Revisiting the MICE supply chain and business records after meeting-survey approval The MICE special industrial classification took effect on 31 December 2025. The Korea Tourism Organization’s Meeting Industry Survey has since passed the review for nationally approved statistics. The two sources cover different scopes: one examines meeting demand through the facilities that host meetings, while the other classifies activities in the event supply chain. Suppliers need to understand the distinction and decide what evidence to keep to explain their own activities. Author: EVENTODIT Editorial Team Published: 2026.11.01 Updated: 2026-11-01T10:49:44Z Original URL: https://eventodit.com/en/stories/mice-special-classification-2025-event-supply-chain-records.html Practical summary Event overview: Examines the scope of the MICE special industrial classification, effective from 31 December 2025, alongside the nationally approved Meeting Industry Survey. Key decision: Distinguish the scope of the meeting survey from the supply-chain classification and establish project records that explain activities actually performed and external purchases. Responsible roles / intended readers: Management, business-development and records-management leads at MICE agencies, PCOs, equipment, technology and operations suppliers Basis of information: Compared the Ministry of Data and Statistics’ notice and Yonhap News coverage of the meeting survey, the ministry’s MICE special classification notice and the public UN ISIC page. Editorial review: 2026-11-01 Distinguish survey approval from the classification taking effect The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization announced that the Meeting Industry Survey had passed the Ministry of Data and Statistics’ review for nationally approved statistics. Conducted independently since 2009, the survey has gained official standing as a source for policy and market analysis. Its subjects are meeting facilities, including hotels, universities and training centres. The survey covers meeting size and organisers, event budgets, and business revenue and employment. The first results are scheduled for publication in December 2027 through the Korean Statistical Information Service and Korea Tourism Data Lab. What has been announced at this stage is survey approval, rather than results. The survey will not directly establish the market size of event suppliers. The MICE special industrial classification took effect on 31 December 2025. It is used for statistics and administrative purposes, including policy implementation. Inclusion in the classification does not confer business registration, professional qualifications or eligibility for support programmes. The requirements of each scheme must be checked separately. The classification distinguishes activities across the event supply chain The special classification regroups MICE-related activities from existing industrial classifications. It distinguishes functions such as planning, venue operation, event support, tourism services and related organisations. Existing business statistics focused on certain groups of operators, making it difficult to capture the entire event supply chain. The new classification is significant because it allows different functions, including staffing, equipment rental, technology and online operations, to be examined separately. However, adding classification categories does not mean that every event-related company’s business falls within the same scope. A company that works on events may undertake several different activities. Classification categories therefore need to be read in terms of activities, rather than as labels for companies. Record the activities performed, beyond the company label Suppliers working at the same venue can do very different jobs. Renting equipment, operating an online event, building registration and access systems, and supplying onsite staff have different cost structures and staffing needs. Describing them all as event technology companies obscures those differences. It is therefore useful for businesses to record what they actually did on each project. For example, distinguish whether a supplier rented equipment, developed a registration system, operated an online event or only filmed video. These records can support decisions about which services should receive more staff and which activities should be shared with partners. Responses to official surveys must follow the relevant questionnaire and completion instructions. Adding transaction values does not produce an industry-size estimate As the supply chain becomes visible in statistics, it can be tempting to add the revenue of several companies to describe the industry’s size. But the amount an organiser pays an agency and the amount that agency pays a subcontractor are linked transactions in the same project. Simply adding them creates duplication. The same care is needed when a company undertakes several activities. Assigning the full value of one contract to rental, technology and operations separately may create more activity descriptions, but the total no longer matches the actual contract. If there is no basis for dividing the amount, it is better to mark it as a mixed contract and clearly record the scope that could not be separated, rather than apply an arbitrary percentage. Before comparing data, establish whether a number describes transaction value, revenue, external purchases or value added. Classification, survey approval and publication of results are different stages Establishing a classification sets a standard, survey approval allows a survey to be conducted, and publishing results provides actual figures. These three stages must be distinguished. What has been confirmed so far is that the classification is in effect and the Meeting Industry Survey has been approved. Before using new data in sales planning, examine the survey population, reference period, industries covered and unit of aggregation together. Meeting volumes measured through venues may help assess demand for space. They cannot be translated directly into revenue for video, staffing or registration-system suppliers. If a future statistical release shows a larger figure, first check whether more industries were included or transactions grew within the same scope. What businesses can do now The immediate task for Korean agencies and suppliers is not to insert their company name into a classification table. Instead, select a few recent projects and organise records of the activities actually performed, revenue associated with those activities and services purchased externally. This can begin by adding those fields to an existing project list, before building a separate system. This exercise does not guarantee better business performance. However, being able to explain what a company provides directly and what it assigns to partners can make proposals and quotations more accurate. Application conditions Check the purpose of each government notice and each survey’s population, unit of aggregation and reference period. Do not automatically interpret inclusion in the classification as business registration, a professional qualification or eligibility for support programmes. Follow the relevant questionnaire and completion instructions when responding to official surveys. Unconfirmed information The Meeting Industry Survey’s notice number and notice date, fieldwork start date and detailed scope criteria were not established. The detailed items and codes of the 49 classes, market size for each class, and changes in company-level revenue and employment were also not established. Sources Ministry of Data and Statistics · Meeting Industry Survey approval notice https://mods.go.kr/boardDownload.es?bid=107&list_no=447723&seq=2 Yonhap News · Korea Tourism Organization meeting survey gains national statistics approval · 26 October 2026 https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20261026105400030 Ministry of Data and Statistics · MICE special classification notice · effective 31 December 2025 https://mods.go.kr/board.es?act=view&bid=107&list_no=442586&mid=a10403040000 UN Statistics Division · Public ISIC information https://unstats.un.org/unsd/classifications/Econ/isic