MICE.
What is MICE and how big is the MICE industry?
MICE is the business side of live events: Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions. The trade floor, not the dance floor.
Questions about MICE, answered
What is MICE and how big is the MICE industry?
MICE is the business side of live events: Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions. The trade floor, not the dance floor. It is the biggest slice by far. $1.3 trillion in direct spending in 2025, 1.65 billion participants in 180+ countries, $1.8 trillion added to world GDP, according to the Events Industry Council (the sector's global body). If MICE were a country it would be the 16th largest economy on earth, ahead of the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia. Where the money sits: corporate events $566 billion, conventions and congresses $383 billion, trade shows $179 billion, incentive trips $87 billion. North America pays $488 billion of it, Asia $353 billion and now bigger than Western Europe. Oxford Economics (the forecasting house) sees business events at $1.6 trillion by 2028. Business events are the biggest slice inside the broad live-events market of $1.2 to 1.6 trillion, which also counts concerts, festivals and sports. My $2.5 trillion forecast is for that whole market.
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