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Korea Tourism Organization returns with MICE Roadshow to enthusiastic reception
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T
he Korea MICE Roadshow, organized by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO Jakarta), returned this year on Sept. 21 at Ayana Midplaza hotel in Central Jakarta.
This annual event aims to promote Korea as a destination of MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) tourism to Indonesian travel agents, businesses and media.
In the first half of 2023, the KTO Jakarta recorded 8,000 MICE visitors from Indonesia, marking a post-pandemic recovery of around 62 percent of the 13,000 visitors it recorded in the first half of 2019.
The figure includes a large MICE tourism group of 1,700 visitors from insurance company Allianz Indonesia, which has undoubtedly contributed significantly to Korea’s MICE tourism target for 2023.
Through its road show, KTO Jakarta Jakarta also hopes to boost the number of MICE visitors from Indonesia to reach pre-pandemic levels this year.
KTO Jakarta falls under the supervision of the Korean Embassy in Indonesia, and worked directly with the KTO Jakarta headquarters in Gangwon-do, Korea, under the Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
“[KTO Jakarta] gets a lot of support from Korea directly, and before the pandemic in 2019, Korea ranked as the second best country in the world for hosting international events,” said Hani Fadia Zahra, MICE manager at KTO Jakarta.
“And the Indonesian market is very enthusiastic about the Korean MICE industry. We rank second in ASEAN for the highest number of visitors to Korea for MICE events,” she added.
The Korea MICE Roadshow 2023 is a concrete step by Korea to revive its MICE tourism sector, particularly to lure businesses from Indonesia’s MICE market.
The event attracted representatives from around 23 local businesses, including convention centers, travel agents and hotels to connect them with their counterparts from various regions in Korea, including Seoul and Busan, as well as the provinces of Gangwon and North Jeolla (Jeonbuk), each with their bespoke facilities and unique cultural features.
It is expected that Indonesian participants will explore their opportunities through networking and relationship building to promote Korea as a MICE destination to their customers.
“This year we actually exceeded our target, which is very near to reaching pre-pandemic levels, and as of August, we have gotten around 10,000 Indonesians to travel to Korea for MICE events,” said Hani.
The Korea MICE Roadshow 2023 “showed us that the Indonesian market, especially Jakarta, is very interested in [hosting] MICE events in Korea,” she added.
