Indian MICE ‘Chase’ Snake Charmers and Call Centres pt 2

India is far more than snake charmers and glittering palaces.  India offers more than bustling call centres and advanced facilities for medical tourism. 

India is the vibrant venue for memorable conferences, exhibitions, meetings and incentives, said Rajeev Kohli, Vice Chairman, India Conference Promotion Board (ICPB) and the keynote speaker at a Destination India tourism initiative organised in the Sydney Harbour Marriott Circular Quay by Tourism India, Sydney and the Australia India Business Council.

Co-sponsored by QANTAS, Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces and Jet Airways, the event drew nearly 100 corporate leaders, senior travel industry personnel and media representatives who were told about the latest moves being made by India to position and market itself as a globally recognised MICE destination.

During his comprehensive multimedia presentation Rajeev Kohli gave a detailed analysis of “one of the world’s fastest growing destinations for conventions and meetings of all shapes and sizes”.

Getting around India has also never been easier.  It’s a large country and there are many ways to get around.  We have over 12 domestic carriers with over 1000 flights a day connecting over 80 cities.  We have major issues with too many flights going on. 

[Pictured: Rajeev Kohli gave a presentation on the state-of-the-art MICE industry in India during a comprehensive multimedia presentation.]

We have a lot of low cost carriers which have given the average Indian the ability to fly to places that would have taken then three days by train.  We have the second largest railway network in the world carrying over 20 million passengers a day. 

Of course, there is a comprehensive highway system all over the country.  So for any project that is coming to India, getting around the destination is as easy as to get into India.

Events worldwide are done between April to September and that’s interesting to us in India because April to September is our shoulder period when we have maximum capacity. 

Now for a client who has budget issues or a client who wants to do something larger and may not be able to get capacity in the season time, there are parts of the shoulder period which can easily come in, which you can come to any part of India and do the event without any problems whatsoever.  

As a destination you have places where you [can] do events in summer on beaches.  You have the most amazing destinations in the hills which are totally unknown, hill stations from the British era.  [You have] the most amazing and beautiful hotels which you would not see anywhere else in the world and the most ideal time for them is in our summers.

India produces over three million degree holders a year, 700,000 post graduates and 1500 PhDs.  We have the largest qualified pool of engineers and the third largest pool of skilled manpower in the world.  This is a rich base for any industry who wants to go explore doing business in India or go take their delegates and interact with them. 

And of course, English is our national language.  It is perhaps the only language that binds the country.  We have about 13 per cent of the population speaking fluent English. 

As a MICE destination India is very, very serious.  The Government of India has given great investment opportunities and subsidies for building world class conference centres.  In addition to the recently announced conference centre that will come up by 2010/2011 on the outskirts of Delhi there’s a conference centre coming up in Goa, in Bombay, Bangalore [and in] Chennai.  

Basically every city in India has decided that we are going to build it better than the others.  They all want to keep up with the Jones.  It’s going to be a very interesting situation for us four years from now. 

Ten thousand hotel rooms are also expected to come on line in six major cities by 2010 and in my estimate this is going to make India one of the best value for money destinations around.

[Pictured: In the past few years a number of sophisticated conference facilities have been built in India including this venue in Kashmir.]

There is also meeting room for every facility.  We have world class facilities for meetings of all shapes and sizes.  I go to ICCA [International Conference and Congress Association] research which says that about 64 per cent of all meetings world wide are less than 500 people and about 83 per cent are less than 1000. 

Given that, India has enough space for you to bring in any event of any shape and size to any part of the country.  We have trained manpower and support services for the MICE industry. 

We have many professional PCOs and DMCs in our fraternity.  We also have a strong association base which is very important for any international association or corporate to bring an event to India.  

As you have seen in the advertising over the last two years, India is incredible.  There are fascinating options for dinners, meetings in forts and palaces, pre and post tours not only all over the country but in the region as well.  India is just all around inspiring.  It’s an incredible destination.

As a destination one of our pride and joys is the new Hyderabad International Convention Centre run by ACCOR.  It has been built and designed by them.  It is India’s first purpose built convention facility and it can take up to about 5000 people in the plenary convention hall.  It is about 6500 pillar less sq. metres.  It’s got 22 other rooms of all shapes and sizes. 

What this one facility has done aside from bringing events into the country, it has kick started the drive for other cities and other states because it is a public/private sector partnership.  All of a sudden other states want to do this and they want to do it better.  By 2010/2011 we are going to [have] six of these centres all over the country. 

As a nation we have some of the finest hotels in the world.  This is unquestioned.  As a destination we can offer accommodation to meet any budget and every whim and fancy of the client.  India has the finest dining in the world.  You name it; we can feed it to you. 

Options range from a camp meal in the desert, dining on a boat, staying at the Lake Palace Hotel, having a magnificent maharaja’s evening in Jaipur or just dining by water in, believe it or not, Bombay. 

[Pictured: A dazzling fashion show can be incorporated as part of themed evening during a memorable incentive.]

As a venue, India has it all and can do it all.  You just need to find the right partner and give them the right instructions and guide them through what your client is like.  The more you can tell your Indian partner what the client is like, the more they are going to be able to tell you what the country can give them. 

India offers amazing themes: elephant polo where you can actually sit on top the elephant and play the game.  At first none of the clients want to do it but after the first two there is a line.   It’s an amazing experience to sit on a one tonne animal and try and tell him what to do but he doesn’t listen. 

[Other themes are] cattle carts in the desert, gala evenings at hotels … India is a destination where your guests can dress up.  I personally like events which are interactive.   You don’t have to have people standing around, you need to immerse them in a pirate’s evening in Goa, a Bollywood evening in Bombay and team building activities on the beach. 

There’s something for everybody and it’s the experiences [that make India so memorable]: taking guests to a local temple to be blessed by the priest, Ayurveda, the Indian science of massage using oils, Yoga, cooking classes, heritage walks in the old parts of Delhi and interactive lectures with specialists on society, on the caste system. 

India is such a large country with such diverse cultures and such diverse people.  It is a destination that can never bore you.  There is something that is going to interest your client no matter how weird you think it may be.

Exclusive Report by Thomas E. King, TravelMole’s Travel and Lifestyle Editor