The MICE Industry Is Ready To Rise Up Amid The COVID-19 Pandemic

Indonesia Corporate Travel and MICE (ICTM) press conference. (Didi Kurniawan / VOI)

JAKARTA - Industry Meeting, Incentive, Convention, Exhibition (MICE) is getting ready to rise from the impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) is currently drafting guidelines for cleanliness, health, safety and environmental sustainability for the implementation of MICE activities.

"The guideline has entered the final stages of drafting. COVID-19 has actually led to new innovations in the MICE industry because Indonesians are very creative," said the Deputy for Tourism Products and Activities of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Rizki Handayani, in Jakarta, Tuesday 1 September.

Based on forwardkeys data, tourist visits for business purposes in June showed a fairly good increase compared to the figure slumped in May of 69 percent.

This shows that MICE activities are starting to become active again. Of course, the guidelines for implementing MICE activities are very important to prepare so that Indonesia can return to being a safe MICE destination in accordance with health protocols.

The guidelines for hygiene, health, safety, and environmental sustainability in this MICE activity emphasize the application of standard procedures for implementing technical rules that will specifically be adjusted to the guidelines made by the MICE Industry and Association according to the needs in the field.

This is based on the Minister of Health's decision on Health Protocols for Communities in Public Places and Facilities for the Prevention and Control of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the implementation of MICE activities in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Kemenparekraf in collaboration with PT Biztrips Teknologi Multimedia Solusi will organize Indonesia Corporate Travel and MICE (ICTM) activities. This is to revive the tourism sector and the creative economy which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This activity is one of the efforts to revive the economy by taking advantage of domestic MICE activities which have begun to be active again. Rizki Handayani hopes that this year's ICTM implementation can be one of the positive motivations for the MICE Industry in Indonesia to remain optimistic and continue to be productive in the current uncertain times.

In addition, it is also hoped that the implementation of ICTM can become an arena to build the capacity and capability of MICE stakeholders who are involved by discussing each other and increasing networking to get new insights.

"So that they can collaborate with each other and make the MICE sector revive and make Indonesia a MICE destination that is safe, comfortable and has a value proposition that can win competition in the international world," said Rizki.

The ICTM is a business to business activity for corporate travel and the MICE Industry in a new normal era, which will be held in 5 cities, namely Jakarta, Bogor, Bali, Yogyakarta and Malang, from mid-September to late December 2020.

ICTM will present five main programs including talk shows, seller workshops, buyers meet sellers, buyers exchange forums, gala dinners and post tours. In this year's implementation, ICTM's main focus will be more on the business to business program that will bring together 30 buyers who are large corporations in Indonesia with 30 sellers who are MICE service providers in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Founder & Event Director, Indonesia Corporate Travel and MICE Johanes Chang said, Indonesia Corporate Travel and MICE (ICTM) can be a good platform for all key stakeholders to connect, share, learn from each other, and support each other's business growth, as well as together to accelerate the return of economic growth in Indonesia's tourism sector.

"The support and cooperation from the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is very important and meaningful for our platform and programs, as well as for all our colleagues in the industry," said Johanes.