VietNamNet Bridge – Many travel companies have reported better sales and higher demand in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) segment this year than last year despite a decline in international arrivals.

Illustrative image -- File photo

Bui Viet Thuy Tien, managing director of Asian Trails Co., said the number of MICE guests served by the company has been on the rise since the beginning of 2015, and South Africa and Australia are the company’s new markets.

“The MICE segment has contributed some 16% of our total revenue in the year to date. Last year’s proportion was just 5%,” Tien said.  

Tran Xuan Hung, director of Viking Travel Company, said MICE sales dived last year but has rebounded this year when there are more orders from foreign markets. The majority of the company’s MICE travelers are from Indonesia.

“More MICE guests have come,” Hung said. “We are now in talks to arrange a MICE tour for a group of 900 guests from Indonesia.”

Pham Mai Hoang Loc, MICE manager at Saigontourist Travel Service Company, said the country’s leading tour operator has serviced many groups of 150-250 guests since November last year.

“The MICE segment is performing better this year than last year,” Loc said.

Local travel companies have been serving more MICE guests from Singapore and Europe in addition to Australia, South Africa and Indonesia.

MICE tours often last 4-5 days and take in destinations in the south, the central coastal city of Danang, and the northern cities of Hanoi and Halong. Some of the tours are extended to Cambodia.

According to local tour operators, MICE guests tend to pay less but ask for more services, even those from Europe, and competition among cities in this segment is heating up.

More than two million foreigners visited Vietnam in the first three months of this year, down 13.7% compared to the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office. The markets with more arrivals in the period included South Korea (31.4%), Finland (28.2%), Spain (10.8%), Singapore (7.1%), Italy (6%), the United States (2.9%), Japan (0.8%) and Germany (0.2%).

SGT