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W
ith the country’s global
integration and economic
development,
Vietnam
has made some progress
in attracting MICE business. However,
as a hospitality and tourism manage-
ment consultant living and working
in Vietnam for 15 years, I have to
say that I am not completely satisfied
with the speed and quality of progress
made so far.
Despite the country’s several ad-
vantages, including its central geo-
graphic location in Southeast Asia, Viet-
nam is still far away from becoming an
international MICE destination, on par,
with Thailand or Malaysia. The reasons
are many-fold.
MICE has become a fashionable
word in the tourism industry in Viet-
nam, but many still do not really un-
derstand what it is, how it works, what
it needs, how it is promoted and what
the benefits for the country are. Most
people think of MICE as a matter for the
tourism industry alone, which of course
it is not.
The attractiveness of a country as
a MICE destination, its ability to at-
tract, host and organise international
and regional Meetings, Incentives, Con-
ferences and Events, is a mirror image
of a country’s brand reputation, inter-
national integration and cooperation,
socio-economic development, market
economy status, foreign direct invest-
ment, official development assistance,
infrastructure development, level of re-
search and development, attractiveness
of living, management capacity and the
quality of its work force.
International corporations and or-
ganisations from the private and public
sector look very carefully at all these
points when selecting and bringing
MICE business to a country. And here,
Vietnam is in strong competition, re-
gionally and even globally. To attract
more and better MICE business to Viet-
nam, it requires an understanding and
concerted efforts of many stakeholders.
Surely, Vietnam’s central tourism
authorities, the Ministry of Culture,
Sports and Tourism and the Vietnam
National Administration of Tourism
need to take the lead in developing
Vietnam as a MICE destination. This is
their mandate. But of course, as all the
before mentioned factors are complex,
they require the attention, understand-
ing, coordination and support from the
government as a whole.
In terms of the private sector, many
larger tour operators and hotels in Viet-
nam have a keen interest that the coun-
try is developed and promoted as a
MICE destination.
MICE business promises a relatively
high yield. Several foreign and locally
invested tour operators and hotels in Vi-
etnam have specialized and suited their
products and services to this market
segment well. In this regard, it can be
said that the country is up to inter-
national standards. Especially in Hanoi
and Ho Chi Minh City, we can find suffi-
cient travel and hotel capacities to cater
for large-scale events.
But it should also be kept in mind
that not only these two sectors benefit.
MICE travellers usually have a higher
rate of spending. MICE organisers of-
ten combine business purpose with a
leisure program, and so MICE travel-
lers usually spend extra on local tours,
shopping, restaurants and so on. The
local community as a whole can there-
fore benefit.
Regarding other players in the pri-
vate tourism sector, I feel that Vietnam
Airlines as the main air-carrier could
contribute more in developing and
promoting Vietnam as a MICE destina-
The InterContinental Hanoi West Lake offers fantastic views
and MICE facilities to match