Networking with MiCE professionals

The 5th ACE of MiCE in Turkey brought together global MiCE professionals from over 40 countries over a period of three days. Co-hosted by Turkish Airlines, the new motto for the event was ‘Everything you need for your meetings and events organisations is at ACE of MiCE exhibition.’

TT Bureau

T he successful fifth edition of ACE of MiCE had over $100,000 worth global media coverage value with the support of 170 sponsors and partners, 112 national and 57 international exhibitors from 33 destinations. Congresses, meetings and event organisers from European and Middle East countries, USA, Canada, Argentina, India, China and Russia made necessary negotiations to bring their global events to Turkey in the upcoming chapters.
Istanbul looks promising in the MiCE sector as it already has adequate infrastructure and several properties that can accommodate tourists. Top officials inaugurated the exhibition at Istanbul Congress Center (ICC), some of who were Ismail Gultekin, Deputy Governor of Istanbul; Volkan Ataman, President, Tourism Media Group and TETKID; Pervin Zeydanli Yalazan, General Manager, ICC; Elif Balci Fisunolglu, ICCA Director for Europe; Mat Johnson, Founder, White Fox Consultancy; among others.
In his speech, Ataman said, “A total of 617 international hosted buyers attended ACE of MiCE Exhibition believing that Turkey had great potential. They held 1300 B2B meetings in a day, which means an average of 3.6 meetings per minute.”
The foreign speakers delivered speeches with ‘I Love Turkey’ banner. Festi Group founder Valerio Festi, Event Technology expert Corbin Ball and White Fox Consulting founder Matthew Johnson stated that they love Turkey and perceived it as potentially rich in terms of the dynamics of the MiCE sector. Explaining the indispensability of transportation in the event industry, Halil Ibrahim Polat, President—Domestic Sales, Turkish Airlines said that they would support the sector with new flight networks. Gültekin stated, “Istanbul is a safe harbour for the global MiCE industry. Thus, we mobilised all the facilities for development of this industry in Turkey.”
Ziya Taskent, Deputy Undersecretary, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Turkey, promised to conduct tourism activities in all seasons to increase income and further increase achievements of the MiCE sector. According to the AME hosted buyer policy, 70 per cent of buyers are renewed every year.
During the period of three days, 29 famous speakers from around the globe inspired the audience in 19 sessions on interesting subjects relevant to the meeting and incentive industry