In this framework, Travel2latam spoke with Claudio Sances Olivares, National Manager of Meetings Tourism of SERNATUR, National Tourism Service of Chile.
What are the expectations for participating in an event like this?
For a couple of years now we have been starting the promotion of incentive trips in Chile, very positioned and working a lot in international congresses and conventions, which is why last year we also hosted this MLS in Patagonia and the idea is to start getting into it now. with the different incentive houses and start selling to Chile. We obviously do not market but we do refer to our unions when there are requests for incentive trips to Chile, our role is only to promote the destination such as incentive trips, conferences and congresses.
Chile has been and is a very important country for this segment. What is the planning they have put together for 2023 and what is the perspective for 2024?
Our main task is to continue applying to more international conferences. In 2022 we applied throughout the year, we applied for 25 candidates and won 20, and this year only from January to September we have already won 20 congresses out of 22 applications, so the idea is to continue like this and recover the numbers we had in 2019. In addition , we want to become members of different institutions to be able to continue attracting more corporate and incentive trips, and continue attending the traditional fairs that we have every year.
What fairs are you going to participate in for the rest of the year?
Only as the MICE segment we would have the IMEX America fair and in general, in Argentina the FIT, WTM in November in London and in 2024 we are going to the FITUR MICE, we are also going to go to FIEXPO.
Which destinations have made the most progress since the reopening in Chile in this segment after the pandemic?
We are strengthening the Convention Bureau, the idea is that it is like in other countries, that they give us potential connections and not us to them, which is what is happening now. As SERNATUR we are applying much more to events than them, so we are doing strengthening work with SERNATUR, SERNATUR REGIONAL, and the regional governments so that they can apply for funds and resources from the regional governments, of which there is at least some percentage of the resources for tourism in each region of Chile, but also destined for the MICE segment. But we want the Bureaus to bring applications to the public entity, and not the other way around.
What is your message to the community of professionals in the MICE segment from your personal point of view?
I think that the work developed with FIExpo has been fundamental, especially not only the marketing of our different ambassadors. We have 82 Ambassadors whose profile is obviously Chilean but who are members of the board of an international association or have worked in training has made them understand much more what the MICE segment means, both for them and for the benefit of their associations, because It is not just about capturing a congress and organizing it, but they have learned much more and that has been noted with our ambassadors who apply for events for Chile.