Meetings "the most cost effective tool"
Martin Sirk, ceo of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), has hit back at critics who have accused the MICE industry of holding "frivolous" or "excessive" meetings.
He said that "negative reports" threatened to paint the industry as a "wasteful item of expenditure."
But he said it was the "most cost effective and impactful communication tool that is available to any company or association."
Mr Sirk said the industry needed to defend its international nature.
He added: "It is unfortunately all too easy to make a simplistic case for "local jobs", to discourage companies from sending delegates to overseas conferences, or to stipulate that they should only hold their own meetings within national borders.
"But this has just as many dangers as lobbying against the principles of free trade, or telling banks to pull out of all their international investments in order to have more money available for local mortgages and small businesses. "
He said the industry should be "proud" of its international scope.
Its aim, he said, was "making valuable new connections across cultures and beyond borders, bringing together doctors, lawyers, scientists, investors, academics, government officials, business leaders and others who would otherwise not have a chance to work together, to share knowledge and know-how to find solutions to challenges which themselves are blind to national boundaries."
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