HCMC needs a promotion center for MICE (meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition) tourism, which will play a leading role in the development of this important type of tourism in the future.
In a study on MICE tourism in the city, the Hotel Management Division under the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has mentioned the role of such a center to host conferences and exhibitions.
The parties that benefit from MICE tourism, namely hotels, tour operators, transport firms and shopping centers, will make annual contributions to the operation of this promotion center. This method is applied in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia to develop MICE tourism.
The Hotel Management Division suggested a number of activities to promote this type of tourism, such as creating a website and literature, organizing specialized fairs as well as investing in infrastructure and human resources.
The agency set a goal to serve cloe to one million business visitors in 2015, compared to 520,000 in 2009.
The study also indicated the many shortcomings of the city tourism in developing MICE, including the meeting room and hotel room systems.
HCMC is lacking facilities for conferences, seminars and exhibitions. International conferences in HCMC are usually held at four or five-star hotels. Smaller scale hotels can only supply up to five meeting rooms for 20-50 delegates.
Also, there has not been sufficient investment in essential equipment for conferences.
Since the beginning of 2010, the city has not had sufficient facilities for conferences, seminars, and exhibitions apart from the conference rooms belonging to the three to five-star hotels.
Meanwhile in Hanoi, the National Conventions Center alone has the total floor area of 60,000 square meters and an official meeting room with a seating capacity of 3,800.
Hanoi has already invested in these facilities with 200 meeting rooms in the city, covering over 28,000 square meters.
Source: Saigon times