Europe draws more Malaysian incentives

THE WEAK euro has boosted Europe-bound incentive movements from Malaysia by more than 30 per cent over the last two years for Kuoni Destination Management (KDM), with half the volume streaming into Central Europe cities such as Switzerland, France and Italy.

Speaking to TTGmice e-Weekly on the sidelines of a meeting with Malaysian outbound incentive agents in Kuala Lumpur on July 25, KDM general manager MICE South Asia, Reto Kaufmann, said repeat clients preferred Eastern European destinations such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Russia.

Also contributing to the growth in Malaysian outbound incentives were KDM’s ability to negotiate for good rates from suppliers and specialisation in meeting Muslim travel requirements in Europe, said Kaufmann.

He added that the US and the UAE, especially Dubai and Abu Dhabi, were “doing well” with Malaysian incentive clients.

Malaysia is now among KDM’s top three outbound incentive markets in South-east Asia. Kaufmann noted that Malaysian organisers were spending 40-50 per cent of their budget on event related series at destinations.

To further stimulate growth, Kaufmann headed to the Malaysian capital to brief outbound incentive agents on how to be proficient in selling travel incentives to their clients, so that qualifiers would choose travel incentives over cash rewards.

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