With everything that has happened in 2020, it is easy to be discouraged by the future prospect of the MICE industries in the Southeast Asian (SEA) region and beyond.

In his opinion piece as published by Channel News Asia, Dr Prem Shamdasani, an Associate Professor of Marketing and Academic Director of the Executive MBA at NUS Business School, even noted that both the supply and demand side of this industry have “literally evaporated.”

Despite the outlook, Dr Shamdasani pointed out that some major global events have resisted the idea of converting into online platforms –a trend that has gained momentum during the pandemic. One of such events is the World Economic Forum’s Davos conference.

In December, as if his predictions have come true, we received two updates that had helped to improve the mood for the holiday season: That major global events are moving its venue to SEA countries next year.

The first one of such event was RISE which was dubbed by various media platforms as the largest tech gathering in Asia. For the past five years, the event has been held in Hong Kong. But Co-Founder and CEO Paddy Cosgrave announced in a press statement that the organisation has agreed to a three-year partnership with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to host RISE in Kuala Lumpur, starting from March 2022.

“This is not a goodbye to Hong Kong. We hope to return to the city in future with a brand new event,” Cosgrave stresses.

Shortly after that, beyond the tech startup community, the World Economic Forum announced that it is moving its annual forum from Davos, Switzerland, to Singapore in May 2021. This move was strongly related to the ongoing pandemic as it would be “challenging to host the event safely in Europe.”

As detailed in this CNBC report, this is only the second time the event was held outside of its original venue and the first that it happens in Asia.

Also Read: The future of events with Mind The Product CEO James Mayes

So what does this mean for us?

If anything, this indicates that SEA remains a powerful and promising market.

Throughout the pandemic, there has been various discussion on the future travel industry –particularly when and how we are going to bring it back, if ever. Travel tech giant Booking.com stated that even if COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed widely, it will take years, instead of quarters for the travel industry to recover to pre-pandemic 2019 level, as quoted by South China Morning Post.

While it is impossible to deny the impact that the pandemic has on this region, that businesses across different industries are struggling to survive even now, there are also businesses that manage to do well in this challenging time. And this includes companies in the MICE industries.

Mummys Market, the organiser behind the leading baby products fairs in Southeast Asia, explains to e27 on how a pivot to digital platforms had managed to not only save their business but also helped it grow.

“To adapt to this [situation], we decided to accelerate our seven-year plan to be implemented within one year, quickly shifting to a digital model to continue meeting the needs of our customers. Although this was a big change, we chose to reskill our existing staff to fit them into their new roles instead of displacing them,” founder William Chin writes in an email.

“With the efforts of our rigorous and tenacious team, we successfully launched Singapore’s biggest online baby fair in May 2020. What we have achieved in terms of personal and professional growth from our learning experiences across this year is what we would have taken years to learn under normal circumstances,” he continues.

Chin also states that the company’s revenue has increased “dramatically” following the transformation. But it does not mean that Mummys Market will be a fully online platform in the future. In addition to launching its first-ever retail outlet in November at Suntec City, it also plans to bring back its customer events, once the situation permits.

“Naturally, these will be held according to the safe management measures from the authorities, and we will ensure that we have implemented density and incident management processes that are in compliance with the government guidelines,” Chin concludes.

Also Read: The future is hybrid: What will events look like post-COVID-19?

Beyond individual businesses, the fact a major global event is going to be held in Singapore as early as May next year indicates that perhaps things can recover a little sooner. That this event will become a trigger to bring back the travel and tourism industries. That we can have hopes and see it manifests.

Last but not least, perhaps this is a sign that the world as we know it has not completely disappeared. There were times when we thought going to conferences, speaking on stages and building connections had become a thing of the past. But perhaps, in the next one to two years, we will be able to meet old friends and acquaintances again at these events.

There will certainly be adjustments, but I believe it is safe to keep our hopes up.

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Image Credit: Stephen McCarthy/RISE

 

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