Looking at various solutions to tackle challenges is how Dongyue Group, with Taiwan Tour’s support, ensures its annual meeting runs smoothly. By Prudence Lui
Event brief
Dongyue Group is one of China’s top companies for fluoride and silicon products. Every year, it searches for an appealing place to launch new products, check out recent technology, and exchange ideas with clients.
In 2013, Taiwan was picked and five months prior to the event, Taiwan Tour signed the contract to help organise the conference, distributor meetings and post-conference tours. Taiwan Tour also arranged for a visit to Formosa Plastics Group’s complex in Mailiao for a business exchange.
Challenges
Out of a total 544 attendees, about 70 per cent of the delegates were Chinese who came from more than 400 major China enterprises.
According to Taiwan Tour’s vice general manager, Angel Lin, one challenge was the visa application, as there were some limitations for Chinese when it came to entering Taiwan (not all cities in China were eligible for Taiwan’s FIT visa application). About 25 per cent of delegates were affected by this. Moreover, Dongyue booked hotel rooms late, hence there was a shortage of about 200 rooms.
Solutions
Taiwan Tour connected Dongyue with Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) which solved their problems with immigration and customs for such a large group. Dongyue also explored various ways to tackle the visa issue, such as applying for a business visa instead.
To resolve the room shortage problem, Taiwan Tour gave its own 200-room hotel allotment (a set number of rooms that the agency contracts from a hotel) to Dongyue.
Meet Taiwan also offered assistance such as venue researching and providing complimentary souvenirs for delegates.
Key takeaways
Taiwan Tour recommended a site visit to the leading Formosa Plastics Group Complex which had positive feedback. It is vital to pick a corporate which possesses similar scale of operation and ranking in order to promote exchange. The factory visit also showed mainland MICE groups that apart from sightseeing, Taiwan had more to offer such as business exchanges with local industry players.
The level of expertise in planning and executing the event helped Taiwan Tour bag a silver award in the Corporate Meeting and Incentive Travel category at the Taiwan MICE Awards 2014.
