Examining Participant’s Perception of SPICE Factors of Metaverse MICE and Its Impact on Participant’s Loyalty and Behavioral Intentions

The COVID-19 pandemic has made most MICE (an acronym that stands for Meeting, Incentive travel, Convention and Exhibition) events postponed or canceled but some are held as online and virtual, or as hybrid events combining online and offline format. In recent years, evolved from the physical MICE events, metaverse-based MICE events are spot-lighted as the participants can indirectly participates in the virtual world called metaverse through avatars, the virtual self. As various metaverse contents are developed based on advanced technology, the MZ (millennials and Generation Z) generation, who proficiently handle digital platforms, accepts the virtual world as a part of reality, and enjoys new experiences (Hwang, Media Issue Trend 45:6–15, [3]). The purpose of this study is to investigate which factors of the metaverse-based MICE events affect the participants’ loyalty and intention to attend the MICE events and provide empirical data for establishing an effective metaverse-based MICE marketing strategy. To do that this study adopted SPICE(Seamlessness, Presence, Interoperability, Concurrence, Economy) model of metaverse suggested by Kim and Shin (S.K. Kim, B.H. Shin, Metaverse new opportunity. Vegabooks (2021)). A total of valid responses collected from MICE industry stakeholders were investigated. The findings of this study identified that among five dimensions of SPICE model, Seamlessness, Presence, and Economy factors have statistically significant influence on participants’ loyalty of the event while only Presence and Economy factors have significant influence on intention to attend the event. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The Changing Nature of The Mice Sector in South Africa Due to Covid-19

The purpose of the study is to explore the changing nature of MICE tourism in South Africa due to COVID-19. Based on a series of interviews conducted with representatives of the MICE industry in various sectors, including incentive, conference, and meeting, venues, and associations, the study found that while the shift to virtual events was adopted by many, there are substantial costs involved and significant learning required for their successful execution. Further, the study found venues to be among the most affected owing to the restrictions placed on visitor numbers and the need to adapt to the virtual environment. Moreover, virtual events were perceived as temporary plasters, with live to return once restrictions on the industry are lifted. The study concludes that virtual and hybrid events are valuable in the continuity of MICE tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research is one of the very few studies examining the impact of COVID-19 on MICE events and reveals the subsequent changes, in theory and practice, to MICE tourism. © 2022 Cognizant, LLC.