On March 7th, Japan Tourism Agency(JTA) held “the second MICE Conference for the enhancement of international competitiveness” in the executive conference room of the Central Government Building No.3.
Twelve members of the committee selected from MICE-related associations, private companies and local governments as well as the staffs of JTA including the director general Mr.Ida of JTA attended the conference.
The officials of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan also attended the conference as observers.
Opening the conference, the result of the interview conducted by organizers of international conference was introduced.
They requested：
・Necessity of the support from the government seeing the attraction of international conferences as an investiment
・To recognize the invitation of international conferences as a career development opportunity for young people
・In case of the failure of the invitation of a conference, the cost in the preparatory stage will be a risk and the income unfixed up to the event.
etc.
As an immediate measure to take, the fostering of MICE cities is proposed.
As a first step, select and support MICE cities in the next fiscal year. As a second step, select strategic major urban areas in 2015. Eventually, look to build self-sustained global knowledge hub cities and boost up to be able to stand up to other international conference host cities.
The final draft is scheduled to be produced this May.