MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) industry is a very lucrative sector of the tourism industry. We can see that the number of MICE facilities in the world constantly rises as the demand for meetings grows.
For the year 2008 there is couple of new trends and continuous development of some current trends. The importance of environmentally friendly facilities is growing every year. Customers want to be as “green” as possible. This trend is also reflected in the MICE sector and it will be important this year as well. The green approach could be seen for example in the growing use of laptops for note taking during meetings. More and more paperwork will move to cyberspace. Numerous contracts are nowadays delivered through the Internet and the trend is expected to continue.
The number of Interactive Event Websites will also rise. Websites are more often setup to review the material discussed during the day. This is definitely greener than using paper handouts during a meeting. Technological development influences everything in our society and the MICE sector is no exception. The meeting facilities need to be equipped with the newest gadgets. Once unusual the wireless connectivity is today a necessity. Also, new equipment like e.g. 360-degree cams is being installed in conference rooms. A common problem with this is that the development in the advanced technology is so fast that some brand new equipment may become obsolete in less than 12 months.
Healthy life style is also very popular these days. This will be reflected in the food offered during the meetings. We can expect foods to be healthier, meaning low fat and low cal. Furthermore, team building seems to become more demanded this year. Teams will participate in sports or other team activities like e.g. spelunking or rock climbing. Those who prefer to stay in a city may try making a group movie.
