An incentive travel and meeting conference in Nanjing has highlighted the former capital as one of the “golden markets” in China when it comes to emerging destinations for business events.
More than a hundred qualified buyers attended the Nanjing MICE Procurement Conference at the historical city’s International Youth Culture Centre, September 10 to 11, co-organised by Nanjing Municipal Tourism Garden Bureau and MICE China.
Of the qualified buyers, eight represented corporate end users, with the remainder coming from MICE agencies, PCOs and events companies, according to the organisers.
Two major events have been confirmed following the conference and are due to be held in Nanjing in the next four months. Organisers said they were an education product annual meeting for 1,800 people in November and a pharmaceutical company conference for 3,000 in January 2016.
Xia Jun, deputy director of Nanjing Municipal Tourism Garden Bureau, said the city had already built a reputation among meeting organisers in China following the successful hosting of Asia Youth Games in 2013 and the Youth Olympics in 2014.
She said more organisers were now realising Nanjing’s benefits as an incentives destination with a wide choice of options for post-conference excursions.
“More foreign corporates have been bringing this new [incentives] concept to Nanjing and it has now become one of the essential products to the MICE industry in the city,” Xia told MIX.
“More corporates are holding events in Nanjing. Hardware development including infrastructures and hotels has increased a lot with better staff who have more experience,” she said.
Nanjing has been placed sixth in China for meeting and incentive activities in a ranking based on a survey carried out by several MICE agencies, said Xia. Hangzhou and Suzhou were ranked ahead of Nanjing.
Xia said the 600-year-old City Wall of Nanjing (main picture) was an ideal backdrop for outdoor events. The wall was built during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and architecture that survived from the Republic of China period (1912-1949) has been preserved. Historic buildings have also been protected with a view to some being used as event space.
Nanjing East Suburb has an open-air venue close to a national park forest park that can be used for festivals or concerts.
“We have to work well with corporates by communicating well with them and trying to provide them with what they want,” Xia said of Nanjing tourism’s plans for the meetings and incentive market.
