TITLE: PROSPECT AND CHALLENGES OF MICE TOURISM: THE
CASE OF ADDIS ABABA
Abstract
The MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) tourism segment is
increasingly recognized as a sector relevant to tourism development particularly
for countries such as Ethiopia, where tourism forms a key developmental strategy.
The capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, serves as a regional and international
hub for many meetings, with potential for growth of MICE tourism. The
Government of Ethiopia has set a vision to make Addis Ababa one of the top five
tourist destinations in Africa by 2020. The MICE niche serves as the backbone for
diversification, generating foreign exchange, national image building and exposure
of key tourism assets.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Background Information
Tourism is the act of people traveling from one place to another country, outside
their usual environment for different purposes such as: leisure, business, pleasure
and satisfaction of self-desires for a given period of time (UNWTO, 2010. There
are different types of tourism including: domestic tourism, international tourism.
Tourism is a vibrant and competitive industry that necessitates the ability to
constantly adapt to customer’s changing needs and requirement to ensure clients
safety, satisfaction and enjoyment to the maximum, (MOCT, 2013).
According to MOCT (2013) tourism constitutes a wide variety of sectors whose
purpose is to provide diverse services and products to both visitors and local
residents. This sector includes accommodation, travel service, entertainment,
recreation, transportation, and food and beverage service. Transportation service
includes use of airlines, taxis, cruise ships, and other travel service offered by
tourist companies. Other accommodation and entertainment service include resorts,
amusement parks, hotels, casinos, theatres, shopping malls and music venues. In
addition to food, beverage and recreation service, tourists also purchase many other
supplies including cloths, souvenirs and indigenous market products. Over
decades, this service has experienced continuous growth and improved diversity to
become one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world.
Tourism is classified as leisure and business tourism. Leisure tourism is also called
a pleasure tourism or holiday tourism. Leisure traveler is anyone with the
necessary spare time and money and visits all kinds of destination like coastal, city,
mountain and countryside and also pay for the service they will have. Leisure
travelers are tourists who take their trip during classic holiday Proceedings of the
11th Annual Student Research Forum, August 2017 period and at weekends,
usually booked a few months in advance; short brakes a few days. Business
tourism is primarily concerned with business and occurs during work times. Most
of the time organizers of the trip choose travelers destination, take their trip all year
round through Monday to Friday. Business trips must be made at very short notice,
the tour undertaken by business men or member of association or companies and
largely travel to towns and cities in industrialized countries. It includes MICE
(Meeting, Conference, Trade Fair and Exhibition). Especially, conference has
great share means at international level. Many people move in order to participate
on conferences (SMU, 2015).
As a continent of world, Africa has her own share in conference tourism. With its
perfect climatic situation, it can hold conference throughout the year. Facilities for
conference in Africa is being developed through time, with this in mind, many first
world continents prefer Africa as a conference destination. South Africa leads
conference tourism in Africa followed by morocco and Egypt. South Africa’s city
of Cape Town is the number one conference venue in Africa. These attribute to
conference facilities of international standards and back up service. Conference
tourism in east Africa being part of Africa has not been left behind in the
conference tourism package with excellent facilities for conferencing; the cities of
east Africa are engaged in this business all year round like Uganda, Ethiopia,
Kenya and Tanzania. These countries utilize conference tourism to improve
development, making it a key driver in social, economic and cultural progress of
the country, enhancing international relation and build good image for their
country. Some of the significances that the industry brings include payment of
goods and services by tourist's leads to a large income value in the local economy
of the area community, creating employment opportunities in service sector
associated with tourism (Anonymous, 2015).
In Ethiopia, business tourism held in different times and places. Business tourism
is able to bring many economic fruits to the interest of the national economy. It is
considered a key driver of jobs generating large number of permanent and
temporary employment in the field of events, supply chain organization and
management in addition to accompanied service. Business tourism includes MICE
which are Meeting, Incentive travel, Conference and Exhibition. Among these,
especially some categories such as conference, convention and exhibition are
growing in Ethiopia. But it doesn’t mean that Proceedings of the 11th Annual
Student Research Forum, August 2017 265 the rest are not practiced. Conference
and convention are regarded as essential part of tourism that brings significant
return and making effort to develop conference industry (Eden, 2016).
Most of international conferences in Ethiopia are held at the capital city-Addis
Ababa. However, efforts are also underway to expand conference tourism to
regional towns such as Adama, Bahirdar, Hawassa and Bishoftu. Conference
participants stay in Ethiopia for six days and spend one hundred and twenty one
dollars daily on average for accommodation, shopping and other services. In 2011,
Ethiopia earned over 39 million dollar from conference tourism. In the present day
even it’s less comparing with the demand side and potentials opportunity;
however, there are progresses in this regard. Hotels, resorts and also some
organizations have well organized conference halls as part of their service but still
with few holding and caring capacity during the mass special events were held in
Addis that the tourists naturally obliged to stay in low standard hotels. Also there
are many international organizations which have office in Addis Ababa (Eden,
2016).
Statement of the problem
A conference is a meeting of people that “confer” on a topic, while an event can
encompass a festival, ceremony, celebration or convention or it refers to a
congress, convention, seminar, symposium or other formal gathering which are
usually organized by third party external to government where participants debate
or are informed of the status of a discipline like science, economics and
technology. Now a day, conference tourism is increasing and becoming popular
around the world. Also it is a source of income and good image and it develops
strong relationship among countries. This industry is part of business tourism.
Business tourism is concerned with people travelling for the purpose which are
related to their work. As such, it represents one of the oldest forms of tourism, man
having travelled for this purpose of trade since very early time. (Davidson, 1994 as
cited in Horner and Swarbrooke, (2001) Business tourism includes meeting, trade
fair, exhibition, convention and conference. Meeting is a formal gathering, and
plays an important role in supporting other businesses. Meetings promote
investment, trade, communication and technology. It brings education and
professional development to the local community, creating jobs and retaining work
forces. Conference tourism is a type of tourism in which large group, usually
planned well in advance, are brought together for particular purpose. (Horner and
Swarbrooke, 2001). Proceedings of the 11th Annual Student Research Forum,
August 2017.
According to (Tewodros, 2016) in the case of Ethiopia, conference tourism has
shown tremendous growth over the past few years. This growth can be attributed to
many opportunities, such as accommodation providers like hotels and resorts have
well organized conference halls, as a part of their service (Horner and Swarbrooke,
2001) Ethiopia becomes a preferred destination for international and regional
conferences, many international organizations have offices in Addis Ababa. And
peace and stability of the city has created significance opportunities for conference
(Tewodros, 2016). Despite the many opportunities, the city has not utilized its rich
and untouched potential. On the other hand, it has many challenges that pull back
conference tourism from other similar cities. Among the Challenges, lack of
skilled, educated and trained personnel in the industry can be mentioned. Another
problem arises from deficiency of strategic promotional method. The establishment
of a national and regional bureau helps to attract and promote international
meetings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (Kumneger, 2016),
According to the researchers own observation, the problems go even beyond what
has been mentioned by the above documents. There are problems on stakeholders
role and pre, while and post conference activities. As a seat of the AU, UNECA
and other several regional, continental and international organizations, it is hosting
international conferences by large less than Nairobi and Kigali (UNWTO, 2015).
Why isn’t Addis Ababa hosting as many international conferences? This needs
more researches. The purpose of the current research was, therefore, to assess the
potentials (opportunities) of the city that can be exploited in this regard; and the
challenges that hindered the development of conference tourism in the city.
Objectives
General Objective
Assessing current and future prospects and challenges of Addis Ababa MICE
tourism market.
Specific objectives
To identify major challenges of mice tourism in Addis Ababa and thereby to
question the reason why Ethiopian government not achieve its mice vision
2020.
To address the possible ways to change current and future mice prospects in
to the cities real opportunity.
To identify the role of stakeholders that needs to play to exploit
opportunities and overcome the challenges.
To identify the organizations currently working on the industry in relation to
potential mice market needs in the city and thereby to address if there is
created good enabling work environment by Ethiopian government to
organizers.
Research Question
What is the major MICE industry challenges faced in Addis Ababa that
hinders the city from becoming center of mice tourism in Africa? Is the set
vision of Ethiopia Government to make Addis Ababa one of the top five
tourist destinations in Africa by 2020 is meted?
How did the current and future prospect of mice in Addis Ababa can change
in to opportunity?
What is the role of stakeholders to exploit opportunities and overcome the
challenges
Are there enough professional international event organizers in the city?
And what enabling work environment created for them by government?
Significance of the Study
This research will help the researcher to get more knowledge about research, to
know about MICE tourism industry broadly, it will help as a source document or
reference for future researchers and it can suggest attractive benefit to inspire new
investors who are interested in MICE tourism industry by indicates main
challenges, prospect and opportunities. Last but not least, it might help Ethiopian
Tourism Organization (ETO) and Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MOCT) to
make policy that support and expand opportunities and develop solution for
challenge benchmarking the key pointed issues in this research.
Scope of the Study
The scope of this study is limited on assessing prospects and challenges of both
domestic and international MICE tourism in Addis Ababa. The study area concerns
MICE tourism prospect and challenges that the MICE tourism has still unsolved in
Addis Ababa from long time till now.
Limitation of the Study
Some respondents were not willing to respond to the questionnaire. And for
Interview common ideas and facts that the respondents agreed on were taken. The
interview also has some conceptual deficiency towards the questions. The
Researcher used only perfectly completed and returned questionnaires because
Most of the answers given to the questions were filled with redundancy Lack Of
written documents in the area was also another limitation. The researcher Used
cases from other countries via published articles and researches. Proceedings of the
11th Annual Student Research Forum, August 2017.
Chapter 2: Literature review
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
Research Design
In order to conduct this study, the researcher used a descriptive research design to
gather relevant information related to the challenges and opportunities of
international conference tourism. The rational for using descriptive research was to
study the specific predictions with narration of facts and characteristics concerning
individual, or group situation. Information generated through interview and
questionnaires were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative approach.
Research Methodology
Research Design
In order to conduct this study, the researcher used a descriptive research design to
gather relevant information related to the prospect and challenges of MICE
tourism. The rational for using descriptive research was to study the specific
predictions with narration of facts and characteristics concerning individual, or
group situation. Information generated through interview and questionnaires were
analyzed using qualitative and quantitative approach.
Population of the Study
The total population of the study was mainly international MICE organizers which
are titled as Ethiopia best 6 nominees of 2022 for world MICE award, Ethiopian
tourism organization (ETO) and Addis Ababa City Administration Culture and
Tourism Bureau (AACACTB). Each international conference organizer was
represented by one employee. The researcher selected them based on their
knowledge and experience and they were participated in filling in questionnaires.
Ethiopian tourism organization (ETO) and Addis Ababa City Administration
Culture and Tourism Bureau (AACACTB) participated during in-depth interview.
The interview took place with single managers who were responsible on
conference tourism issue. The respondents were selected based on their status,
knowledge and experience on it.
Type of Data Collected
The researcher used both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary data
was collected through interview and questionnaires and the secondary data was
collected through publications, previous researches, Articles and reports.
Method of Data Collection
Primary data collection method
The primary data was collected through questionnaires and structured interview.
The questionnaire had 15 closed ended and 2 open ended questions. The interview
had 5 structured questions and took in-depth interview with deliberately selected
informants. Proceedings of the 11th Annual Student Research Forum, August
2017.
Secondary data collection method
For secondary data collection the researcher used previous research, publications,
articles and reports.
Method of Data Analysis
After the data was collected, it was presented and analyzed using both quantitative
and qualitative approach. The quantitative (questionnaires) were analyzed using
simple statistics such as frequency and percentage. The qualitative (interview) was
analyzed using narrative analysis.
Organization of the Paper
The research paper has been organized in four chapters. The first chapter deals
with the introduction of the study, the second part discusses the details of related
literature of the study, the third part contains data presentation and analysis and the
fourth part discusses the conclusion and possible recommendation by the
researcher based on the investigation. Ministry of Culture and Tourism Bureau
(AACACTB). Each international conference organizer was represented by one
employee. The researcher selected them based on their knowledge and experience
and they were participated in filling in questionnaires. Ethiopian tourism
organization (ETO) and Addis Ababa City Administration Culture and Tourism
Bureau (AACACTB) participated during in depth interview.
The interview took place with single managers who were responsible on
conference tourism issue. The respondents were selected based on their status,
knowledge and experience on it.
Type of Data Collected
The researcher used both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary data
was collected through interview and questionnaires and the secondary data was
collected through publications, previous researches, Articles and reports.
CHAPTER THREE: Data Presentation and Analysis
This chapter deals with the presentation and analysis of data gathered from the respondents
through questionnaire and interview.
Opportunities on International Conference Tourism
CHAPTER FOUR: Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation
4.1 Summary