Photo Source: Freepik.com
On the heels of outbreak of coronavirus, Indian outbound MICE stakeholders are witnessing postponement and cancellation of business events which otherwise were scheduled to take place in Asian destinations like China, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong among others.
“The outbound MICE business to China has completed wiped off. We are also noticing cancellation for other markets like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Macau. Some companies have also postponed their travel. We are hoping that demand will be on track starting month of May,” said Amaresh Tiwari, Managing Director, A T & Seasons Vacations Travel.
In fact concerns about the spread of the coronavirus and its effects on business travel are widespread among travel managers, according to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). In a flash survey the organization conducted recently, 80 percent of the nearly 250 respondents said it was likely their travellers will change plans to avoid flying and travel, while just 1 percent said it is not at all likely their travellers will avoid travel. Nearly 90 percent of the survey respondents have employees who travel to China and other international destinations.
“Apart from China, demand for neighbouring destinations has witnessed a decline. We as a company had received few queries to organize business events in China, which now can’t be materialised because of the outbreak of flu,” said Chander Mansharamani, Managing Director, Alpcord Network Travel & Conferences.
“Most of our outbound groups for the last quarter of the current financial year was for Southeast Asia and all of them have been rescheduled by date and destination. A group for Singapore has been rescheduled from March to April. Another group scheduled for February has been deferred to April, but it is not confirmed yet,” said Anirban Sengupta, Senior Vice President, 2HUB, Eastbound Group.
According to few PCOs, the demand is now shifting to other similarly priced destinations like the Middle East which have not received any positive coronavirus cases so far. “Organisers are now looking at other similarly priced destinations like the Middle East and CIS markets,” added Mansharamani.
However, as per the GBTA survey, nearly nine out of 10 travel managers (89 percent) are personally concerned about the coronavirus spreading around the world, with a full 40 percent saying they were “very concerned.” Seventy percent of travel managers said their traveling employees have expressed a lot (27 percent) or some (42 percent) concern about the virus spreading. Half of travellers have expressed concern about the health screenings at airports, and the related delays and hassle.
“For us, only immediate events have been impacted. While clients are expecting the situation to get under control, they are in a ‘wait and watch’ situation. Typically corporate incentive gets confirmed in a 2-3 month window. So far, our leads are not in the confirmed status and the ones in the South East Asian destination are reviewing the situation closely. Even the IT&CM and CTW China 2020 trade show which was slated to be held in Shanghai in March has been deferred till August,” said Sengupta.