The Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism is considered a very suitable product at the end of the year when businesses and companies organise work performance reviews and rewards. This is also a type of tourism that brings good revenue, so service businesses have quickly grasped it, built diverse product programmes, and expanded markets to attract a variety of tourist sources.

Large MICE delegations that register for the city’s MICE policy will be welcomed and given flowers to the delegation leader at the airport. A MICE delegation from India arrived in Da Nang in November 2023. Photo: THU HA

Da Nang is considered by businesses operating MICE tourism services as one of the localities with advantages in accommodation infrastructure with a variety of services. In the city, there are about 1,190 accommodation establishments with a total of about 42,200 rooms, of which 45% of the total rooms (19,107 rooms) reach 4-5 stars or equivalent. This is very convenient for exploiting large and large-scale tourist groups.

Besides accommodation, attending conferences and seminars, businesses exploiting this type of tourism are also very interested in the quality of accompanying services such as dining, relaxation, sightseeing and shopping. Therefore, businesses need to invest in human resources and build diverse and rich programmes to meet the increasing needs of customers.

Last November, many large MICE delegations chose Da Nang as the place to organise events combining sightseeing and tourism, such as the Indochina Unique Tourist Co.Ltd., in collaboration with the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Centre, welcoming a group of 500 guests who are business partners and customers of SCS Shoe Group in Thailand; Viet Experience Tourism and Trading Co. Ltd., welcoming a group of more than 210 guests from Singapore; Govn Travel Technology Company Limited welcoming a group of 70 RBC Group guests from India at the Da Nang International Airport.

Director of Indochina Unique Tourist Co.Ltd., Nguyen Son Thuy said that in 2023, the company has welcomed many large-scale MICE delegations from countries such as Thailand, India, Philippines and Malaysia. These MICE guests paid visits to major tourism of the Central region, and Viet Nam as a whole.

The company, together with the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Centre, is promoting MICE tourism markets by organising promotional activities and actively participating in international tourism fairs and exhibitions in the country. The city is also developing a strategy to increase the number of direct flights from such Southeast Asian countries as Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia, and many other countries.

According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Quynh, the Chairman of the Da Nang Hotel Association, Da Nang tourism in the last months of the year is less exciting than the summer. Nevertheless, if MICE visitors are well exploited, this will be a great source of visitors. This type of tourists often chooses to attend conference while travelling and sightseeing.

Da Nang shows off more advantages than other localities as it has a good living environment, investment environment, schools, health care, scenic spots, and infrastructure that can accommodate up to thousands of visitors, meeting the event organisation needs of international delegations such as the Ariyana International Convention Palace, the Da Nang Exhibition Fair Centre, the Tien Son Sports Arena. These advantages have helped Da Nang exploit diverse tourist sources, not being dependent on certain markets.

In addition to MICE visitors, Da Nang is aiming for wedding tourism combined with family travel. According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Quynh, wedding tourism is one of the new types, a very good market that is being targeted by tourism professionals. Not only the Indian market, Japanese and South Korean wedding organisers are also very interested in this type. Therefore, domestic businesses should also pay attention and invest to anticipate this tourism product.

However, the biggest limitation of Da Nang today is the direct flight-related issue. If there are more direct flights from potential markets, it will make attracting visitors easier. Recently, Da Nang, an exquisite city in the region, was identified by Micenet, the leading MICE travel news website of Australia, New Zealand, and its surroundings, as an ideal MICE destination, in September. The city has steadily developed into a destination for conferences, seminars, events, and gratitude activities. The city's tourism industry also has many promotional activities to potential markets such as India, South Korea and the Philippines.

Deputy Director of the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Centre under the Da Nang Department of Tourism Mai Thi Thanh Hai assessed that MICE tourism is an attractive tourism product, attracting the segment of tourists with high affordability. The city’s preferential and supportive policies have created favourable conditions for businesses to exploit the MICE tourist market.

By the end of November 2023, Da Nang had welcomed 151 MICE delegations with a total of 41,965 visitors, including 62 domestic delegations (33,148 guests, reaching 97.7% of the plan) and 89 international ones (8,602 guests, reaching 176% of the plan) from such foreign tourist source markets as India, Malaysia, Taiwan (China), South Korea and Thailand.

The city’s tourism industry is conducting surveys, evaluating the results of the support programme to attract MICE tourists to Da Nang in 2023.

At the same time, the city is collecting opinions, suggestions, and proposals from travel agencies and event companies to propose a MICE support programme in 2024. In the near future, the city’s tourism industry will continue to promote and advertise the city’s key and potential international markets as well as implement policies to attract MICE and wedding tourists to Da Nang in the time ahead.

Reporting by THU HA - Translating by A.THU