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During the pandemic, there were changes in the business travel and events industry, about which Galina Polishchuk spoke. The issues of risk management came to the fore, especially ensuring the security of business travelers. In addition, the budget for business events in 2020 decreased by an average of 20-30% compared to 2019. The depth of booking was reduced from 3-6 months to 2 weeks. The percentage of implemented events from the number of requests also fell: in 2020, 20 applications accounted for 5 events (25%).
Meanwhile, the clients were paying attention considerably to the additional labor costs of the MICE agencies and built their commercial cooperation taking into account these circumstances. “It is important to understand that the postponement or the cancellation of an event is associated with the event's budget recalculation and sometimes the change in venue, program and format,” explains Galina Polishchuk.
During the two years of the pandemic, a hybrid format of events has been taking hold in the MICE practice. The increased role of creative concept and content was determined by online, since without them the event runs the risk of not achieving its goals. Today, the need to create our own creative studios with a pool of reliable contractors and build partner collaborations has become obvious. Vipservice also followed this path by entering into a strategic partnership with the Katana Event communication agency in March 2021, reminds Galina. Thus, during the year, partners have been jointly implementing dozens of corporate events using the new tools - gamification, AR and VR technologies, with the involvement of screenwriters and application developers.
Despite the difficulties, in 2021 the business travel and business events industry as a whole recovered to the level of 70-75% compared to 2019. The forecast of the GBTA international business tourism association assumed a full recovery of the sector in 2024-2025.
However, at the end of February-March 2022, the MICE industry faced new challenges - closure of airspace, including over the south of Russia, difficulties in making payments to global suppliers, exit from the market and freezing of investments by a number of international hotel chains. In the future, the market expects the reorientation to partners within the country and new destinations abroad. Import substitution 2.0 in MICE redirects flows to the large regional centers of Russia with the developed infrastructure. The new prospects will open up with the lifting of the COVID restrictions in the regions.
The event market has been adapting, given the experience of two years of the pandemic. W, at Vipservice, rely on the accumulated practice of redirecting resources. Now it is important to support the colleagues and the clients in the turbulent times, says the Vipservice Corporate Business Managing Director.
The great potential lies behind the products and technologies that were launched before 2020. They received a boost during the pandemic and are to be developed and implemented at the even faster pace in the upcoming months.
The strategy of the Vipservice MICE team is based on the walk and ye shall reach principle and the search for new opportunities even in the difficult times for the market. The clients study in more detail the capabilities of the regions in the long term. So, the new suppliers appear with interesting and competitive offers in the local market. “The time has come to find alternative suppliers, locations, programs, DMCs and strengthen our position in the available markets. In addition, in the conditions of ad-hoc planning, a close client-agency dialogue and emphasis on expertise are becoming increasingly important,” says Galina Polishchuk.
