Govt touts 10 cities as MICE destinations

The Tourism and Creative Economy is preparing a campaign to promote ten cities across the archipelago as destinations for meeting, incentives, convention and exhibition (MICE) travelers.

“The MICE industry is very important. The cities will become famous tourist destinations, attracting more and more tourists,” Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The cities to be promoted are Bandung, West Java; Batam, Riau Islands; Denpasar, Bali; Jakarta; Medan, North Sumatra; Makassar, South Sulawesi; Manado, North Sulawesi; Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara; Surabaya, East Java; and Yogyakarta.

Palembang, South Sumatra and Surakarta, Central Java, were also under consideration for promotion.

Mari said that the ministry established a MICE development department under the tourism destination development directorate. “The MICE department will try to find out how to develop conventions, what facilities they should have, how to train human resources, and so on.”

The marketing department managed by deputy minister Sapta Nirwandar would target conventions by, for example, bidding for international events, Mari added.

Bali will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in 2013, Mari said, adding that the ministry was determining cities to host other APEC-related meetings in Indonesia.

Another MICE destination to be promoted by the ministry, Manado, will host the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) and a travel exchange (Travex) exhibition from Jan. 8 to 15 this year, Mari said.

Tourism ministers from 10 ASEAN member nations, the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization secretary-general and many tourism industry figures will gather in Manado at the Grand Kawanua Convention Centre during the conference.

According to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), Indonesia was in 39th place on its 2010 list of nations hosting international meetings with 64 meetings, while Singapore was ranked 25th with 136 meetings and Malaysia 29th with 119 meetings.

The ICCA also ranked Jakarta 113th on its list of cities hosting international meetings with 16 meetings, while Bali was ranked 67th with 27 meetings.

The government has been optimistic that the MICE industry will grow stronger due to an increasing number of MICE tourists.

According to ministry data, the number of MICE tourists visiting Indonesia in 2010 was 236,000, or 3.37 percent of seven million arrivals, while in 2009, the figure was 205,000, or 3.24 percent of 6.3 million arrivals. (nfo)