The news: An ASSOCHAM-CBRE report reveals India's tourism demand is diversifying significantly beyond leisure and heritage tourism. The report highlights emerging segments including spiritual tourism, MICE, wellness retreats, cruise experiences, rural tourism, and wildlife—reflecting evolving traveler preferences. Hotel occupancy across India's organized sector has surged to 64.1% in 2025 from 42% in 2021, with rising Average Daily Rates (ADR) signaling strong revenue growth.
Why it matters for MICE operators: This diversification creates multiple revenue streams for event operators. Beyond traditional conferences and exhibitions, operators can now package wellness retreats, spiritual experiences, and experiential MICE products targeting corporate clients seeking differentiated offsites. The strong hotel performance metrics indicate robust venue and accommodation capacity to support this expansion.
The takeaway: Develop hybrid event packages combining MICE elements with wellness, spiritual, or experiential components to capture growing corporate demand for purpose-driven retreats.
Source: ET HospitalityWorld