The Incentive Conference & Event Society Asia Pacific – ICE, which was launched earlier this year with an aim to provide APAC’s burgeoning MICE industry a common platform, is all set to launch training programmes for its members. The programmes will provide trainings in the MICE space and award the attendees certifications in the field. Members can then go on to get accredited in the space as well. This information was provided by Nigel Gaunt, Inaugural President, ICE at the Marriott Sales Mission that was held in Mumbai.
Speaking about the association, Gaunt said, “The MICE segment has crossed US$ 100 billion in the Asia Pacific alone and this year is going to be bigger. 80 per cent of the world’s MICE business originates from the APAC region. We hence felt the need for a body that would focus on the corporate travel profile.”
The Singapore-based association is also set to lunch it’s inaugural ICE Conference in November 2014, and it’s ICE Exchange in 2015 for it’s 200+ members. The association expects this number to increase to 2,500 to 3,000 members in the next three years.
Speaking about the Indian MICE space Gaunt opined, “MICE in India is very big, especially if you count the wedding segment. We are expecting membership from India to touch 500-750 in the next three years. To build awareness, we may have quarterly events in the metro cities as we feel the need for India-specific events is high to build a presence here.”
