China's Cities Grow in MICE Appeal

Xiamen

Chinese cities such as Xiamen and Wuzhen are reporting a significant surge in MICE business This has happened because of recent upgrades in MICE hardware and heightened marketing efforts,.

Soukin Caojin, marketing director of Xiamen C&D Tourism and Hotels, which acts as Xiamen’s CVB, said: “Our MICE campaign is into its fourth year, and the city has seen consecutive 30 per cent year-on-year growth in MICE arrivals during this period. One-third of the traffic is from Fujian, with the rest from other parts of China and overseas.”

Xiamen hosted the AstraZeneca National Sales Conference for 5,000 delegates in February, and is expecting at least 10 medical conferences this year.

All hotels in Xiamen offer a RMB10,000 (US$1,590) rebate for events with 100-200 pax from at least five different countries, and RMB50,000 for events with 8,000 pax or more.

The city, with 2,740 five-star rooms, saw the opening of the 520-key Xiamen International Conference Hotel last year.

Another second-tier city, Wuzhen, launched its MICE department three years ago. Last year, the city drew about six to eight conference groups with 15-500 pax each week.

Wuzhen

According to Yuanmin Zhu, deputy general manager, Wuzhen Tourism, MICE revenue jumped from RMB12 million in 2010 to RMB20 million last year. “Our goal is to boost the MICE proportion of overall receipts from 10 per cent to 35 per cent,” he said.

Wuzhen, which has about 800 five-star hotel rooms, will get a new conference centre for 1,500 pax this August.