Business Related Trips

The term "MICE" in the context of travel is an acronym for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions. The MICE market refers to a specialized niche of group tourism dedicated to planning, booking, and facilitating conferences, seminars, and other events, which is a big moneymaker in the travel industry.

The Different Types

When it comes to understanding which type of MICE travel you'll be booking with your agent, it's important to understand the different terms that comprise the acronym. While meeting and conference travel may sound similar, for instance, the slight differences between them will be important when explaining your needs to your agent.

Meeting Travel

The International Association of Professional Congress Organizers defines a meeting as any number of people coming together in one place for a particular activity, which can be a one-time event or recur regularly. Simply put, meeting travel refers to organizing any number of people for such a meeting, which means it could also include a company sporting trip.

Conference Travel

On the other hand, a conference is similar to a meeting in that it is a gathering of people coming together in one place, but conferences usually have specific objectives and exchanges of information. Therefore, conference travel involves organizing itineraries, meetings, and events for people from the same profession or field.

Incentive travel

Incentive travel may be one of the harder components of MICE travel to understand since it doesn't necessarily deal with group events. Instead, incentive travel is typically given to employees as a reward. Incentive travel doesn't usually have a business or explicit educational component but instead is more of a non-business vacation with the aim of continued motivation for performance.

Exhibition Travel

At an exhibition, products or services are displayed, and they might be the primary focus of the event, which means that exhibition travel agents are those who organize such showcases. Exhibitions are often included in other conferences and meetings, though, meaning that there is often overlap between agents in these industries. Businesses court new clients and debut their latest offerings at these events.