The MICE industry in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province, has experienced a quicker rebound in the latter half of 2020 after a period of sluggish development due to the COVID-19 epidemic earlier this year. [Photo/xmnn.cn]

The MICE industry in Xiamen, East China's Fujian province, has experienced a quicker rebound in the latter half of 2020 after a period of sluggish development due to the COVID-19 epidemic earlier this year.

MICE stands for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.

Xiamen has organized more than 70 large exhibitions and over 2,200 large conventions in the second half of this year, generating more than 12 billion yuan ($1.84 billion) in economic benefits.

All this can be largely attributed to the creative efforts made by local government departments and companies.

Online exhibitions and the digitalized MICE industry are popular in Xiamen.

The organizing committee of the China International Fair for Investment & Trade (CIFIT) cooperated with Alibaba Group this year to launch the online CIFIT platform, which enables exhibitions, project matchmaking, investment negotiations, forums and symposiums, and contract signings.

During the four-day event, the online platform was reviewed by more than 100,000 visitors.

An upgraded version of the public information service platform for the MICE industry in Xiamen was released on Nov 24 to offer more efficient and comprehensive MICE-related services.

People can use the platform to access detailed information about two large professional exhibition venues, 135 starred hotels and nearly 200 MICE service agencies.

Xiamen has also been promoting the integration of the MICE industry and biological medicine, computers and communications, integrated circuits, and cultural and creative industries.

To date, the city has introduced the Industrial Internet Conference, China Materials Annual Meeting, Chinese Conference on Oncology, and held local exhibitions featuring stones, Buddhist items and crafts, and seafood.