Coex and World Trade Center Seoul’s ‘MICE Cluster’ Initiative in Full- Swing
Seoul, South Korea (PRWEB) October 29, 2013 -- Thirty of Korea’s leading MICE organization directors, experts, and academics gathered for a forum held in the Trade Tower Seoul on the morning of Tuesday October 29th, which laid out further plans for the recently announced World Trade Center Seoul ‘MICE Cluster’ initiative. Led by the Korea International Trade Association and Coex convention and exhibition center, the forum explored ways in which the new MICE cluster will further develop the capital’s competitiveness as a global events destination through the merging of business, shopping, entertainment, culture, events, and the Korean ‘Hallyu’ Wave.
Announced last month, the World Trade Center Seoul’s MICE Cluster Initiative, or ‘TMC’, will see increased collaboration between 12 of the site's leading business travel and events facilities in order to offer optimal services to domestic and global business travelers. New, all-in-one cooperative marketing and management strategies will further enhance the World Trade Center’s entertainment, shopping, business, transportation, and accommodation services.
The MICE Cluster forum on Tuesday was attended by a thirty-two member advisory committee consisting of MICE professionals and academics from around the country, including the CEOs and marketing directors of Korea's leading tourist destinations and events, related government figures, and hotel and tourism experts from some of Seoul's top universities. The MICE Cluster advisory committee discussed existing successful global MICE Cluster models, alongside ways that this particular initiative can enhance creative business and tourism economy in Seoul.
Part of the initiative is to include the hosting of ‘SEBETO Gangnam’, a large-scale music and culture festival to take place at the World Trade Center in May 2015. Standing for ‘Seoul, Bejing, Tokyo,’ the SEBETO Gangnam Festival will see a variety of concerts, pop-culture exhibitions, tourism attractions and celebrity appearances spread across the site’s entire 190,347sqm of space, for seven days.
During the event, Coex’s 36,000 sqm of exhibition space alone will showcase top Korean brands from across the food, fashion, art and design industries, while the Coex Artium and Coex Art Hall will host a variety of performances and musicals from Hallyu stars for fans. The outside areas of the World Trade Center will also be utilized for the event, with traditional Korean goods exhibitions, alongside dazzling LED decorations.
Alongside the festival, overseas visitors will also be able to enjoy shopping in the newly renovated underground Coex Mall, as well as in the Hyundai Department Store and Lotte Duty Free plaza. Other guest facilities which will be cooperating to offer optimized packages for guests to the event will include the Coex Intercontinental Hotel, Oakwood Premier Hotel, Seven Luck Casino, Coex Aquarium, and Megabox Theater.
Planned especially to coincide with Japan’s Golden Week holiday and May Day in Korea, the SEBETO Gandnam Festival is expected to attract as many as 100,000 tourists over the week it is open, representing an estimated 150 million USD worth of benefits for the Korean economy. This is equivalent to the export and sale of more than 11,000 Korean cars, or 360,000 Korean smartphones.
Through the creation of fun, cultural, and business-oriented infrastructure and space, Coex hopes to establish itself as a center to rival large overseas venues such as Marina Bay Sands and Roppongi Hills. The MICE Cluster will also include the introduction of a brand-new high-tech garden and observatory on top of the ASEM Tower, giving visitors the unique chance to view Gangnam in 360 degrees and from a spectacular height.
Coex CEO and President Mr Bokyung Byun says, “We are very excited to launch this MICE Cluster and accompanying new ventures, led by 12 leading MICE businesses and 30 experts from around the country. This is a great opportunity to re-launch the World Trade Center Seoul and Coex as a globally competitive business and events destination, offering innovative and integrated MICE facilities and events.”
The announcement of the new World Trade Center MICE Cluster comes shortly before Coex welcomes hundreds of prominent exhibition industry figures for the Seoul UFI Congress 2013, hosted by AKEI. From November 13th – 16th up to 500 key players from the global MICE industry will congregate at Korea’s top convention and exhibition center for four days of networking opportunities and information share. Participants will be able to find out more about the MICE Cluster and SEBETO Gangnam Festival during the event.
Rhiannon Shepherd, Coex, http://icoex.co.kr/eng, +82 260001121, [email protected]
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