Bogotá Strengthens Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions Offering

To enhance MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) tourism in Bogotá, 56 local tourism service providers participated in a diploma course focused on this sector. The initiative aims to strengthen the industry by promoting trade, innovation, and business opportunities. Through the diploma program, participants will improve their competitiveness, sustainability, and innovation in event management.

The project is the result of collaborative efforts between the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism, Fontur, Fenalco, the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, and the Externado University of Colombia. MICE tourism boosts the local economy by attracting corporate, academic, and institutional visitors who participate in high-impact events, generating employment, and consumer spending, and increasing the destination’s reputation.

“Meeting tourism not only boosts the local economy, it also presents us to the world as a prepared, diverse, and sustainable country. Bogotá has everything it needs to consolidate itself as the epicenter of major events,” stated Diana Marcela Morales, minister of commerce, industry, and tourism.

Of the 56 tourism service providers who participated, 28 completed the Diploma in Comprehensive Event Management, aimed at officials and collaborators of companies and MSMEs in the tourism sector. During 120 hours of in-person training, provided by the Externado de Colombia University and the Meeting Professionals International (MPI) organization, attendees were trained in legal and financial aspects, event modalities, social responsibility, operations, evaluation, and sustainability. As an added value, they obtained the international “Meeting Essentials” certification.

Additionally, 28 other providers completed the Sustainable Event Management Course, which allowed them to strengthen their skills in responsible practices and learn strategies to mitigate the environmental impact of organizing meetings, conferences, fairs, and other events. This comprehensive approach provided them with tools to combine competitiveness with sustainability.

The project had an investment of $1.066 billion USD, 77% co-financed by the ministry through Fontur. This training provided specialized knowledge in sustainability, innovation, and new technologies applied to MICE tourism, to improve the job skills of stakeholders in the sector’s value chain.

As part of this training program, the MICE Congress was held during the second half of 2024, an academic event that brought together more than 400 national and international attendees, who shared innovative practices and policies to strengthen the events industry in Colombia.

These results were possible thanks to the institutional coordination between the public and private sectors and academia, in a joint effort to consolidate Bogotá as one of the leading MICE tourism destinations in Latin America.

MICE tourism—Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions—is a specialized type of tourism that encompasses meetings, incentives, congresses, and exhibitions. Photo credit: MINCIT.