FEELING the heat from fierce Asian competition for MICE business, Japan is taking this challenge seriously, with plans to renew a focus on the market next year.
Explaining that a government review resulted in the elimination of a MICE-specific budget for its 2011 fiscal year, Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) director, international tourism promotion division, Shuichi Kameyama, said the country was not able to compete effectively for MICE in the past year, as it could only afford to attend a few tradeshows.
Kameyama added that between March and June, 60 international conferences were cancelled as a result of the double disasters, even though some were scheduled to be held as far ahead as 2013.
“I was quite shocked. Why cancel meetings to be held in two years’ time? We need to convince them that Japan is okay,” he said.
Kameyama said JTA would lobby the government for a dedicated budget of around 300 million yen (US$3.9 million) for 2012, which it would use to host key players, develop a market strategy and build an ecosystem that supports MICE, in addition to participating in international trade fairs.
Japan National Tourism Organization executive director, marketing and promotion department, Mamoru Kobori, added: “If this budget is gone, our international competitiveness will weaken.”
However, Kobori was optimistic that 2012 would be a positive year for MICE, pointing out that Japan would host three huge important meetings: the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, which would see 2,000 participants in Tokyo; Sibos, a 8,000-pax meeting by SWIFT in Osaka; and the World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit attended by over 1,000 delegates, to be held in both Tokyo and Sendai.
“If all the meetings are successful, we’ll be able to announce that there is no problem of meeting in Japan…It’s a symbolic series of events,” he said.
