CMIC 2012: China’s Meetings Industry Seeks Development through Fusions and Transformations

The three-day Fifth China Meetings Industry Convention (CMIC 2012), co-organized by China Convention and Exhibition Society (CCES) and Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development between Nov. 28th and 30th, 2012, has been successfully launched at China National Convention Center (CNCC). During this annual convention, more than 1500 players of the meetings industry both at home and abroad gathered together, discussing difficulties facing the conference industry, sharing successful experience, and doing networking regarding potential co-operations. All these were bathed in a warm atmosphere. With respect to attendees, they’re mainly composed of PCOs, city-level governments, conference companies, conference centers & hotels, meetings technologies suppliers, to name a few, of which, PCOs account for the largest percentage.

This convention is themed on the Meetings Industry in the New Era: Fusion, Transformations and New Combinations. At the convention, distinguished guests such as Wang Wendong, Former Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, Yuan Zaiqing, Chairman of China Convention & Exhibition Society, and Wang Yue, Deputy Director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development, delivered a speech respectively. And the plenary session moved on by centering around topics like conferences & exhibitions, conferences & tourism, conferences & cities, conferences & communications, as well as conferences & new media new technologies.

“Beijing Municipal High-end tourism is unveiling its paramount importance to the overall development of Beijing municipal tourism, and it is bound to leap forward along the pattern of ‘industrial fusion and integration’ in a relatively long time from now onward, according to the guiding spirits of Beijing’s Eleventh Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, plus the gradual implementation of the 12th Five-year Plan”, said Ms. Wang Yue, Deputy Director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development (one of hosts of the convention), as addressed audiences on Beijing’s High-end Tourism in the New Era, to Boost Development through Fusion and Integration.

The new age calls for innovative development in the tourism industry. Tourism is inherently an industry of openness and trend setting. As a result, the fusion of tourism and other industries is a process in which the tourism industry keeps up with the times, adroitly guides its actions according to circumstances, and assimilates favorable elements for further advancement on one hand, while sets trends and upgrades and transforms modes of other industries’ innovative development on the other hand. And during this process, the tourism industry pushes its values to move ahead towards diversification, individuation, and deepenization, and creates brand-new high-end tourism products through overlapping of values, resources innovation, products diversification, and upgrade of industrial patterns. It’s Mr. Yao Wang, Executive Director of Boao Forum for Asia, anchored the conference throughout. In addition, Chen Lin, Director of Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Exposition, Wang Xinzhang, Deputy Director of Hangzhou Tourism Commission, Guo Huimin, Vice President of University of International Relations, among others, gave an individual speech during the plenary session.

CMIC 2012 comprised of 7 sub professional forums, namely, Conference Centers & Hotels Forum, Corporate Meetings Planning & Management Education Program, Convention Cities Forum, Round Table Conference for Association Leaders, Meetings Management Firms Forum, Forum on the Meetings Industry New Media & New Technology, and Association Meetings Forum. Besides, two networking programs were set up: Meetings and Incentives Fair, and Pre-arranged Appointment Program. As the two activities went on, some 400 participants took part in face-to-face communications and matchmaking talks.

The CMIC 202 Committee masterminded a special program named “Green Conferences Initiative”, during which it released “Guidance for Green Conferences 2013”, and made joint efforts with China Green Foundation to hold the welcoming banquet ”Green China, Green Conferences”. All these activities were done out of the vision of inspiring the awareness of green so as to push China’s conferences develop towards greenization. Notably, Mr. Jin Bo, the image ambassador to green conferences and a famous singer, was also invited to boost this special banquet.

Meanwhile, the first annual conference for China Meetings and Incentives Cities Alliance was launched in the same period of this convention. People in responsible of the department of meetings and incentives from cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Xi’an, Kunming, Sanya, Nanjing, Dalian, Xiamen, and so on attended at it. Besides, Beijing High-end Tourism & Meetings Industry Alliance (BHTMIA) Annual Conference also held a council members meeting and its annual meeting. These conferences turned out to be a great success, with all preliminary goals reached.

Based on the development over the past few years, China Meetings Industry Convention has become China’s largest and most influential meetings industry annual conference, and also a high-level platform for meetings industry players at home and abroad to reach each other.

Li Meng, Vice President of National Committee of the CPPCC (for ten years)
Wang Wendong, Former Minister of the Ministry of Commerce
Yuan zaiqing, Chairman of China Convention & Exhibition Society
Wang Yue, Deputy Director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development