AFRICAN MICE CLIENT AND SUPPLIER TRENDS

Rivania Govender , research specialist at Niche Partners, shares a snapshot of some key client and supplier trends that have emerged in the annual African Perspectives on the MICE Industry Report for 2023

The iteration for 2023 is currently being finalised by Niche Partners. The report shares in-depth research conducted in 16 African countries and offers the most comprehensive insights available on the African MICE and business events sector. Findings cover Africa’s broad economic forecasts, source markets related to tourism, African countries’ economic priority sectors and the opportunities for MICE business tourism in these sectors.

Included in the report are key supplier and client trends based on the annual survey done in collaboration with Meetings magazine. Read on for a snapshot of these key trends.

Trend #1: Clients prefer inperson meetings (Graph A) In the last two years, hybrid events have grown in popularity among association, corporate and government clients. This option has numerous advantages, including the ability to enter new markets, provide a more convenient option for attendees, reduce costs and gather insights with online event participants. The introduction of hybrid platforms left the MICE industry supplier value chain concerned about whether customers prefer hybrid solutions to in-person meetings.

However, the survey found that clients were eager to return to in-person meetings, with approximately 70% of client respondents preferring to attend in-person events. The benefit of face-toface meetings was well expressed in one of the client respondent comments, saying, “Our clients feel that they can generate more impactful business opportunities and better reach potential customers to market their product when they are not communicating from behind a screen.” However, the remaining 30% of the client respondents preferred hybrid meetings. The benefits of hybrid meetings included the convenience and cost reductions offered by hybrid meetings for attendees and the increased audience reached.

Shrunk Grown these growing industries may represent future business opportunities for the MICE suppliers, a deep dive into the growth industries is significant for future growth strategies.

One of the central questions of the research has been around business continuity, with the goal of understanding how clients and suppliers have adapted to market conditions over the last two years. When asked what revenuegenerating models were used to maximise profits in 2022, 20% of client respondents cited value-added collaborations as their main action. This included collaboration across different organisations and platforms to increase value with several supplier negotiations. Within the responses, there also appears to be a significant amount of uncertainty in the options available for revenue generation outside of the client respondents’ normal streams of income. Approximately 45% of respondents struggled to provide clear answers to this question.

The MICE industry is driven by clients’ need to trade, educate and network, which were all put under pressure over the last few years. An important finding is that while 70% of the client respondents saw a decline in their industry growth during the past two years, the remaining 20% experienced sector growth. Since

Trend #1: Smaller, in-person meetings (Graph D) MICE suppliers have had to adapt in a variety of ways over the last two years, with many companies adopting various virtual event technologies for business events. According to the survey results, however, the suppliers are seeing an increase in the return to fully in-person meeting attendees, with nearly 77% of suppliers holding in-person-only meetings.

It should also come as no surprise that the size of events decreased, as restrictions and client budgets were severely impacted in the past two years. According to 73% of the respondents, meetings became smaller.

As face-to-face marketing events were cancelled or postponed during the Covid-19 pandemic, many larger venues on the continent were able to collaborate with government and private sectors. Supplier respondents commented that they repurposed their venues as “field hospitals, isolation venues, religious gatherings such as church, recording studios, office rentals vaccination sites, and temporary or permanent storage”.

Even though more suppliers than clients were able to respond to the question of revenue generation plans, there is still a significant amount of uncertainty in the options available to them outside of the normal streams of income, as evidenced by the 30% of respondents who did not respond to this question. Following that, budget management and flexibility were the most frequently mentioned examples of revenue maximising models.

Niche Partners is passionate about market research for the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) industry. Their goal is to maximise the opportunities for growth in various economic driving sectors in Africa, and their annual research report is a critical tool in achieving this outcome. By delving into and comprehensively understanding the perspectives of meetings industry professionals and clients operating in Africa, it’s the go-to source for guiding MICE market decisions and strategies. To access the full African Perspectives on the MICE Industry Report for 2023 or sign up to Niche Partners’ newsletters on continental research, please email sales@nichepartners.org.

You can also find out more at www.nichepartners.org.