As the demand for MICE services in Russia continues to grow, the third edition of the MICE Russia Industry Convention will take place on 2nd October 2006 at the World Trade Centre, Moscow. The aim of the workshop is to assist companies entering the dynamic MICE industry.

TTG Russia confirms the vast potential of the MICE market in Russia: “More than three million Russians are traveling internationally on business trips each year and this figure is rapidly increasing. Furthermore, figures show that more than 60% of Russian corporate meetings are held abroad, with budgets allocated for business expenses on the increase in small, medium and large companies.”

The business travel market has been expanding since the mid 1990’s, with the incentive segment contributing largely to this growth. Current trends indicate that Russians spend on average three to four days travelling, of which one to two days is spent as leisure time. Spending power has been on increase since the crisis at the end of the 1980s. Russian business travellers currently spend more than anywhere else in the world, with $83 million spent on business travel in 2003.

The Barclaycard Business Travel Survey 2005/2006 confirmed that business travel is on the increase with nearly half (45%) of business travellers travelling more in the 2005/06 period than in 2004/05. Over half (55%) of the respondents confirmed that they were now travelling more on business than ten years ago, due mainly to business expansion.

According to the same report 78% business travellers enjoy travelling for business, over 37% book their trip personally online, 31% use an external travel management company and 10% use an internal business travel agent.

According to business travel is set to grow by 17%, driven mainly by overseas expansion and a continued need for face-to-face meetings, which cannot always be effectively replaced by technology.

The MICE Russia Industry Convention attracted a number of key industry players in 2005, including Accor, Cyprus Conference & Incentives Ltd, CzechTourism, Elba Hotels, Finnish Tourist Board, Fraport AG, Grand Hotel Principe Di Piemonte, Habib`s Tours & Travel Ltd, Kuoni Destination Management, Malta Tourist Authority, MTC Group, Radisson SAS Hotel Berlin + Park Inn Hotel Berlin, Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Switzerland Tourism, VisitBritain, VisitLondon and Wedgewood USA, to name but a few.

MICE Russia 2006 looks set to build on the success of the 2005 event, welcoming even more professional MICE companies and organisations.