The terms ESG management, carbon neutrality, and sustainability are becoming conversation topics worldwide. Companies make manuals that can be practiced by organizing the ESG Committee, and Hyundai Motor and Benz declared carbon neutrality and that they would sell only electric vehicles within 20 years at the IAA (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung) Mobility 2021. The keywords have rapidly risen due to COVID-19, and people are now thinking of environment protection very clearly as if they replaced a flickering bulb with a new one hastily. Although COVID-19 will eventually subside, many scholars are predicting that the tsunami to follow will cause serious changes due to climate change. Recently, 14,000 scientists from 150 countries have collectively warned about the critical situation of climate change through the scientific journal BioScience. Damages have occurred continuously due to abnormal disturbance such as heavy rain, scorching heat, and wildfire, and use of fossil fuels fell due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the atmospheric concentration situation of CO2, methane, and nitrogen dioxide has been one of the worst in history.  

According to a domestic study on sustainable MICE, as a result of survey on sustainability recognition targeting people engaged in the MICE industry, most had the recognition that sustainability is about eco-friendliness. Likewise, importance among issues to solve in the MICE field was found to be high but not urgent. The misunderstanding of and bias toward sustainability proves that Korea’s MICE industry fell short and those people have not received proper education opportunities. Despite its short history, however, the Korean MICE industry has sincerely implemented the task to lay the foundation for the MICE industry such as legal system maintenance, hardware construction, and network formation and accomplished the feat of being No. 1 in the world in terms of the number of international conferences hosted. Many local governments are still constructing infrastructure, and Korea’s MICE industry has grown and matured to the extent that the MICE industry can be developed alongside sustainability. Nonetheless, the MICE industry is still underdeveloped compared to the advanced countries in MICE. 
According to GDS-I (Global Destination Sustainability Index) statistical data based on Goyang City in 2021, universities encompassing sustainability in their curriculum in the Tourism and MICE-related departments among those in the Seoul Metropolitan Area were found to account for 71%. The need for MICE industry’s sustainability has already gained support in the academe and industry, and its importance has been well-recognized. Although practice of sustainability is really urgent, it has not been properly carried out as it has been pushed back from the priority list, and the commitment to practice it is very weak. Misunderstanding of sustainability is also very deep. It is no use for the people engaged in MICE to shout that sustainable MICE should be practiced given the huge bias that major achievements are not generated, giving rise to an inconvenient situation instead, despite reflecting eco-friendly MICE to events. The true meaning of sustainability, different from what people generally know, should be recognized, and people need to realize it through repeated education. 

Let us think of the meaning of sustainable MICE first. Envision what sustainable MICE is by asking yourselves the question. Only the word “eco-friendliness” occurs to you? Then your understanding of the meaning of sustainability is about 30%. Sustainable MICE covers three areas, and only when the three areas simultaneously occur to you can you be said to understand true sustainability. To express sustainability accurately, the three factors—environment, society, and economy—should be considered. According to Robertson (2021), sustainability is a concept originating from the corporate performance measurement framework TBL (Triple Bottom Line: Environment, Economics, Equity) used in Business Administration. It means that corporate performance should measure social responsibility and environmental sustainability as well as economic profitability. When three factors—environmental protection, pursuit of social equity, and creation of economic profits—are balanced, sustainability is secured. 

Gyeonggi MICE has discussed sustainability for a long time. Everybody says that sustainability should be implemented in all cities and guns (counties), but abstractly. Now is the time for sustainability to be practiced properly. Although it is a bit late to start doing so, it will not be so late if sustainability is practiced now. Let’s think about what Gyeonggi-do should do to shape a sustainable MICE. 
First, sustainable Gyeonggi-style MICE practice manual and checklist are necessary. 
The MICE industry as a whole is not entirely sure about what to do in order to practice sustainability if asked to do so. Confusion occurs, i.e., it is not clear whether garbage recycling should be done well or if local talent should be selected and used. Therefore, a clear Gyeonggi-do-customized sustainable MICE manual to practice should be developed. Although there can be common items in each region, the basic guideline to be used suitable for each city and gun should be made at Gyeonggi-do’s level. The checklist for actually practicing it should also be provided. Because it is difficult to check the status of practice, a checklist linked with performance indicators should be offered so that each city and gun can actively use it and achieve results.

Second, repeated education and cognition on sustainable MICE are necessary within Gyeonggi-do. 
There are many cities where MICE is in the development stage or many places to develop further in the future. Instead of pre-development followed by preservation, design and planning with sustainability in all development endeavors should be carried out. Since it is difficult to be concerned about sustainability after constructing MICE facilities including centers, the new MICE facilities to be built must encompass sustainability. Education to face the current situation of severe environment pollution squarely is required, including proper education for the wrongly implemented matters. Through cyclically repeated education including quarterly education, people need to be made aware and internalization should be performed. Completion of education should be reflected as the education/training score of city and gun public officials. If they do not complete the education, support benefits for them should be restricted.  

Third, Gyeonggi-do’s sustainability needs to be practiced together with Gyeonggi-do provincial residents by making Sustainable Gyeonggi Week campaigns. 
MICE can play a platform role functionally, and it is an influential tool for enlightening Gyeonggi-do residents through the campaigns. By creating a plogging event wherein people jog while picking up trash together around SuwonHwaseong and Lake Park (Ilsan, Gwanggyo, Dongtan), the provincial residents can put sustainability into practice. During the same period, an eco-friendly bicycling event and a sustainable idea contest targeting Gyeonggi Provincial residents can be executed, and planning to support idea developers can be made. Influential results should be obtained through forums and seminars cyclically by establishing a Provincial Sustainable Committee. 
The term “sustainability” may be very unfamiliar and distant to people engaged in the MICE industry, and it can be an unaccustomed term. In a situation wherein companies are thinking of changing of their business type due to the risk of survival caused by COVID-19, it can be a burden to discuss sustainability with all. However it is not an area that someone else can do for you if it is delayed because talking about sustainability may be uncomfortable. A bigger risk that can no longer be delayed or which can no longer be said to be not urgent is approaching. 

The day may come when people should worry about the survival of the planet and life, not the survival of MICE in the near future, although the fear cannot be sensed as it is invisible just like being foggy. If all of us do not practice sustainability right now, if we do not reduce the use of plastics today, if we do not worry together about the world we all live in, there will be no tomorrow. Now is the time for us to practice sustainability properly, not just words inserted formally in a report. The MICE industry, which has been developed so far without thinking of sustainability, needs to evolve along with it from the gait of running again, after pausing for breath. As MICE has a huge impact on the surrounding environment, it is an industry that can be in the vanguard of shaping the provincial atmosphere to let people know properly about sustainability and practice it. Let us lead a sustainable world with MICE. This is the strength of MICE, and it will be a value and a sustainable strategy for MICE to be recognized. 

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Executive Secretary of the Korea MICE Tourism Society 
Professor of Global MICE at Dongduk Women’s University   
City Strategy Establishment Expert Member, Goyang City Sustainable MICE Capital between 2020 and 2021    
Sustainable Busan Eco-Friendly MICE Operation Committee Member in 2020