Focus on China MICE Industry 聚焦中国MICE行业

MICE, which stands for Meeting, Incentives, Conferences/Conventions, Exhibitions/Exposition and Events, has been always linked to the tourism industry since the first day this term is heard. It’s not because MICE belongs to the tourism industry, but MICE is a comprehensive industry with close relationship to various industries, while tourism is the major one.

MICE means “communication” from the microscopic view. Gathering people and transit the information within the very limited time, and then create new values. Through MICE, business people know more about their industries; build their network; as well as to enlarge the social-circle for their careers. From the macroscopic view, holding MICE events could bring considerable benefits to the surrounding areas and related industries, including: advertising, communication, hospitality, dining, transportation, travel, retail and entertainment, etc. Besides, it will also create employment opportunities, improve the services and facilities, and image of the city and hence the influence of the city will then be increased.

Global MICE Industry
According to statistics from UFI, the MICE industry has been declining in recent years following the unstable economy. Similarly, the industry in the USA has also been flat.

On the other hand, strong economic development has been saw in the Latin America and Asia market, together with increasing attentions and investments to the MICE industry, enabled these area to hold large MICE events. European and American brands have been attracted to here for exhibitions, such as Nepcon, Semicon, ComdexChina and ElectronicChina. Dawars will be opened in Tianjin this summer. Dawars has been hosted in China for 8 years.

China MICE Industry Analysis
Although the MICE industry in China started late, it developed rapidly, especially in the terms of facilities. According to the statistics based on the 20 MICE venues, the average area of each venue amounted to 127,000 square meters.
The major cities in China showed their advantages in the development on hosting international exhibitions. As of now, major cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou have becoming the core cities for international exhibitions. The key advantages of these cities are the plenty of MICE venues, the convenient transportations and the comprehensive supporting facilities.

According to the statistics from the Ministry of Commerce by the end of year 2012, there have been over 7,000 exhibitions have been held in 2012 with the total output value amounted to RMB 358.7 billions, representing a 16.1% year-on-year increase from 2011. (See the Chart A as below).  From the chart A we can also see the direct output value of the MICE industry has been surged 10 times during 2008 to 2012. According the international norms, if the output values from the related industries have been counted, the total output value will be amounted to RMB 3 trillions.

Marketization has been taken place in the MICE industry in China. Industry associations are taking the leading role instead of the government. While the function of the government is supportive nowadays.

Another chart (Chart B) below shows that in about 20 years, the supply of MICE venues has doubled from the 45.17 million square meters to 89 million square meters between 2008 and 2012. During 2012, a total 7,189 exhibitions with scale of over 5,000 square meters has been hold, increased by 5.3% year-on-year from 2011. The total area for exhibition was 89.9 million square meters, representing 10.7% growth from 2011.

SWOT Analysis
Strengths
There is no doubt that the strengths of China’s MICE industry are largely due to the large market here. The growth of China’s economy is much faster than any other countries. According to the report by the largest buyer of meeting venues, HelmsBriscoe in 2011, due the continual growth of the industry, the forecast on the total output value of China’s conventions and events’ will reach USD150 billion. China’s MICE industry is experiencing 20% growth every year, which implied the vast opportunities for the MICE suppliers. In the past five years, orders from the tourism industry has climbed from the RMB 54.8 billion in 2009 to RMB 105.5 billion in 2013.

Weakness
The main weakness of China’s MICE industry is yet to be professional. Lacking of professionals, organizations, serving concepts, platforms, etc., all these resulted the mismatch to the qualitative demand for those corporates with insights.

Currently, the understanding towards MICE in China is at the stage to know the industry in theory rather than mastering the key issues as well as the essence of MICE. For meeting solutions, both the clients and the suppliers are focusing on “price” instead of the customized package. Moreover, China’s MICE market is now at the infant stage – the sales of meeting venues. There is no one to fill in the blank in providing professional and personalized suggestions, as well as assisting and ensuring the smooth running of the events, and not to mention the follow up and feedbacks after the meetings have been held. The phenomenon is far lacking behind the prevalent “one-stop” services in Europe.

Opportunities
MICE is still an emerging industry in China. Compared with the European peers, China’s MICE industry is young and energetic, with full of opportunities. But, we still need the authoritative and independent institutions, industry organizations, as well as detailed and comprehensive statistics and reports. However, the current blank in the market means opporttunity.

Besides, it’s a good news that the meetings hold in the Asia Pacific area has increased steadily. Due to the change in policies, the industry is transforming to be market oriented. This will definitely to be an opportunity to the market participants.

Finally, even though the development of the MICE industry in China is at a strong momentum, small to medium scaled meetings are still at the dominating position. It is believed that, when the industry matures, the demand on large scale and internal exhibitions will be increased.

Threats
The threats to China’s MICE industry are coming from both the inside and outside of China, which means the country’s policies and the competition from other regions/cities.

Under the promotion of frugal operations and austerity in China, budgets for meetings have been reduced and limited while the labor cost has been rising. Moreover, the severe air pollution issue has negatively impacted the number of meetings to a certain extent.

When comparing with foreign peers, the MICE industry in China is lately started and non-competitive. Currently there are competitions and threats from nearby cities such as Hong Kong and Macau; Asian countries like Singapore, Australia and New Zealand; and also some European cities.

MICE（即Meetings（会议）、Incentives（奖励旅游）、Conferences/Conventions（大型企业会议）、Exhibitions/Expositions（活动展览）和Events（节事活动）的首字母组成，综合会展行业的英文缩写），从诞生的第一天起，就自然地与旅游业紧密结合。究其原因，并不是因为MICE和旅游业之间存在从属关系，而是因为MICE其实是一个综合性的行业，与各行各业都发生着紧密的联系，其中最为显著的就是旅游业。

MICE，从微观上来说，就是“沟通”，将相关的人都聚集起来，实现信息在较短的时间内的传递、交流，以及就信息本身的解读、深化、发酵、衍伸从而创造新的价值。由此加深相关从业人员的对专业的认识，激发他们的创造力，促进行业产业的升级进步；相关人员在对信息的发掘深层价值的过程当中产生交流，为行业构架人力网络，同时促进个人的职业交际圈的扩大。从在宏观上来说，MICE活动的举办，对一个地方的周边的产业带来的效益是非常可观的，主要体现在：广告，通信，住宿，餐饮，交通，旅游，购物，娱乐这几个方面。通过举办会展活动，除了经济效应以外，还会带来就业，城市服务设施的改善，城市形象的提升以及影响力的提升等等附加效应。

全球MICE行业的概况
根据UFI（世界展览协会）的统计，近年来，由于经济动荡，欧洲的会展行业收入下降，而美国也处于平缓拉的状态。但是拉丁美洲，亚洲的强劲发展势头、良好的上升趋势，以及对会展行业的关注以及投入，使得这些地区有能力举办大规模的会展活动，由此吸引了越来越多的欧美主要品牌的展会，不断培育子展，卫星展。如美国的Nepcon、Semicon、ComdexChina和德国的ElectronicChina等都相继来到了中国，而2014年达沃斯论坛夏季年会即将在中国的天津开幕，今年已经是夏季达沃斯来中国的第8年。

当前中国MICE行业分析
我国MICE行业起步比较晚，但发展非常快，特别是会展旅游业的硬件设施建设大有超前发展的态势。根据目前统计的20家场馆，平均每个场馆建筑面积达到127000多平方米。我国的一些大城市在发展国际会展业方面具有一定的优势，目前已经初步形成了以上海、北京、广州等大城市为核心的国际会展中心城市。这些大城市在接待国际会展方面的优势主要表现在现有会展场馆多，交通便利，配套设施齐全。

从商务部2012年底统计的数据显示，2012年全年国内办展数量超过了7000次，产值3587亿。较上一年增长了16.1%（见图表A）。并且从图中我们可以看到，自2008年到2012年，会展业的产值涨了约10倍左右。而且这还是会展直接的产值，如果按照国际通行的会展带动周边产业比率来算，这个数字会达到约3万亿。

中国的会展行业已从最早的全部由政府主导，政府干预，演变到现在由市场选择，行业协会主导，政府辅助的模式。

从另外一个图表（图表B）我们可以发现，将近20年的时间里，会展的场地的供应从2008年的4517万平方米到2012年的8900万平方米，番了一番。2012年全国共举办展出面积5000平方米以上的展览会7189场，较2011年增长5.3%；展出总面积8990万平方米，较2011年增长10.7%。

当前中国MICE市场SWOT分析
优势
中国MICE行业的优势无疑首先来自于中国自身这个巨大的市场。
中国经济的迅速增长使其所产生的商业活动市场比任何国家增长都要快，MICE这个蛋糕的份额也可想而知。据2011年全球最大的会议及选址公司汇伯HelmsBriscoe报道，随着每年数千万次会议的举办，中国会议及活动行业的市值预计已达到1500亿美元。中国会展产业正以每年20%的速度迅速增长，预示将有无限商机带给MICE服务商。过去5年中国的旅游订单从2009年时的548亿增长到2013年的1055亿，几乎完成翻倍增长。

劣势
国内MICE市场最大的劣势可归纳为：专业性不足。其中包括专业人才、服务理念、专业机构、专业平台等等。这些在很大程度上未能满足对MICE较有要求和独自见解的公司、企业的需求。

目前国内MICE行业对于MICE的理解尚停留在字面，而并非对其本质、精髓有着深刻认识。并且，相应的会议解决方案也只是单一的价格战、硬件战。市场上最多的是“会议包价”，而根据组织性质、公司文化、企业价值观及会议目的给到的量身定做的会议解决方案少之又少。另外，中国MICE市场目前主要集中于前期阶段——即会议场地的销售，而对于会议过程中是否能提供专业人员协助会议顺利进行，会议结束之后是否能给予专业的、个性化的归纳、意见及跟进，目前均为空白。这与国外MICE市场所倡导的“个性化一条龙”服务仍存在一定距离。

机会
国内MICE行业起步较晚，仍为新兴行业， 其在第三产业的价值和地位日益提高 。与国外于20年前就开始推进MICE产业比较，中国的MICE行业无疑更为年轻和充满机遇。中国的MICE行业尚欠缺独立、专业及权威的机构，缺乏详细的专业数据报告及行业组织（目前均以政府行为为主）。并且，在整个MICE领域并无定期行业聚会及整合平台。这些无疑是个空白，亦是机遇。

另外，亚太地区国际会议举办的数量逐年增多是一个很可喜的趋势。而受政策影响，MICE行业由向政府要效益转为向市场要效益，将是MICE市场一个全新的机会。

最后，虽然目前国内MICE行业发展势态良好，但整体仍以中小型展会为主，在整个MICE行业成熟之后，相信对于大型展会及国际性会议的需求比重会相应增加。

威胁
中国的MICE行业的威胁可用四个字来形容：内外夹击。即：国内政策变化带来的影响及其他地区及国家带来的竞争。

于内，在“八项规定、六项禁令”影响下，政府会议、团代会、联盟会预定明显下降， 同时，各个企业也都在调整自己的预算。而人工成本却呈上升形势。客观上，雾霾气候也一定程度了影响了会议数量。

于外，中国作为一个MICE行业起步较晚，相对不成熟的国家而言，在世界整个的格局中仍然相对弱小。目前中国作为MICE目的地，主要的竞争和威胁来自于：中国香港、中国澳门、新加坡、澳洲、新西兰及部分欧洲城市。

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