LONGHAUL MICE planners who attended the Business Matching session in Jakarta last week have said they are keen to organise events, meetings or post-conference incentive tours in Indonesia.
The 12 European buyers were in the city as part of the post-tour organised by the Indonesia Ministry of Tourism, in conjunction with the Singapore MICE Forum and the Asia Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchange 2016.
Stephane Mockels, head of MICE, Emile Weber Voyages France, said: “We have confirmed plans for three conferences to take place in Singapore and we are now looking for an incentive destination for our corporate clients in the banking and insurance industries. These will be small groups with very high level (executives), and we are looking for high-end products.”
Kin Fung Michael Chow, director – corporate development & staff affairs of Provident Global Capital Group, South Pacific Asia and The Great China Region, said the group has 49 projects all over the world and organises 60 meetings and four incentive trips every year.
Chow said: “We used to organise them in Europe but with the economic situation, we now look at Asia. As we have many meetings, we keep looking for new destinations. I just did one in Bali and am looking at what Jakarta has to offer.”
Meanwhile, Shell Eastern Petroleum has just set up an events team in Singapore and the company is looking to expand its supplier base in the Asia-Pacific region; Indonesia is included, while Singapore will be the hub.
For AD Meetings & Events based in Rome, Italy, its major business is in Asia and its director, Debora Comune, said destinations like Bali are not new anymore and she was instead interested in up-and-coming ones like Toraja in South Sulawesi.
One of the sellers, Abdullah Lajam, managing director of Abbey Travel Indonesia, said regionally, Indonesia is seen as a good value destination when compared to Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam where prices have started to rise. However, the challenge is having to create awareness of the destination among event planners.
Wienna Valerie Damanik, account director of Cakrawala Event Organizer Indonesia, also sees the potential of Jakarta as a destination, and expects the Ministry of Tourism to organise such events more often to help buyers become more familiar with the destination.
