As more investments on this part of the world are poured into the real estate and hotel sectors with halls and rooms for meetings and events, the region keeps climbing up notches in the International Congress & Convention Association’s ranking as a good MICE travel destination.

This business is said to start with good infrastructure and supposed to necessarily bank on professionalism and fair logistics in terms of technology. Connectivity with the rest of the world is also important, coupled with a smart promotion propped up on good presentations that stress on the different possibilities both the venue and the destination have to offer. Another key element is the adequate management of certain incentives, such as guestroom prices depending on the number of attendees and some gratuities and tax-exempt actions, among other strategies. Under this shroud of favorable conditions, in just a few years Latin America has stood tall as a successful world-class destination and some of its countries have cracked the top-50 list in the tough-to-make international ranking issued by the ICCA on a yearly basis. Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago de Chile, Mexico City, Bogotá, Lima, Cartagena de Indias, Montevideo, Cancun, Panama City, Havana and San Juan de Puerto Rico are the best-scoring burgs in the region. All of them boast great urban infrastructure, palaces or high-tech facilities, upscale hotels fitted out with meetings rooms and an adequate offer for the extra days at the event. Those are some of the basic blessings event planners look for around the world when it comes to handpicking a host nation or city. Competition is tough and both organizers and customers want to know some concrete additional advantages. Professionalism, promotional efforts, lobbying and technology are key to making the MICE market grow because they are no less the fields in which no resources must be skimped in terms of training, familiarization with the offer and nonstop technological streamlining, like websites exclusively dedicated to the event and faster communication possibilities. The website of Mexico’s Tourism Promotion Council (www.visitmexico.com) features a section entitled “Online Meetings” that allows for the uploading of RFPs and search information on destinations and places where the events can be held. The Conventions Bureau in Cartagena de Indias lets visitors request those RFPs electronically and make mailing lists. It also provides event organizers with promotional and advertising material. The Conventions & Visitors center in Rio de Janeiro has set out to overhaul its website this year with electronic RFPs and new contents for meeting planners.

Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago de Chile, Mexico City, Bogotá, Lima, Cartagena de Indias, Montevideo, Cancun, Panama City, Havana and San Juan de Puerto Rico are the best-scoring burgs in the region

Prices and fares are undisputed allures, or at least what both the host and the destination can actually sock away or slash from the costs of the event –a temptation too hard to resist. This is a topic each and every country is free to develop with strategies of its own. Some of them lean to faster customs and immigration clearances. Destinations like Cancun levy no value-added taxes on the organizers of foreign conferences, a move that renders in savings of up to 15 percent. Panamanians charge no fees on the convention center as long as it’s a meeting for over 500 attendees who are also entitled to book a hotel room for a minimum three-night stay. Others give away the opening or closing dinner, or organize some post-event tours with transportation and guides included at no extra charge. Countless initiatives and multiple options can be carried out in terms of prices, fares and spaces. What’s more, the availability of hotels with superb meetings halls equipped with cutting-edge technology is pretty high, so there’s a chance for direct bargaining with those lodgings. Either way, it’s estimated that roughly 40 percent of MICE travelers repurchase the destination for fun and leisure. Therefore, the greatest incentive and the strongest commitment with the end users lie in the quality of the offer and the service –penciled in as the genuine multiplying element in this business.