Launching an excellent platform for industry platforms to forge meaningful collaboration, foster innovation and share knowledge and ideas on the MICE, events and wedding industry, the Economic Times Business Vertical organised the first edition of ET MICE & Wedding Tourism Summit & Awards in New Delhi at the Pullman New Delhi Aerocity on June 27. The day-long Summit followed by a glittering award ceremony in the evening set the tone for engaging conversations and enormous business opportunities among stakeholders.
The special initiative by ETTravelWorld saw participation of leading MICE, events, and wedding industry professionals including MICE buyers, corporate houses, event planners, wedding organisers, government, and embassy officials throughout the day. At the evening gala event, more than two dozen awards were conferred across various specialised categories to all the winners. Tourism Minister of Goa, Rohan Khaunte graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour.
Whereas, Ambassadors of five countries, each representing a different region of the world were also in attendance as esteemed special guests and shared their thoughts on the rising potential of tourism, MICE, and destination wedding in their respective country.
Jose Maria Ridao Dominguez, Ambassador, Embassy of Spain in India, Firat Sunel, Ambassador, Embassy of Türkiye in India, Ashraf Shikhaliyev, Ambassador, Embassy of Azerbaijan in India, Claudio Ansorena Montero, Ambassador, Embassy of Costa Rica in India, and Jason Hall, High Commissioner, Jamaican High Commission in India addressed a special session in the morning highlighting tourism offerings for Indian travellers in their country.
Sharing their expert perspective and outlook on each of the sector, veteran leaders such as Roshan Abbas, Creative Entrepreneur, Event Manager, Host & Actor, Ricky Bindra, Group President – Corporate Services, Reliance Industries, and Sabbas Joesph, Founder-Director, Wizcraft International Entertainment presented elaborate keynote addresses on events, MICE/corporate and wedding industry respectively.
Five engaging panel discussions featuring top industry leaders and experts on MICE, corporate, events and weddings industry provided sea of insights and knowledge on specialised topics while also allowing speakers to brainstorm to ongoing trends, future opportunities and solution to challenges currently being faced. Some of the key speakers include, Gaurav Shekhar Nagwekar, Head – Corporate Travel, Reliance Industries, Varghese Chettupuzha, Market Category Portfolio Lead – Travel & Mobility, Accenture Solutions, Sangitha Shetty, General Manager Global Travel & Mobility, Tata Communications, Seshasaye Kanthamraju, CEO, Ramoji Film City, Sanjoy Roy, MD, Teamwork Arts, Prashant Yadav, MD, Liberty international and Punit Jasuja, Owner, Punit Jasuja Productions among others.
Sharing his thoughts on the success of the ET MICE & Wedding Tourism Summit & Awards and Goa Tourism’s thoughts on such initiatives, Minister Khaunte congratulated ETTravelWorld for organising the event and creating a wonderful platform for the industry to interact and network.
“I would like to congratulate the whole ET team for the wonderful things they have been doing. It’s always a collaborative process that we need to follow with the state government being a facilitator and handholding the industry to promote tourism in the right way. India has been doing it the right way. It’s a good platform for us to meet the stakeholders, get some learnings and understand best practices we can adopt, and I think that’s the best way to create more avenues,” he said.
The maiden edition of ETTravelWorld MICE & Wedding Tourism Summit and Awards will delve into emerging trends in corporate business travel, exploring the evolving landscape of MICE experiences and the growing grandeur of Indian weddings. It will engage industry stakeholders in insightful discussions and meaningful deliberations.
Expressing gratitude on Goa Tourism winning two prestigious awards in the MICE destination and Festival & Events category, Khaunte added that Goa has always been an epicentre for world class MICE, events, weddings, and festival and will continue to lead the way. The minister also spoke about the Chikhal Kalo Mud Festival in Marcel, Goa.
The celebration, scheduled till June 30, is organised by the Department of Tourism, Goa, and features Goan cultural and devotional performances, a special Indian classical music performance, traditional games, mud pools, Goan vegetarian cuisine, food stalls. As Khaunte mentioned, these festivities will be rich in traditions and will showcase the jubilant spirit of Goa.
The ET MICE & Wedding Tourism Summit & Awards were graciously supported by its Presenting Partner – Visit Saudi, Gold Partner – Goa Tourism, Co-Sponsor – VFS Global, Event Partners – Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, Jazeera Airways, Sun International, Exhibiting Partner – Jaypee Hotels & Resorts, Knowledge Partner – EEMA and Hospitality Partner -Pullman Hotels & Resort.
The initiative by ETTravelWorld was also supported by ETAA and SITE India.
The full list of award winners is as follows:
MICE Travel Agency of the Year – International Travel: SOTC Travel
MICE Travel Agency of the Year – Domestic Travel: MakeMyTrip
MICE Destination of the Year – International: Qatar Tourism
Wedding Hotel of the Year – India: Fairmont Jaipur and HRH Group of Hotels
Wedding Planner of the Year: Mapsor Experiential Weddings
Convention Centre (Hotel) of the Year: Pullman New Delhi Aerocity
Exhibition Centre of the Year: India Expo Mart
MICE Destination of the Year – India: Goa Tourism
Corporate Event of the Year: Laqshya Live Experiences
Event Venue (Hotel) of the Year – Luxury: Noormahal Palace and Grand Hyatt Goa
Festival Organizer of the Year – Cultural and State Events: Goa Tourism
Event Venue (Hotel) of the Year – Mid Scale: Holiday Inn New Delhi International Airport
Rural/Regional Event of the Year: Laqshya Live Experiences
MICE Event Agency of the Year: Specialised Destination Services
