African tourism leaders recommend MICE for sectoral recovery

Date:

By Taiye Olayemi
Lagos, Sept. 21, 2020 Some African tourism leaders on Monday advised tourism practitioners on the development of meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions (MICE) as viable platforms to revamp the tourism industry post COVID-19.

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These tourism leaders cutting across countries such as: South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana and Kenya, gave the advice at the 16th AKWAABA Africa Travel and Tourism Market’s conference held online.

The roundtable was organised by Mr Ikechi Uko, with the theme: “Is MICE a Viable Pathway for Tourism Recovery in Africa?’’
They said that the growth of MICE was critical to the revival of the African tourism landscape, considering the losses recorded in the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

Naija247news reports that meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions is a type of tourism in which large groups usually plan well in advance and are brought together.

Rick Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, Business Tourism Company, said that MICE in Africa was pretty new but started in the U.S. since 1714.

Taylor said that enormous opportunities would be available if MICE was properly developed in Africa.

“We need to work on returning to embrace our meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions because it was observed that an hour of physical meeting is only as effective as 5 zoom meetings, 10 phone calls and 20 emails.

“Some 14 new ideas were likely to be generated during physical meetings but only 7 ideas would be gotten from online meetings,’’ he said.

Also, Mr Alain St.Ange, former Seychelles Minister for Tourism and Culture, said that the MICE market was an important one in the tourism industry, adding that there was need to discover more Africans who would be dedicated to work in grooming tourism.

He advised Africans to work together to achieve common goals of revamping the tourism industry and create global competitiveness.

“Tourism is the pillar of the Seychelles economy and with a population of 100,000 people, we are able to sustain the country through the returns on tourism.

“MICE is an important market in tourism, it needs to be developed rightly,’’ he said.

Nelly Mukazayire, Chief Executive Officer, Rwanda Convention Bureau, also attested to the fact that MICE was one of the innovative ways for revenue creation which Africans must leverage upon.

Mukazayire said that MICE had been focused on in Rwanda since 2014, recording about 591 successful MICE events in 2017, as the country generated over U$212 that same year.

She said that MICE’s contribution to revenue growth in the country was about 12 per cent, before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to her, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous events were postponed and the country recorded losses to the tune of $8m.

“Rwanda is open to MICE, domestic tourism and travels now, the government has set up platforms to ensure tourists’ safety, who either come for leisure or business opportunities.

“The Rwandan government has established economic recovery funds, created home grown events that align with our investment priorities; Rwanda is a unique destination for events and MICE is guaranteed,’’ she said.

Jacinta Nzioka, National Coordinator, Kenya National Convention Bureau, said that the business of MICE had sustained the country as a tourist destination, adding that the Kenyan government was working with the private sector to further grow MICE.

Nzioka said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 97 tourism events were cancelled and over 42,000 jobs were lost.

She said when International travels began, 16 per cent arrivals were recorded to be on purpose of business, which she described as encouraging.

Nzioka encouraged African tourism practitioners to accelerate the growth of Information Communication Technology (ICT), to further develop MICE.

“Currently, we have stimulus packages for the hospitality sector, and recovery funds to restart the industry all put together by the Kenyan government; we see a bright future for MICE in Kenya,’’ she said.

Nzioka advised Africans to work unanimously to complement one another’s efforts in the development of MICE and not for competitive purposes.

Mr Bradford Ochieng, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Uganda Tourism Board, said that the board had prioritised the promotion and development of business tourism to diversify the country’s tourism offerings and encompass more than leisure.

Ochieng said this was expected to increase the number of tourist arrivals, receipt and earnings from business travellers.

He said currently, the board was trying to partner with the private sector to develop affordable travel packages to revamp the industry.

“COVID-19 has dealt with the industry; before the COVID-19 pandemic, we had 60 per cent hotel occupancy across the country but we now have about 10 per cent, with lots of events cancelled

“The MICE industry is an emerging one in the Ugandan economy, the Ugandan tourism board will continue to prioritise both leisure and business travels.

“We want to tell everyone that we are ready for MICE and planning to invest more in hotels, convention centres and all,’’ he said.

Naija247news
Naija247newshttps://www.naija247news.com/
Naija247news is an investigative news platform that tracks news on Nigerian Economy, Business, Politics, Financial and Africa and Global Economy.

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