Despite some hiccups before and during the Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi, the sporting event opened and closed with much grandeur and fanfare. Nevertheless, the Games had exposed some inadequacies in India’s ability to host major events, and made MICE organizers think twice about holding events there.

To be fair, infrastructure in India has improved with new airports and highways in major cities such as New Delhi and Bangalore. There are also fairly good meeting facilities and convention hotels. Security level is tight at airports and hotels to ensure safety of travelers. For post-show tours and team-building activities, there are grand and fortresses of Rajasthan, Taj Mahal in Agra, nature in Kerala, to name a few; and India is also a gateway to Nepal and Bhutan.

One set back is that many attractions are located at different cities. It takes time to travel from city to city, and rail or air links between some cities may not be very well developed.  The much-touted Golden Triangle tour of Delhi-Jaipur-Agra is a six-hour drive between each sector and flight is not always available.  Not many MICE groups have this much time for tour and activities.

Travel operators in India should move away from re-packaging normal tour itineraries for MICE groups.  They should perhaps optimize the potential of each city and its surrounding area to fit the time constraint of MICE groups.

If there is a lesson to be learned from the Commonwealth Games saga, it is that MICE organizers should not leave everything to the local DMC, but instead work very closely with them to ensure that schedule is met and objectives fulfilled.