India is not just one of the world's oldest civilizations, it is also the world's largest democracy, and has made stupendous progress among developing nations. India's impressive variety of history and culture, from the ancient Gangetic Kingdoms to the present state, harmoniously blend to form a unique atmosphere in over a million square kilometers of scenic sights. A continent-sized country, India possesses an amazing wealth of sights and sounds, tastes and textures. From a bustling cosmopolitan city to the quiet countryside, hill station or a beach resort, India has destinations, which offer a backdrop of unmatched beauty for a business meet. You will find a fascinating amalgam of tradition & culture, beauty & nature, style & splendour, warmth, feelings & courtesies, comfort & convenience virtually everything the modern conference organiser or delegate could expect. Conferences here bring fresh meaning of the concept of combining work with pleasure.

What makes India different from any other destination is the myriad of experiences that it offers. This is one land where the ancient and the modern co-exist. India has literally everything that a visitor wants to experience and offers people a complete holiday both physical and mental. This is perhaps the reason why we have so many repeat visitors. To quote Mark Twain, "India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India."

Amidst the countless ways that India can capture world attention as a tourist paradise, there also exists a dynamic business opportunity as a splendid venue for international conferences and conventions of no less than global standards.

India is undoubtedly a unique Conference Destination as it offers cultural and heritage sites, the exotic and mystical, excellent facilities of beach and adventure holidays which can be combined as pre and post conference tours.

Enchanting India's image as a conference destination is also projected through the chains of Hotels, providing international standards in facilities and services. Exclusive business hotels and exotic resorts, with meeting rooms of distinction, spacious convention facilities, modern business centres and a wide range of conference facilities.

India is in a continual process of upgrading its MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions) facilities. There are multiple plans on the anvil for more world-class convention centers, airports that contest with the best in the world and efforts to team the famous Indian hospitality with customisation as per a visitor's requirement. You could also offer the credit to the world class incentive programs, her ability to heal spiritually, her unmatched offering as a health destination or continually improved infrastructure facilities that over 3 million foreign tourists thronged her this year generating over US $30 billion as revenue, even as most other preferred hotspots marked a decline in their tourism graphs.

The inbound MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and events) segment is growing at 15 to 20% annually. It is estimated that the total national and international MICE meetings market all over the world is in excess of $270 billion. According to industry estimates, the Indian in-bound MICE market in first seven months in 2004 was $20 million, which is 40% more than the same period last year. India ranks 27th in the Global Meetings market.

India is going the global way and MICE is fast becoming a major part of its travel and promotional budgets. In the Indian context, incentives is at present the largest component of MICE but in a maturing market, it's only a matter of time before the entire gamut of MICE activities are undertaken by the Indian corporate world.

With the expansion in the network of airlines operation on the domestic routes, better tourist surface transport systems including the Indian Railways, new centers of information technology, many new convention centres, hotels and meeting facilities, India is now an important MICE destination. The Indian sub-continent is emerging as one of the finest Incentive destinations in the world owing to the diverse culture and geography. From the icy Himalayas to the tropical islands and from citadels in the desert to verdant jungles it is a world in itself. With the emergence of exciting new destinations every year one has unparalleled choices for the incentive operator here. The incentive programmes are a combination of old world charm and tradition interlaced with modern cosmopolitan sophistication.

Today, there are distinct travel divisions within tour companies and airlines that exclusively target MICE movement. Destinations have also begun to market MICE products to specialised agencies and the corporate world at large. The business of MICE holds enormous potential for any country. It is estimated that a person travelling to a country for a conference or convention spends anywhere four to eight times more than a normal leisure traveller. They spend more on food, more on business centre services.

India is globally connected to a network of over 50 international airlines and several domestic airlines, which provide convenient connectivity within India.

Added to this is an elaborate network of surface transportation system. There is an excellent Railway system running through the entire country. All-important cities are connected with state-of-the-art 'Shatabdi & Rajdhani' Express trains. Special trains like Palace on Wheels and Royal Orient Express, comprising of air-conditioned saloons decorated in the old Maharaja style offer guests a chance to stay on the train and visit colourful Rajasthan and fascinating Gujarat. An excellent network of roads, national and state highways, luxury coaches, Indian & foreign-make vehicles add to the convenience and comfort of surface travel.

And, to add to this, India offers an educated manpower base where fluency in English and other official international languages can be expected.

A large number of Convention Centres are available in India with a seating capacity of up to 1700 persons. The important conference centres in the country are at New Delhi, Mumbai, Agra, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur & Kolkata. Some important hotel chains like the Taj Group, ITC-Welcomgroup, the Oberoi's, Meridien Hotels, Marriott Hotels etc. also have excellent conference facilities.