arrival for groups.

Sri Lanka is emerging as a high potential incentive destination and corporate venue for employee incentive trips and business meetings, having witnessed an impressive growth of over 15 per cent YOY, with over 233,000 MICE visitors from India in the past six years, according to data from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. Thomas Cook (India) recently hosted an exclusive corporate event in collaboration with Sri Lanka Convention Bureau and SriLankan Airlines to harness the demand for MICE travel to Sri Lanka across mid and large Indian corporates and SMEs. TCI’s internal research and consumer analysis reiterates the significant and growing opportunity of India’s corporate segment, with interest for Sri Lanka as a MICE destination having grown by 15-20 per cent YOY over the last three years. The exclusive corporate event in Mumbai was attended by the crème de la crème of the corporate world, Saroja Siresena, The Consul General of Sri Lanka in Mumbai, and Bollywood celebrity Jacqueline Fernandez.

Ras Al Khaimah is promoting itself as an ideal MICE and luxury travel destination in the India market. Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (TDA) highlighted the offerings in this segment at MICE India and Luxury Travel Congress (MILT) 2016, held in Mumbai on July 28-29, and forged smart partnerships with potential buyers from India. Shaji Thomas, Director-Destination Tourism Development, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority and Mohamed Khater, Senior Tourism Development Manager, Ras Al Khaimah TDA, were present at the event. In the recent years, Ras Al Khaimah has successfully leveraged the appeal of its leisure offerings to international business travellers and has now emerged as one of the top destinations in the international travel market. Haitham Mattar, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah TDA, said, “Ras Al Khaimah is witnessing a positive trend from India, which has been identified as one of the fastest and strongest growing source markets in terms of visitor figures. We are focusing on promoting Ras Al Khaimah as a boutique destination for meetings, incentives and events. MILT provides a unique platform to meet high-end buyers and wedding planners looking for new destinations to promote. We are seeing a surge in interest in Ras Al Khaimah as an ideal location for events and weddings.”

The Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority conducted a press conference in New Delhi on January 12, 2016, in an attempt to target the Indian tourism market. “India is currently the fourth largest inbound market for the emirate, after Germany, Russia and the UK,” said Haitham Mattar, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority. Ras Al Khaimah witnessed 16,000 Indian tourist arrivals into the emirate in the previous year. “We have seen an incredible 81 per cent year on year growth in tourists from India. By the end of 2018, the sub-continent is expected to be a big contributor to the emirate’s vision to attract one million visitors. We are working towards spreading awareness and conducting events to increase our partnership with the travel trade in India,” added Mattar. Ras Al Khaimah is primarily a family destination which also offers business, MICE, leisure, adventure and luxury travel.