Part One
UPON invitation by the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization (GTO), I joined a four-day program that consisted of a familiarization tour and a MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) day from December 4 to 7 in Pyeongtaek City, Gyeonggi-do.
Gyeonggi, which literally means “the area surrounding the capital” (Seoul), is the most populous province in South Korea, composed of 28 cities and three counties, with Suwon City as capital. The province is the backbone of Seoul and serves as its manufacturing hub, with an evenly developed heavy industry (electronics, chemicals, steel, machineries), light industry (textile), and farm, livestock and fishery. Currently, Gyeonggi is investing in the promotion of service industries, such as state-of-the-art information technologies, design, tourism and MICE.
With 26 fellow participants from China, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, I crisscrossed the southwest part of the province and visited the cities of Pyeongtaek, Gwangmyeong, Icheon, Yongin and Suwon, all within a 40-minute drive from one another. The purpose was for us to explore destinations, meeting venues and touring options for international MICE events to be organized in Gyeonggi.
In Pyeongtaek, a harbor city, we visited Ecoment, a cosmetic manufacturing company, and Samsung Electronics’ newest microchip-making “campus,” one of five in nearby areas. In Gwangmyeong City, we explored the Gwangmyeong Cave, a former gold, silver and bronze mine site, now converted into the largest themed cave park with interesting cultural and artistic sections and an underground winery and restaurant to boot. In Yongin City, we visited the Yongin Central Co-op Hotel, a newly built and reasonably priced 730-room accommodation facility. We capped our first-day fam tour in Icheon City at the new Starlight Garden OOOZOOO, a beautifully lit themed garden decorated with stunning illumination.
In the morning of MICE day, a B2B meeting for “buyers” (all 27 of us participants) and 34 “sellers” (hotels, convention centers, theme parks and gardens, spas, tourism organizations) was held at the Ramada Pyeongtaek Hotel. The aim of the session was to match buyers and sellers for potential business, with a goal of organizing events in Gyeonggi. I myself had 13 of such 20-minute “appointment meetings” with various sellers plus a few more impromptu meetings.
The evening, themed “MICE Night,” attracted about 200 attendees—local officials, international guests, association executives and MICE industry players. It was also a special occasion for a keynote on “MICE Industry 4.0: The Beginning of the Phono Sapiens Era,” the Gyeonggi-do MICE Awards ceremony, the Gyeonggi MICE Business Plan Report 2019 and the “Declaration for Pyeongtaek City’s MICE Vision.” There were also live entertainment and lots of networking.
The last day was a trip to Suwon City, where we visited a soon-to-be-opened (April 2019) Suwon Convention Center designed as a multicomplex facility that harmonizes with the surroundings while providing conveniences for locals and international visitors, and a traditional Korean Folk Village where we donned ourselves with hanbok, a traditional South Korean dress for special occasions, ate local food and watched cultural performances.
Gyeonggi has a lot more to offer as we covered only five of 28 cities but I hope you have learned that aside from Seoul, Jeju or Busan—the more familiar MICE destinations—Gyeonggi and its MICE “gems” also sparkle!
To be continued
The contributor, Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific, founder and CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives and president of the Asia-Pacific Federation of Association
Organizations (Apfao).
The purpose of PCAAE—the “association of associations”—is to advance the association management profession and to make associations well-governed and sustainable. PCAAE enjoys the support of ADFIAP, the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) and the Philippine International Convention Center.
E-mail: obp@adfiap.org