<Anchor> The



MICE industry, which plans and conducts international conferences and large-scale exhibitions, has been hit hard by the corona.

There are areas that can be turned into online events, but there are areas where it is difficult to adapt to the non-face-to-face era.

I am deeply worried about the industry.



This is reporter Han Sang-woo.



<Reporter> The



spacious exhibition hall at COEX in Gangnam, Seoul was empty.



Before the Corona 19 crisis, crowds gathered at various exhibitions without a break, and companies were actively pioneering markets.



Covid-19 distancing is fatal to the exhibition.



In the case of step 2.5, admission is limited to one person per 16m2, but only 625 people can enter a 10,000 square meter exhibition hall.



Considering that around 500 companies usually participate, the general audience can only receive about 100 people.



[Kang Ho-yeon/Executive Vice President of COEX: The exhibition and convention MICE industry saw a sharp drop in sales of 70% in the aftermath of Corona 19.]



International conferences also

dropped by

80%.



This is the Grand Ballroom, the largest event venue in COEX.



Since there aren't any events, the middle of the room is closed with partitions and virtually closed.



The bigger problem is the fundamental changes in the exhibition that Untact brings.



As the online virtual space exhibition is in the limelight, CES, the world's largest consumer electronics IT exhibition in January, as well as new product release events by large companies are being held online one after another.



However, unlike large companies that can benefit from online events due to their high awareness and customer loyalty, small and medium-sized businesses still need offline events.



[Kang Shin-dong / Managing Director of Exhibition Event Planning Company: Because there are many small and medium-sized enterprises through exhibitions.

Their sales channels were blocked, and the promotion and marketing channels were blocked...

.]



Preparing special quarantine rules for large-scale events or developing exhibition techniques that lower the concentration of audiences are the homework that the MICE industry must solve for survival.



(Video coverage: Park Hyun-cheol, Video editing: Park Jin-hoon)