LOCAL government offices have become the latest target audiences of the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy, which is planning a MICE show aimed at driving government-level meetings and events to 14 destinations across the country.
The destinations identified for MICE development are Jakarta, Bali, Bandung, Jogjakarta, Makassar, Surabaya, Medan, Manado, Semarang, Batam, Lombok, Solo, Palembang and Padang-Bukittinggi.
Explaining the move, deputy minister of tourism & creative economy, Sapta Nirwandar, said: “The government offices have so many meetings.”
He noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for example, would conduct international and domestic meetings of various sizes, while each directorate general in the Ministry of Public Works would host its own series of meetings.
Recognising that each government organisation has its own policies on meetings and events, Rizki Handayani, director of MICE & special interest marketing with the Ministry of Tourism & Creative Economy, said: “We are collecting data from the various government departments on the decision-makers and the meetings they organise.”
Handayani has learnt that there are six directorate generals in the Ministry of Public Works, and each hosts two coordination meetings with stakeholders around Indonesia every year. Each meeting is attended by 1,000 to 1,500 delegates. These exclude other smaller gatherings held annually.
Handayani pointed out that many government agencies were unaware of the development of MICE facilities and infrastructure around Indonesia, so a MICE show connecting central government officers with Indonesian MICE stakeholders would be beneficial.
The ministry has yet to decide on the show’s format, and one possible arrangement is a tabletop travel mart where local city or tourism government officials and MICE stakeholders are invited as sellers and central government officers as buyers.
Jogjakarta Tourism Office director, Tazbir Abdullah, welcomed the initiative, saying that it would enable the city to showcase its MICE potential, facilities, packages by DMCs and hotels, and the extent of incentives and support available to event planners.
He added that Jogjakarta was ready to host government agencies on fam trips to tour the city’s MICE facilities.
Indonesia Tourist Promotion Board board member, Didin Junaedi, said “an event like this” would drive government events beyond the usual mature destinations in Indonesia, such as Bali and Jakarta.
