Revenue from meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions in Taiwan has soared to more than US$1 billion – making it the island state’s fastest growing industry, according to official figures.
Meet Taiwan, the MICE promotion project under Taitra (Taiwan External Trade Development Council), says figures show that cash generated from meetings, incentive travel, conferences and exhibitions reached a new high of US$1.23 billion.
Officials attributed this to the Taiwan government’s emphasis on meeting global demands and keeping up with trends emerging from manufacturing-focused trade shows.
“Culture-based showcases and community support events with topics that include design and culture, green lifestyles, smart cities and CSR-related corporate tours” contributed to the industry’s “aggressive development”, says a statement from Meet Taiwan.
More than 500 business events and conferences were held in 2014 – 21 per cent up from 2013. The increase resulted from leading trade events such as Computex, Taipei International Cycle Show, both at Taiwan World Trade Centre exhibition complex in Taipei, and the Taiwan International Boat Show, at Kaohsiung Exhibition Centre.
Nearly 190,000 international business travellers visited Taiwan in 2014 to attend MICE events, figures show, notably from Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Australia.
Ming Shui Yeh, Deputy Secretary-General of Taitra says “544 MICE events were registered in Taiwan last year. With the inauguration of new convention and exhibition facilities in the northern Taipei suburb of Nangang, the southern industrial area of Kaohsiung, and more planned for centrally located Taichung.”
Ming says the mayor of Kaohsiung City expects and increase in business events and conferences in 2015 and forecasts US$6.4 billion in revenue generated by the southern city’s MICE association.
Taitra is investing US$5.3 million in the Meet Taiwan project while the Ministry of Economic Affairs is allocating $230 million to “accelerate the growth of talent, facilities, research expertise, and marketing support in 2015” for the future of the industry in Taiwan.
