Abstract
The environmental impacts of meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE, Event) industries are as far reaching as their economic reach. The travelers who attend events patronize a wide variety of businesses: airlines, car rental agencies, hotels, restaurants, performance venues, and tour operators. The overall research objectives of this study fall on two aspects of sustainability in the event industry: the most prevalent practices that the industry employs and the relative importance of sustainability to convention consumers. This study implements mixed research methods in order to explore the perceptions of sustainable event development in the metropolitan area of Bangkok, Thailand. Empirical evidence on significant issues for event sustainability is provided. Based on the results, recommendations are made to improve sustainable event development in Thailand and offer guidance to the event industry so that it can develop its potential and gain greater prominence on the world MICE stage.
Highlights
The acronym ’MICE’ stands for meetings, incentive travel, conventions, and exhibitions and is recognized as a significant market segment of the tourist industry at large [1,2,3]
The questionnaire design was modeled after the green meetings standard from the Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) and event sustainability guideline from Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB).The content of the survey questionnaires was developed to examine respondents’ perceptions of how important each of the criteria are for sustainable events development and to gain insight into how well event organizers were incorporating those criteria into the events attended by the respondents
The interview schedule was designed to understand the perception of government, academics and venues towards the interviewees were asked to express their opinions and perspectives regarding barriers or problems that might effect of the sustainable development of the event industry in Thailand
Summary
The acronym ’MICE’ stands for meetings, incentive travel, conventions, and exhibitions and is recognized as a significant market segment of the tourist industry at large [1,2,3]. Over the last decade there has been substantial development in convention and meeting industries, and countries have responded by expanding the provision of facilities and infrastructure as a means to attract this lucrative share of the tourism market [5]. The industry consists of multiple hospitality service sectors including lodging, food and beverage, catering, convention services, convention facility rentals, transportation, tourism, retail, and entertainment [1,6]. MICE industries share several common characteristics with hospitality service sectors, such as inseparability of production and consumption, perishability, and seasonality. As many countries have started emphasizing the economic benefits associated with MICE activities, they have quickly attracted commercial attention—especially in Asia, where economic and trade activities experience rapid growth
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