2024-03-25 13:42:59
“We will help create a Korean version of the Davos Forum.” (Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yoo In-chon)
The government and the tourism industry are joining forces to open the era of ‘K-MICE (MICE: Corporate Meetings, Incentive Tourism, Conventions, Exhibitions)’, which ranks first in the world in the number of international conferences held.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization held the ‘MICE Global Leap Proclamation Ceremony’ as part of the ‘2024 1st Korea MICE Industry Development Council’ at Sebitseom Floating Island in Seoul on the afternoon of the 25th. 200 people, including Minister Yoo In-chon, government, local governments, public institutions, and MICE industry officials, gathered and pledged to take the MICE industry to a global level.
To open the K-MICE era by 2028, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism set three major goals: ▲1,400 international conferences held (1st in the world), ▲1.3 million foreign participants, and ▲$3 billion in foreign currency earned. In addition, to achieve this, the 3C strategy was presented, including ▲Collaboration with the region and the private sector, ▲Convergence of various types of MICE, and ▲Securing global competitiveness of MICE companies and industries.
On this day, Minister Yoo made a joint declaration for a global leap forward with participants representing the domestic MICE industry, including the Korea Tourism Organization, local MICE organizations, private industry, and youth representatives. The pledge included the agreement to work together to ▲ strengthen mutual cooperation between the public and private sectors ▲ strengthen national competitiveness through domestic and international cooperation ▲ balance regional development ▲ strengthen digital capabilities ▲ establish a foundation for the future MICE industry. After the declaration ceremony, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to discuss in depth the 3C strategy to realize the future vision of the Korean MICE industry, collect opinions, and reflect it in the ‘5th International Conference Industry Development Basic Plan’.
Minister Yoo In-chon said on this day, “We will work hard to achieve 1.3 million foreign participants and $13 billion in foreign currency earned. It will not be easy, but if the government, local governments, and the private sector work together for a long time, we can achieve the miracle of MICE once again.” “There will be,” he said.
Minister Yu said, “We have met with MICE officials since last year, listened to voices from the field, and thought together,” and promised, “We will attract about 10 mega-level international conferences by 2028 and make every effort to promote overseas.”
He went on to say, “We will help create a Korean version of the Davos Forum by ensuring that signature international conferences unique to each region take root,” and added, “We will build a MICE One belt where nearby regions can collaborate and develop regional MICE capabilities.” He then emphasized, “We will provide good support to ensure that MICE, a high-value-added sector in the tourism sector, is firmly established.”
Seo Young-chung, Acting President of the Korea Tourism Organization, said, “The government is setting the highest ever goal of 20 million inbound tourists this year.” He added, “In order to achieve this challenging goal, the role of the MICE industry, which plays an important role in inbound tourism, is more important than ever. “It’s important,” he emphasized.
He said, “Starting this year, the corporation has also reorganized its support system to further strengthen support for MICE events held in the region,” adding, “All participants gathered here will further expand practical cooperation under the common goal of a new leap forward for the Korean MICE industry.” “Let’s do it,” he emphasized.
The domestic MICE industry ranked 1st to 2nd in the world based on international conference hosting rankings compiled by the Union of International Associations (UIA) from 2016 to 2019, before COVID-19. However, since COVID-19, the number of international conferences held has decreased to 30% compared to before and is even concentrated in the metropolitan area.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Corporation will strengthen cooperation with the region to restore the MICE industry. We support local MICE dedicated organizations to discover ‘Signature International Conferences’ for regional strategic industries, and provide step-by-step support so that ‘Regional Signature International Conferences’ can grow into the ‘Korean version of Davos Forum’ and lead the development of K-MICE.
The International Conference Complex District system will be reorganized to raise the region’s MICE hosting capacity to the next level. An international conference complex is a place where related facilities such as hotels and shopping malls are integrated around international conference facilities. Two more locations are being designated from the current seven. The establishment of a ‘preliminary international conference district’ will also help the growth of areas that have development potential but have been neglected from policy support due to legal requirements. In addition, we support the establishment of a ‘MICE One Belt’ that connects two or more international conference complexes so that nearby regions can cooperate efficiently in the overall process of attracting, promoting, hosting, and providing tourist courses for international conferences.
By 2028, we will host 10 large international conferences with more than 1,500 foreign participants. To this end, the ‘MICE Overseas Attraction Base Network’ installed at the Korea Tourism Organization’s overseas branches will be doubled from the current 9 to 18. In addition, a regional ‘Public-Private Cooperation Joint Attraction Committee’ composed of the Korea Tourism Organization, local governments, local MICE organizations, and the MICE industry will be operated through the Korea MICE Industry Development Council.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism supports K-MICE, created in Korea, to grow into a world-class international conference.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism explained, “Even if it is an existing domestic conference or a small international conference, if it has the potential to grow to a global level, we will actively discover it and support it to grow into ‘K-MICE.’” He continued, “We will flex the MICE support policy so that K-MICE can grow into a large-scale international event unique to Korea by converging with cultural content such as exhibitions, performances, and festivals, and sporting events.”
The popularity of K-culture, which is loved globally, is linked to the MICE industry. We develop customized K-content programs for each country for group participants visiting Korea for corporate meetings and reward tours, and provide customized cultural tourism services by operating a digital guidance service for individual participants visiting Korea for exhibition fairs, etc. Through this, we establish a K-MICE business model that encourages repeat visits to Korea.
We also support digital innovation and human resource training to secure the global competitiveness of the MICE industry. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Corporation have launched the ‘Digital Innovation MICE Project’ to provide digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and location-based services required for MICE events to MICE companies in the form of vouchers. We also actively support the training of MICE industry professionals.
[서울=뉴시스]
2024-03-25 13:42:59