SEOUL MICE Alliance gained 39 new members in August bringing the public-private coalition representing the city’s MICE industry to a total of 299. Several unique venues created by the South Korean capital’s recent urban regeneration efforts joined the industry alliance this year.
New members include Seoul’s Oil Tank Culture Park (below), once an emergency oil reserve built in the late 1970s after the 1973 oil crisis, which has been transformed into a cultural event complex for meetings, art exhibitions and performances.
Other urban renewal venues among the newest SMA members include S factory, a trendsetting venue for creatives set in the walls of a former textile factory and garages, and Baesan, a former warehouse turned into an industrial-style, flexible space for product launches and smaller exhibitions.
Recently opened hotels in Seoul such as Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun Hotel & Residences and RYSE, a boutique offering from Marriott’s Autograph Collection, also joined the alliance.
The Seoul MICE Alliance was established in 2011 as a public-private partnership between the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul Tourism Organisation, and service providers across the MICE industry, including hotels, PCOs, transportation, travel agencies and entertainment companies.
Users of Seoul MICE Alliance members’ services can qualify for additional benefits from the Seoul Convention Bureau. If corporate meeting and incentive groups use three or more SMA members, international participants can receive Seoul MICE Cards – rechargeable transit card that can also be used at convenience stores and select shops – with a value of 8,000 Korean won (about US$7).
More from MIX on the Seoul MICE Alliance…
Jin-Hyeok Park, director of the Seoul Convention Bureau, a division of the Seoul Tourism Organisation, said the expanded alliance represented the “diversity of the city’s MICE offerings” and strengthened the city’s competitiveness in attracting overseas groups
Major events to be held in Seoul MICE Alliance members’ facilities include the 38th Congress of the Société Internationale D’Urologie with 2,500 participants at Seoul Dragon City and the 22nd World Organisation of Family Doctors World Conference with 5,000 participants at Coex Convention & Exhibition Centre.
