A MICE-FOCUSED business exchange debuted at this year’s Taipei International Travel Fair (ITF), with destinations from all over the world coming together to reach out to Taiwanese incentive planners.
The 60-minute Incentive Travel Forum, held a day ahead of ITF, saw participation from destinations near and far, including South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau, Oman and Guam.
Hong Kong Tourism Board lured Taiwanese corporates at the event with its year-end festivals, said tourism marketing manager, Joey Kao, who added that escalating room rates in Taiwan should encourage local companies to take their events overseas.
Guam Visitors Bureau, also a participant at the forum, shone the limelight at the five-star, 419-key Dusit Thani Guam Resort which will officially open next month.
“Its meeting space can accommodate more than 1,000 people, and we hope to use this platform to reach the right target audience,” remarked Guam Visitors Bureau, senior project manager, Ean Chen.
Local corporate buyers welcomed the incentive focus.
Sothis Yang, a representative from Cathay Life Insurance, general marketing administration department, told TTGmice e-Weekly that the event provided opportunities for direct dialogue with destinations, which was helpful as not all travel agencies were able to offer what she needed.
Wang Hau-mei, welfare committee group leader with Taiwan Railway, which rewards 40-50 top performing employees annually with overseas trips, hoped the forum would expand in scale and feature more destinations.
ITF, chairman, Cherng Tyan Su, said the new event aimed to cater to planners of various event scales and budgets, “especially for SMEs with a staff count of under 100”.
“If results are good, we hope to make (the forum) an annual event,” Cherng added.
