Gujarat CM Pushes for MICE Industry Growth

Gandhinagar, Dec 7 (PTI) Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Thursday lamented that India's contribution to the global MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) industry stood below one per cent, and called for the need to focus on developing this sector as it has "huge scope".
He also said the Gujarat government was putting in efforts to develop 'conference tourism'.
Patel was addressing the '14th Conventions India Conclave', a pre-Vibrant Gujarat event, at Mahatma Mandir here.
"The global MICE industry is currently valued at nearly USD 800 billion, but India's contribution is less than one per cent of that. Globally, this sector's share in GDP is nearly 1.5 per cent. In India, it is just 0.2 per cent of the country's GDP," he said.
The CM said that 40 per cent revenue and 8 per cent of employment of the tourism sector comes from the MICE industry.
"It shows that there is huge scope and we all need to focus on developing this sector. Gujarat has developed several MICE destinations over the years. Gujarat has hosted several national and international-level events, including the G20. This makes Gujarat the most suitable place for MICE. Now, we are focusing on developing conference tourism," he said.
On the occasion, Gujarat CM and other dignitaries of the India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICBP) launched ICBP's Gujarat state chapter.
Gujarat Tourism Secretary Hareet Shukla said the state government was planning to develop at least 10 new convention centres in the near future.
"In the next five years, we are planning to develop new convention centres of international-level at 10 places in Gujarat, including at Kevadia, Kutch, Vadodara, Surat and Ahmedabad. Gujarat will put in all possible efforts to be a leading state in the MICE sector," Shukla said in his address.