International Convention Destination: Researchers' Preferences and Requirements

Convention industry is classified as four categories: the acronym, 'MICE' (Meetings, Incentives, Convention/Congress, and Exhibition/Event). MICE industry has been acknowledge as helping destinations gain a better tourism image and produce economic impact. According to Japan Tourism Agency, economic ripple impact which convention industry produces in 2015 is 590.5 billion in 2015. Among the stakeholders, convention bureaus play an important role to attract convention business in Japan. Since researches on convention industry and especially convention bureaus are still limited and just get started in Japan, this study is to clarify what kinds of factors are important to attract international conventions for Japanese researchers. Moreover, this study discusses the differences between those who have hosted international convention and those who are willing to host international convention in the future. The questionnaire survey for the current research was conducted by online. In method, each respondents' evaluation was analyzed in descriptive statistics and then respondents are classified into 2 groups. Respondents who are willing to host international convention tend to place importance on all sorts of domains. Therefore, convention bureaus need to offer information and support their preparation to host international convention thoroughly.