ABSTRACT The objective of the research is to determine important attributes in selecting international convention destinations and to evaluate how well Seoul performs in providing the important attributes. This study investigates the factors affecting the meeting planners' overall satisfaction level of Seoul, Korea, using a multiple regression analysis. A total of 75 foreign meeting planners participated in this research. Statistically significant determinants of the meeting planners' overall satisfaction levels were cost/service, facility/support, and accessibility. The results of the Importance-Performance analysis indicate that Seoul should improve the following attributes: convention and exhibition facilities, overpriced hotel room rate, ground transportation, management skills of staff, and friendliness and foreign language skills of local people.
ABSTRACT Technology adoption in the tourism industry has been widely reported. Tradeshows, which play a vital part in the tourism economy, have not been investigated to the same extent. This study focuses on tradeshow managers' use of technology, particularly the Internet. Using Rogers' Innovation-Diffusion Theory model, the present research queried the managers of the Tradeshow 200 (the 200 largest tradeshows in the United States) to assess their feelings about technology innovations. Tradeshow managers were also asked about Time Poverty Issues as identified by Forsythe and Bailey. Technology usage has become infused into the jobs of show managers. At the same time, correlations between technology adoption and feelings of time poverty were discovered.
ABSTRACT The convention and meetings business worldwide has grown to become a significant economic, political, and social phenomenon. Convention centers aggressively compete for the right to become the destinations for conventions, which increasingly can be held anywhere in the world. More recently, first-tier convention centers have begun to use digital marketing by developing sites on the World Wide Web. However, very little research to date has focused on these convention center Web sites. This study examined the Web sites of 10 major convention centers in the U.S.-each with 500,000 square feet or more of exhibit space-in terms of technical, marketing, internal, and customer critical success factors (CSFs). It was concluded that these Web sites should be further developed and improved, particularly in their marketing and customer-related aspects. The Web sites were evaluated once in 2000 and again in 2001, and a slight improvement in performance was noted. Key Words: Balanced Scorecard (BSC)critical success factors (CSFs)e-commercefirst-tier convention centersWorld Wide Web
ABSTRACT Research was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the nature and competitive importance of bidding on events by destination marketing organizations, with emphasis on identifying event selection criteria and critical success factors for winning bids. Data were collected on the goals and nature of the event bidding process from convention and visitor bureaus in Canada. Canadian bureaus were found to be very active in bidding on a diverse range of events, especially meetings, conventions, political events, and sports. Most bureaus encouraged and assisted other local organizations to make bids and themselves concentrated on major events with city-wide economic impacts. Although event selection criteria were frequently not formalized, respondents stressed potential economic impacts, size, media exposure, time of year, available venues, and local involvement. The most important critical success factors for winning bids were strong partners, excellent presentations, and treating each bid as a unique process, but many respondents also felt their destination needed bigger and better facilities and more marketing/bidding resources. To aid in future research and theory-building, a framework is presented to illustrate event bidding as an exchange process between owners and sellers, including antecedent conditions and event selection criteria. Key Words: Eventsbiddingconvention and visitor bureauscompetitivenessevent selection criteriacritical success factors
ABSTRACT This paper reviews the literature on professional associations and specifically explores the goals and objectives of event management associations. Its study identified 147 professional associations worldwide involved with event management. Rather than use or adapt an existing framework for analysis, this study applies a grounded approach to the analysis of the content of the goals and objectives; that is, the categories of meaning were developed from an analysis of the data provided rather than imposed by an existing typology from the literature. These associations were categorized by location, including international, regional, and special interest associations, with numerous sub-categories. Regional associations were divided into continents so that there were six sub-categories. The special interest associations were included as there were a number in the sample that did not fit within the first two categories, yet they were deemed significant to the study because they dealt with event management issues within the context of a specific industry. The study concludes that event management associations have a strong record in developing goals and objectives as part of their operational framework. The key variables that emerged are information exchange, education and training, identity and recognition, ethics and standards, networks and collegiality, business management, membership, premier representative association, product development, and being a change agent.
ABSTRACT Information exchange between convention and visitor bureaus (CVBs) and hotels, a growing necessity in destination marketing, has been a contentious issue over the past decade. Drawing from destination marketing and relationship marketing literature, this paper presents a proposed model of the interplay of relational factors of trust, relationship orientation, role clarity, interdependence, social bonding, communication, and geographic proximity and their relationship with information exchange.
ABSTRACT This article identifies the benefits to be gained when convention delegates engage in tourism and recreational activities at destinations by extending their trips and/or bringing guests. The key factors contributing to the decision of whether or not to extend the trip and bring a guest are reviewed, and a number of research questions are identified. Finally, a number of suggestions are made to illustrate how convention and tourism professionals can help stimulate the extenders and delegates' guests markets.
ABSTRACT The meeting planner of a particular association is often instrumental in influencing what city will best accommodate the needs of the organization. This study examined how Las Vegas as a convention city meets preferences of association meeting planners by applying Importance-Performance analysis (IPA). Qualitative (open-ended) evaluations were also sought to complement the analysis. The findings showed that Las Vegas effectively met the preferences of association meeting planners in highly important areas such as capacity and quality of facilities, accessibility, and room rate affordability. However, Las Vegas was perceived a relatively low performer in some other highly important areas, a combination of logistics and city image, such as union labor requirements, ease of local transportation, number of hotels within walking distance to the convention center, city reputation, safety and security of destination, and affordable exhibit space. Most of the unfavorable qualitative evaluations were related to the environment. The findings provided some implications for Las Vegas to effectively target association meeting planners and develop product and promotion strategies.
ABSTRACT The convention and exhibition industry, an industry on the threshold of major technological advances, is facing a potential evolution in the delivery of its product from the real world to the virtual world. This paper, based upon views expressed by industry experts and an empirical study of business travelers with videoconferencing experience, explores the future cyber-conference and questions whether the significant investment currently being made in convention and exhibition centers can be justified in light of the impact of new technologies still hiding over-but not very far over-the horizon.
ABSTRACT Smart card based meeting management applications have the potential to increase attendee satisfaction, increase communications, and strengthen coordination with improved operational efficiency. The value of embedded chip card technology lies in its ability to store data locally with a high degree of security and portability. Recent developments that incorporate biometric extensions to smart card configurations support higher levels of security and access control. This article describes the potential for applying smart card and related technology to the meeting planning industry. It also identifies challenges that need to be addressed prior to the proliferation of smart card and/or biometric implementation within the meeting planning industry.
ABSTRACT The U.K. meetings industry has grown dramatically over the last 10 years. Interest in the industry and competition is increasing, and the move toward using venues other than hotels for meetings is growing. The pattern of expansion experienced by the industry brings with it the question of the quality of provision, which is becoming increasingly important to customers when differentiating between venues. Therefore, the aim of the research is to determine whether gaps exist, first, between the attributes employed to assess the quality and desirability of a U.K. conference venue by conference organizers and conference delegates and, second, between their perceptions and the characteristics of the product provided. This paper presents a qualitative approach to the development of the research instrument. This paper was originally presented at the Ninth Annual CHME Hospitality Research Conference.
ABSTRACT This paper investigated relationships between association characteristics-such as the association type, age, size, and budget-and convention site selection factors. The data were collected through a fax survey with 673 state-wide associations in 6 states. There were 252 usable questionnaires, which represented a 37% response rate. State associations surveyed appeared to be homogeneous among association types when selecting their convention site. However, differences were found among associations by age, size, and budget. Overall, state associations were concerned with factors such as price, inventory, hotel personnel, quality of meeting services, quality of meeting rooms, and safety/security.
ABSTRACT Business on the Internet and in the MICE industry are both experiencing rapid development. The construction of dedicated-convention centers, usually by the public sector, in large cities reflects this trend. In order to obtain a return on investment in the competitive MICE market, centers must competitively market themselves on the global stage, and the World Wide Web has provided the ideal vehicle. Findings from this study indicate that while the Internet and the Web are providing branding and information services, to date, clients still prefer printed promotional material and personal interface as a way of doing business. In the MICE market, marketing collateral appears to have a very short shelf life, with updates having resource implications for each center.
ABSTRACT Event management is emerging as a key sector of the tourism and leisure industries. As universities and colleges around the world develop event management curricula to respond to these needs, it is useful to investigate educational techniques that may be incorporated into these programs. This paper explores simulation gaming theory and process, and concludes that it has a variety of applications in event management education. In particular, the paper seeks to demonstrate how well developed gaming strategies enhance learning, encourage peer facilitation, increase awareness of participant behavior, and ensure participant commitment.
ABSTRACT This paper presents a pilot study of independent meeting planners based in the Toronto area. The purpose of the research was to conduct a preliminary investigation of current perspectives and practices of Canadian independent meeting planner professionals. Results of the study indicate that today's independent planners actively network to share ideas and concerns and that referrals, association involvement, and past employers are their top sources of business. Participants of the study also cited strong business skills (e.g., marketing, financial management, budgeting, time management) as important to the overall success of their business.
ABSTRACT This case study is designed to provide readers with an overview of the format of a virtual event and the variety of options available to exhibitors. It focuses specifically on the Virtual GITEX 2001 event, which adopted a 3-dimensional virtual reality approach. On October 7, 2001, the virtual component of the Dubai World Trade Centre's largest and most successful exhibition, GITEX,1 an information technology exhibition, was launched. The virtual exhibition featured 23 exhibitors, representing a mix of local and international companies, and includes Microsoft; Sanyo; Al Futtaim; Bayt.com; Bond Communications; and the UAE's telecommunications provider, Etisalat. The virtual exhibition, which can be accessed from the GITEX Web site at http://www.gitex.com requires a 3-dimensional viewer plug-in2 that can be downloaded within 5 minutes. However, visitors have the option of viewing the exhibition in 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional format. The virtual GITEX exhibition can also be accessed directly through Virtex's Web site at http://www.virtexinternational.com/gitex. While the GITEX exhibition was developed using a virtual reality environment, Virtex can also create exhibitions using photo-realistic images incorporating panoramic photography, a virtual solution which Virtex says is typically preferred by exhibition organizers in industries that are not as technologically advanced or where there are bandwidth issues. The photo-realistic approach was the solution used for the International Jewellery Dubai virtual exhibition and the Middle East International Motor Show virtual exhibition. Two advantages of this approach are that it requires no plug-ins and accessibility is not constrained by limited bandwidth.
ABSTRACT As customers come to understand that service is one of the most important industry products, identifying customer needs and providing what they want will be essential to a successful approach in service-related industries. In consideration of the increased importance of service in the convention industry, this article identifies convention service factors and provides statistical analysis based on data from the actual industry. The results of this research will enhance an understanding of the factors used by customers to evaluate the quality of convention service and help planners improve their performance in the planning of conventions.
ABSTRACT The U.K. conference and meetings industry has developed dramatically over the last decade. Interest in the industry has grown and competition has intensified. Hotels are no longer the sole venue provider-other types of businesses are diversifying and offering conference facilities. Alternative venues available include universities, purpose built conference centers, castles, and sports stadia. The quality of provision is becoming increasingly important to customers when differentiating between venues. This study's research forms part of a larger study which proposes to ascertain whether gaps exist between conference organizers and conference delegates when assessing the quality and selection criteria of a conference venue. It presents the findings of a quantitative study of 413 professional U.K. conference organizers. Then the conference organizers' perceptions of service quality attributes are compared and contrasted by importance of individual attributes and attribute subsets. The results from this unique sample will prove invaluable to the industry.
ABSTRACT In their quest to operate ever more effectively, efficiently, and rapidly, those active in the meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) sectors have readily welcomed advances in information and communications technology (ICT) and used them to the fullest. This article begins with an overview of the main uses to which the meetings, exhibitions, and incentive sectors have put ICT products and services. It then examines the evidence which gives some indication of the limits to growth regarding the rate at which MICE sectors may continue to adopt these products and services. Subsequently, the potential of ICT to actually displace and replace travel for business-related purposes will be considered. Finally, this paper provides a discussion of the results of a quantitative survey undertaken by the authors, demonstrating the extent of current and future use of ICT in the European MICE sectors.
