Quang Ninh still has enormous potential for developing MICE tourism , for both domestic and international markets.
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| Quang Ninh is emerging as an ideal location for MICE tourism. (Source: FLC) |
Ideal destination
In recent years, Quang Ninh's tourism sector has achieved high growth in both quality and quantity, making a significant contribution to the province's development. The international tourist market to Quang Ninh includes approximately 100 countries and territories, with Northeast Asia being a prominent example.
Currently, the province has approximately 2,049 accommodation establishments with 34,812 rooms, including 1,557 tourist accommodation establishments with 28,785 rooms that have been classified (343 hotels meeting standards and ratings from 1 to 5 stars with 14,799 rooms, and 174 cruise ships with 2,151 rooms).
High-end hotels concentrated in the tourist centers of Ha Long, Mong Cai, Cam Pha, Dong Trieu, etc., can host conferences, seminars, and large-scale events such as Muong Thanh Quang Ninh, Vinpearl Ha Long, Wyndham Legend Ha Long, FLC Ha Long, Hoang Gia, Novotel Ha Long... These hotels have clearly defined market segments, investing in serving business travelers, international guests, businesspeople, and high-end tourists with comprehensive services, from accommodation systems to event organization capabilities with facilities meeting international conference standards.
Quang Ninh also boasts a diverse and well-developed service system, including hundreds of establishments such as 24 restaurants, 27 shopping areas, 1 entertainment venue, and 11 tourist beaches that have been certified as meeting tourism service standards. The Quang Ninh tourism industry also employs a large workforce of 23,000 direct and 37,000 indirect workers.
In Quang Ninh province, 12 out of 14 localities have recognized tourist routes and destinations, comprising 33 routes, 91 tourist destinations, 2 local tourist areas, and 1 national tourist area. Expanding cooperation, promoting market development, and advertising and building the Ha Long-Quang Ninh tourism brand, linked to the Ha Long Bay heritage site, towards developing world-class tourism products and services, has proven effective.
Coordination and linkage in tourism development with key domestic and international tourism destinations are being prioritized, along with ensuring connectivity between tours, routes, tourist areas, and tourism products to increase tourist length and spending.
For the reasons mentioned above, Quang Ninh is emerging as an ideal location for MICE tourism (tourism combining conferences, seminars, incentive travel, and events).
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| The number of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) tours brought to Ha Long by domestic and international travel agencies is increasing. (Photo: Le Cuong) |
There is huge potential.
In fact, in recent years, the number of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) tours brought to Ha Long by domestic and international travel agencies has been increasing, opening up new prospects for attracting tourists to Quang Ninh.
Numerous high-level national and international conferences, seminars, cultural, sports, and tourism events have been successfully held in Ha Long. Notable examples include the APEC 2017 High-Level Policy Dialogue on Sustainable Tourism, held at Vinpearl Ha Long Bay resort in Ha Long City, attracting approximately 200 delegates from 21 APEC member economies ; the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2019 (ATF 2019); and the Ha Long International Circus Festival 2019…
Besides seminars and investment signing ceremonies, major events, cultural weeks, and festivals are also important pillars for the development of the MICE tourism model. These include the highly attractive Ha Long Carnival, the largest dance and food festival in Northern Vietnam, the Sun Dance Festival, and the Sunrise Festival.
During the summer of 2023, Quang Ninh witnessed a boom in this type of tourism with impressive figures. According to statistics, in the first half of 2023, the number of visitors to Quang Ninh was estimated at 8.86 million, with total tourism revenue estimated at 16,660 billion VND. Of this, MICE tourism saw growth of 25-50%. This was also the sector that recovered best for most major travel companies, accounting for approximately 60-70% of the total number of visitors.
Most recently, during the September 2nd holiday, Vietluxtour travel company organized a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) tourism program in Ha Long from September 1st to 3rd, attracting 1,400 guests. Visitors experienced various activities such as a marathon race on Vietnam's most beautiful coastal road; a football tournament; a gala dinner summarizing the business activities of the participating companies; and many other sightseeing and exploration activities in Ha Long.
Experts believe that Quang Ninh has enormous potential for developing MICE tourism, for both domestic and international markets.
In the future, for MICE tourism to develop, experts suggest that the province needs to improve its human resources and professionalism in organizing large-scale events. Furthermore, the tourism industry should not rely solely on existing tourism resources but should instead undergo a transformation in policy and foster multi-sectoral collaboration to create new, attractive destinations that draw high-quality tourists.
Furthermore, key tourism service providers such as travel agencies and the tourism industry itself need to innovate and develop newer, more attractive MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) tourism offerings to increase competitiveness with other destinations. At the same time, they should actively learn from the experiences of other provinces to improve their methods of attracting and anticipating new tourist trends.
With its existing advantages and the continuous efforts of the government and people, it is believed that Quang Ninh will be an attractive destination, comprehensively developing MICE tourism and attracting more high-quality international tourists to the locality.
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