UNWTO Global Startup Competition on Event Tourism: Mega Events and MICE Tourism

One of the current priorities of UNWTO is to promote connections among the actors that form part of the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem in tourism as a means for the generation of employment and business opportunities, as well as for the sustainable development of the sector.

Mega events are large-scale events often of a longer duration that attract a significant number of attendees from different parts of the world, related to sporting, cultural, or business, and they usually have a global impact. They can benefit a host destination in terms of attracting visitors, drawing global attention to destinations, and as a consequence increasing international tourist arrivals. In principle, mega events contribute short-term benefits, yet when executed systematically and in a sustainable way, they can be a catalyst for longer-term tourism development in various aspects from economic to social. Although international tourist arrivals and receipts increase significantly for the host country of a mega event, they must take into account possible tourist displacement and the effect of this kind of tourism on the destination. They can present a range of challenges for the country, the host destination, and the stakeholders involved.

Tourism generated by Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions, or MICE Tourism, is a specialized segment of the tourism industry that involves organizing and hosting short-term events and gatherings for business purposes. It is an important sector for many countries and cities, as it can attract significant numbers of high-spending visitors who contribute to the local economy. The tourism industry relies on effective marketing and promotion to attract attendees and exhibitors, as well as on skilled event organizers who can manage the logistics and coordination of large-scale events.

Categories

• The programme features 4 categories or concrete challenges (2 for Mega Events and 2 for MICE Tourism). The entrepreneurs may define which challenge fits more to their solution.
  • Mega Events:
    • Digitalization and Disruptiveness for Sustainable Event Management: Mega events can have significant environmental impacts, such as increased energy and water consumption, waste generation, and greenhouse gas emissions. Disruptive ideas that contribute to sustainable event management practices can help to minimize these impacts by reducing waste, conserving resources, and promoting renewable energy. Digital technologies can be used to enhance the attendee experience and improve mega events, as well as serves as a tool for sustainability for both the infrastructure and the services.
      • Key Challenges: waste reduction, conserving resources, renewable energy, enhancing attendee experience, and emerging technologies.
    • Inclusiveness and Accessibility: Mega events can often be exclusive and not accessible to everyone. Inclusive event design aims to create events that are accessible and welcoming to all attendees, regardless of their abilities or backgrounds. In addition, they have an impact on the surrounding communities, both positive and negative. Engaging with local communities can help to build trust and support for the event, as well as to identify and address any concerns or issues that arise. This can involve partnerships with local businesses, community organizations, and local government.
      • Key Challenges: fan engagement, promotion of values, accessible infrastructure, involvement and partnership with local communities
  • MICE Tourism:
    • Promotion and Marketing: There is significant competition among destinations to attract MICE events. Host destinations must differentiate themselves from other destinations and provide a compelling value proposition to event organizers. These events require effective marketing and promotion to attract attendees and exhibitors. Event organizers and host destinations must develop targeted marketing campaigns that reach the right audience and communicate the event’s unique value.
      • Key Challenges: differentiation and competition of host destinations, targeted marketing, communication, exhibitions, and brand awareness.
    • Technology for attendee engagement and infrastructure: MICE events must engage attendees and provide a compelling experience that meets their needs and expectations. This includes developing relevant content, providing networking opportunities, and incorporating technology to enhance the attendee experience. In addition, challenges related to venue availability, transportation, accommodation, communication infrastructure, security, and sustainable infrastructure, arise for these types of high-level events.
      • Key Challenges: security, network opportunities, logistics, registration, communication with attendees, translation, and audio-visual innovation.

Benefits

• Opportunity to join UNWTO Innovation Network
• Opportunity to participate and pitch solution at a Global UNWTO event
• Potential opportunity to provide a demo of the solution at an upcoming global UNWTO event
• Visibility on UNWTO global platforms and social media networks
• Scholarships for UNWTO Tourism Online Academy
• Access to potential Mentorship programs with international leaders in the field of innovation
• Networking opportunities with UNWTO and key partners
• Access to potential seed funding, investments, and partnership opportunities with consultancies, accelerators, and incubators within the UNWTO Network.

Target Audience: The purpose of this Competition is to capture the attention of a large number of start-ups, tour operators and entrepreneurs on a global level, across the tourism value chain to facilitate the selection of those that are most relevant to the challenges they are addressing.

Participants

• The Competition is aimed at/is open to all entrepreneurs from UN Member States, whether individuals or legal entities, of legal age and with the legal capacity to enter into a contract. The projects can be focused on any methods, processes, governance structures, social impact initiatives, technological applications, among other ways of innovation.
• Specifically, entrepreneurs and startups should meet the following criteria:
  • Are innovative/disruptive in nature and provide value-added and sustainable solutions for the tourism sector of Events.
  • Harnessing the impact of new technologies especially within the context of blue and green economies,
  • Offer alternative and complementary business models to harness the economic impact of tourism in Mega Events and MICE Tourism
  • Be scalable: to have potential for international growth and potential to be applied in Events.
  • Be an Early Stage or Series A startups
  • Have a minimum viable product or an idea that is ready to be developed and funded,
  • Have a tested pilot and business plan
  • Have a full-time team
  • Emphasize the promotion of digitalization, innovation in environmental preservation and impact on local communities,
  • All ways of innovation are welcome: new methods, processes, governance models, social impact initiatives, and technologies.
• The representative of the startup must be a natural person from a UN Member State, of legal age and with legal capacity to enter into a contract. Not having been convicted by a final judgement, for intentional crimes, with a penalty of six months or more, insofar as the criminal responsibility has not expired.
• Participants, who initially or at any point during the programme, fail to meet any of these requirements, may be excluded from the following steps of the programme, losing any option to receive any service and without the right to claim anything from the UNWTO and other partners.
• The data that participants provide when registering in the programme must be true, and therefore any participants whose data is incorrect or incomplete shall lose any option to participate in the programme and to receive any service.
• The organizers of The Competition reserve the right of accepting or removing from the programme, without prior notice, any participants who, in their opinion, act fraudulently, in an abusive manner, or in a manner contrary to the spirit of the programme, the principles of the United Nations or the law, third-party rights and/or good faith. Likewise, any participant or related person whose action may be contrary to the reputation or good name of the UNWTO may be removed.

For more information, visit UNWTO.