More agenceis move into events
AS CORPORATE clients
continue to trim travel
spend, an increasing
number of travel agencies
and specialist travel
management companies
have ventured into the
Meetings, Incentives,
Conferences and
Exhibitions space to attract
increased business.
The African Business
Travel Association’s
founder, Monique Swart,
says TMCs are recognising
the link between travel and events
and positioning themselves to cover
all services. Many have opened
destination management divisions
or have partnered with destination
management companies. “I think this
is a natural progression and TMCs
that are offering these services have
opened up a nice new income stream
for themselves.”
But most industry stakeholders
recommend circumspection when
moving into MICE, which requires
specialist skills.
“There is definitely a gap in the
market and understanding that
travel is under both exchange rate
and economic pressure, we need to
diversify to find alternative sources
of income,” says Marco Cristofoli,
coo of the BidTravel Leisure Cluster.
“This is quite a unique market and
something Harvey World Travel will
be investigating. That being said, it is
a specialised area of travel and we
would suggest using the
services of a tour operator
that has a track record of
experience in this area.”
Marco Ciocchetti, ceo of
the XL Travel consortium,
recently told TNW: “Within
XL Travel we have
members that specialise
in the MICE sphere of
travel and do it well. We
encourage our members
to be the best at what they
do and not dabble in every
sphere of travel. MICE
can be lucrative, however it requires
technology and expertise.”
Although diversifying into MICE is
a logical progression for retail travel
companies, says the Global Business
Travel Association’s chair, Howard
Stephens, the commodity is not quite
the same as booking travel and travel
consultants are not the same animal
as a professional conference organiser
or incentive travel organiser.
And yet, many travel agencies find
themselves not only booking the travel
element of conferences, exhibitions
and meetings, but getting involved in
venue hire and other aspects of MICE.
Some do an excellent job, says
outgoing SAACI ceo, Adriaan
Liebetrau, but others go into it with
little knowledge of the scope of work
involved. He concedes that they are
often pressurised into taking on
meetings organisation by clients for
whom they want to go the extra mile.
He suggests a cautious approach.
