Wednesday 7 June 2017

SOUTH KOREA: Seoul Third Most Popular For MICE

Seoul is the third most popular city for international meetings in 2016, according to the Union of International Associations (UIA), Monday.

According to the UIA's annual International Meetings Statistics Report, Seoul came in third for the second consecutive year in the number of international meetings held. The UIA is a nonprofit research institute based in Belgium.

According to the report, Seoul hosted 526 meetings last year, behind only Brussels which hosted 906 meetings and Singapore with 888.

On the national level, Korea ranked first by holding 997 international meetings followed by Belgium and Singapore. Fifty-three percent of these meetings were located in Seoul, followed by Busan and Jeju Island.

The city government welcomed the results.

Despite the relative disadvantages of Seoul's infrastructure compared to other cities, the city government was able to see such successful results by collaborating with partners and also continuing to develop its MICE industry, the city said in a statement.

MICE stands for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events.

The city government has endeavored to strengthen Seoul's international position and thereby its tourism, most notably by rolling out a master plan for MICE in 2013.

Under the plan, the city government has been developing existing infrastructure as well as new venues that can hold large conferences.

The International Meetings Statistics Report, first published in 1960, is an annual report that presents statistics about international meetings.

The report includes a selective list of meetings, organized or sponsored by international organizations that appear in the Yearbook of International Organizations and on the International Congress Calendar.

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