Current Trends in Business Tourism

Abstract

The development of international tourism in recent decades has highlighted an increasingly accentuated diversification of travel motives, of which business tourism occupies a relevant place. If once travel was associated mainly with recreation or cultural exploration, today the business travel segment, including both individual travel and the MICE branch, constitutes a strategic pillar of the service economy and an essential catalyst for economic and professional exchanges worldwide. Objectives: This article highlights a series of major trends that characterize the current MICE market in response to the need for flexibility, efficiency and accessibility. Prior Work: The article records some of the most relevant aspects that characterize the MICE segment, as prioritized and applied within various hotel groups worldwide Results: It expresses practice in the field, with examples, on two levels, namely: the development of the "bleisure travel" phenomenon and how this type of mobility influences work flexibility, and the second level, how digitalization and artificial intelligence in business tourism are relevant processes.. Value: The core of this analysis is the paradigm shift in the industry: the priority is no longer the volume of travel, but the generation of maximum value from each direct experience with the customer.