The beaches are packed and the bars are humming. Its looks all so happy and life is rocking. For seven months the foreign tourists flock in decent numbers and everyone is happy. But for businesses to sustain, customers have to be walking through the door round the year. The hospitality industry is no different. In Goa, apart from the tourists who fly in from all over the world and from various parts of the country, the events and seminars business or MICE as it is called is a segment that is growing at a rapid rate.
For hotels of various grades, seminars and conferences provide a growing percentage of the bottom line. With budgets ranging anywhere between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 1 crore conservatively, this is a market the marketing heads of all hotels are looking at very seriously.
For Tanya Viegas, senior sales manager, Goa Marriott Resort & Spa the MICE segment of hotel business forms one of its most important elements. Apart from assisting with volumes in terms of room revenue, this segment also touches upon incremental business from other streams such as catering, recreation, other food and beverage and overall, total hotel revenue. In most cases, it helps with forming a base for the hotel which would assist with yielding and maximizing room rates thus helping a hotel drive its occupancies.
Sentiments echoed by Siddharth Savkur, general manager – Alila Diwa Goa who said it was a very important segment and especially so in Goa. He said “It gives a healthy volume of business at a more than decent profitability, which is good for the bottom line. This segment also creates strong word of mouth referral and the potential for repeat clientele”.
This segment is also very important for resort destinations like Hard Rock Hotel Goa. Vikas Sharma, general manager, said “In resort destinations while the weekend business is driven by FIT business, convention and seminars not only drive revenue over the weekdays on the rooms front but also contribute substantially to the F&B and miscellaneous revenue streams for the hotel, directly enhancing the top line and bottom line”.
A senior executive of a hotel in the north said events and seminars was a business segment that was growing very fast. He said “the number of conferences has been growing over the last 4 years. Depending on the season FIT is around 80% with MICE around 15 to 20%”. The average stay of the delegates at these seminars and conferences are usually 2 nights and 3 days. Various GM’s contacted for this article said the average stay was usually 3 day maximum with the odd senior executive extending their stay. The oft repeated statement that the season in Goa now extends through the year has a grain of truth.
Anand Chatterjee, General Manager, Planet Hollywood Beach Resort Goa said the MICE segment produces business throughout the year however, it peaks in the summer and monsoon months due to availability of rooms, cheaper air fare and incidentals. His property he said had done some small, niche and high ends conferences and weddings in winter months too. Tanya Viegas said conventions and seminars take place on a monthly basis throughout the year barring time frames that overlap festivals and other holidays. Vikas Sharma was of the opinion that conventions and seminars were usually city specific and in Goa it was a regular occurrence. There was he said high movement during April, May, September and October.
In terms of budgets of the conferences and seminars, every one asked turned very coy, preferring to give figures which were ballpark. The estimated figures given were between Rs 15-20 lakh. Anand Chatterjee however was candid when he said it was not unusual for companies to spend anywhere between Rs 30 lakh up to a crore for a two or three nights event.
Business, the common claim was that it came from sectors as diverse pharmaceuticals, FMCG, banking, manufacturing, telecom and insurance largely. No one however had an idea as to the size of the market in Goa, though one senior executive said he would not disagree if the market was over Rs 500 crore. He smiled and said this number was possible when one added the number of weddings taking place and the fact that the parties usually featured very good food and expensive alcohol. Seminars and conferences, he said also featured expensive alcohol which was always a large part of the bill.
To ensure corporate’s continue to come and more importantly there were repeat orders many of the properties were investing and offering extras. From the Goa Marriott Resort & Spa which offers the Marriott’s “Meeting Imagined” tool for event planner which encourages design immersive conferences that encourage attendee engagement to Alila Diwa Goa which engages with organisers to offer bespoke experiences both within and outside the resort. They help organize crab-fishing trips, team activities like paintball and zoccer; drum circle and unique performing acts. Then there is the Hard Rock Hotel Goa, which has music as its key differentiator and focuses on music activations during conventions and seminars.
With the number of conferences and seminars expected to increase even more with the domestic market providing 95% of the market, GM’s of hotels in the state will have to be on their toes to take advantage of the growth expected to grow for over the next decade at a minimum.
