TOWARDS A VIABLE SYSTEM MODEL FOR MICE TOURISM IN MEXICO

Abstract

MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) Tourism in Mexico generates more than 501 thousand jobs and contributes 1.43% to the national GDP. According to the World Ranking of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Mexico is increasingly positioned as a destination for this tourism market, becoming a key driver in the economy.

This tourism activity is characterized to be a large-scale phenomenon, in which an interdependence is generated between the various agents involved creating positive and negative impacts and repercussions on the hosting destinations of the events. That is why is relevant manage this activity as a complex system identifying the relationships of its elements to generate solutions considering its economic, social, cultural, and environmental reality.

In this research is presented the current situation of MICE Tourism in Mexico through the Soft Systems Methodology. In the end, all those components and external agents that make up this tourist segment in Mexico can be identified, as well as the problem situations existing in the system and its environment. This diagnosis guides to the generation of a Viable System Model that allows the system to persist over the time despite the changes that occur in the environment, this by the realization of sustainable events.