In a first-of-its-kind association with a state tourism board to promote MICE tourism, the India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) partnered with West Bengal Tourism to organise the first-ever Bengal MICE Conclave 2025. The two-day event will be held in Kolkata between February 4 and 6 alongside the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS).
According to ICPB, the conclave, slated at ITC Royal Bengal, will be attended by 200 to 250 hosted buyers, sellers and exhibitors, including 80 foreign buyers, association heads, PCOs, etc. It will also include B2B meetings, reverse marketing sessions, and networking events.
The sellers and exhibitors will be exclusively from West Bengal and will include hotels, venues, cruise companies, and other service providers.
According to Chander Mansharmani, Vice Chairman of ICPB, they have invited top-of-the-line speakers to the MICE conclave to discuss and deliberate on opportunities and challenges associated with MICE tourism in the state. “We will discuss how to bid for international congresses and meetings and place West Bengal on the MICE tourism map of the country and the region,” he said.
“Here we are promoting exclusively West Bengal. It is the first time we are partnering exclusively with a state tourism board for a MICE promotion event of this scale,” said Mansharmani. He noted that the ICPB leadership will also be participating in the BGBS. MICE, he said, is more about business and industry than tourism.
As a prelude to the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, Tourism Corporation of Gujarat (TCGL) and India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) are jointly organising a three-day event, The 14th Conventions India Conclave (CIC) on the theme of “Sustainable MICE: Empowering Event Towards the USD 5 Trillion Economy” from December 7 to 9 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. 30 exhibitors and 80 buyers will be a part of the event.
The conclave will also see ICPB facilitating key MoUs between global associations and West Bengal Tourism. “We are hopeful of signing 5 to 6 MoUs during the conclave. They are in the finalisation stages currently,” he said. He added these MoUs will enable both partners to work on the modalities to bring important association meetings and conferences into Kolkata in the coming years.Mansharmani believes that the “mileage” that ICPB derives from the Bengal MICE conclave will help them showcase it to other state tourism boards and do many more state-specific MICE events and conclaves in the coming years.
“Tourism is a state subject in India, and we have to work with states individually to promote MICE,” he said. ICPB is in talks with states like Rajasthan, Karnataka, UP, etc., to organise similar state-specific MICE events, he informed.
