The MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Convention & Exhibition) industry has become a cornerstone of the tourist business in Lombok, Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB), because it has increased the number of tourists visiting NTB. Next year the target is one million.
Jero Wacik, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, opened the Indonesia MICE & Corporate Travel Mart (IMCTM) and Lombok Sumbawa Pearl Festival (LSPF) at Santosa Villas, Senggigi, Lombok, early last month.
It was a challenge to NTB Province to host these exhibitions,” said Wacik.
According to Wacik, his Ministry is very serious about working on the MICE sector and this has been borne out by the setting up the MICE Directorate in an effort to promote MICE activities across the nation.
Nia Niscaya, the Director of MICE at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said that the contribution of people travelling to MICE events has grown in line with the increasing number events across Indonesia, including in Lombok which has become a favourite location for them.
Lombok, according to Nia, is a MICE destination that is very interesting to visitors. This was proved, in part, by the IMCTM 2010 at The Santosa Villas & Resort, Senggigi, for four days from 6th to 9th May 2010 which attracted 200 domestic and international buyers.
“The keen interest of buyers at the IMCTM 2010 exhibition shows that corporations will stage many MICE activities here,” she said.
According to the IMCTM 2010 organizing committee, 15,000 deals were struck at the event with the value of these transactions reaching IDR 15-16 billion. This was considerably more than the total for IMCTM 2009 which was held in Yogyakarta where the transactions amounted to IDR 8 billion.
Prior to the opening ceremony, Badrul Munir, Vice Governor NTB, said that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Provincial Government of NTB, together with players from the tourist industry, have been determined to make MICE activities a superior tourism product in Lombok. MICE tourism, said Munir, can increase the number of tourists visiting the region.
“In 2009 we had 613,000 tourists visiting Lombok and Sumbawa. This year we hope to reach 700,000. The target we have set for 2011 is one million,” said Munir.
In setting this target of one million visitors in 2011, the condition of the infrastructure in the region had to be considered and its sufficiency was boosted with the completion this year of the facilities at Central Lombok’s international airport. This will serve to support the existing airport at Selaparang, Mataram, which handles a high rate of air traffic.
The completion of MICE facilities, including the convention hall, several starred hotels and a convention centre for exhibitions, has made Lombok increasingly appealing to organizers of MICE events.
There are a number of starred hotels such as the Narmanda and the Lombok Raya Hotel which have their own convention rooms under construction with capacities of 3,000 and 2,000 participants respectively, while the NTB Convention Centre which covers 4,300m2 can handle up to 10,000 convention participants or exhibition vistors. All these MICE facilities are scheduled to be completed in time for the commencement of Visit Lombok Sumba Year 2012 which was announced last year by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
