STAR Cruises’ SuperStar Libra has been fully chartered for a 1,000-pax Indian incentive group that will sail out of Penang, Malaysia for a four-day/three-night cruise on July 15.

The group will consist of top-performing distributors and employees from APL Apollo Tubes in India.

The full-charter win for Star Cruises reflects the cruise company’s progress in the Indian MICE market and immunity thus far from the impact of the weakening rupee against the greenback which has resulted in a decline in demand for overseas and longhaul destinations (TTG India, June/July 2012).

Michael Goh, senior vice president of sales, Star Cruises, told TTGmice e-Weekly that MICE-related business in India had grown 20 per cent in 2011 over 2010.

“MICE or corporate incentive groups play an important role in Star Cruises’ growth in the Indian market,” Goh said. “On average, our fleet welcomes about two corporate groups of different sizes every month. These corporate clients come from a number of industries including insurance, cement, pharmaceutical, Fast Moving Consumer Goods and agriculture.”

He attributed Star Cruises’ success in India to the company’s all-inclusive cruise packages, diversity of MICE and other facilities onboard, and close partnership with travel experts in generating demand.

THE INDONESIAN city of Yogyakarta will welcome the 5^th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction from October 22-25.

Jointly hosted by the Indonesian National Agency for Disaster Management and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, with support from regional and international development partners, the event will feature a pre-conference session, high-level round-table meetings, technical sessions led by experts in the subject, and other activities.

More than 1,000 government ministers and high-level personnel from 60 countries are expected to converge for this biennial conference which is organised by rotation in different Asian destinations.

The last Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction was held in South Korea in 2010.

THE THREE-DAY Korea MICE Expo 2012, opening July 3, is expected to draw some 300 buyers, 200 sellers and 3,000 trade visitors, more than last year’s crowd of 251 buyers and 176 sellers.

Most buyers would come from China, Singapore, Indonesia, the US, Thailand and Germany, said Seoul Convention Bureau’s spokesperson, Alexander Paik.

Korea MICE Expo will kick off with the Seoul MICE Forum. Themed The Power of MICE, the forum will explore how business events benefit local economies and boost employment.

The expo will also cater to South Korea’s future generation of MICE practitioners through two programmes – Future Leaders Forum, which will feature a series of talks and round-table discussions designed to encourage students in the international meetings and incentives travel industry to consider careers as meetings professionals; and the Seoul MICE Challenge, a mock-bidding contest for university students.

SYDNEY has won the rights to host the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Parks Congress, a prominent global forum on parks and protected areas which is held only once in 10 years, in 2014.

To be held at Sydney Olympic Park, the congress is expected to attract 3,000 delegates and inject some A$24 million (US$24.4 million) into the New South Wales economy.

“Securing the IUCN World Parks Congress had involved both a whole-of-industry and whole-of-government approach. It is brilliant to see this hard work return such a favourable result for Australia,” said Lyn Lewis-Smith, CEO of Business Events Sydney (BESydney), which had worked closely with the Australian government and the New South Wales Parks in the event bid.

Lewis-Smith added: “(The congress) will also see world conservation leaders gather in Sydney to debate, innovate and collaborate on the most pragmatic solutions to conservation and developmental change. This opportunity for Australians to exchange knowledge with global counterparts and to showcase local expertise (comes) at a time when conservation is high on our national agenda.

“BESydney continues to champion the message that the benefits of business events extend beyond the congress doors and have broader social impacts on our industries, economies and communities through their inherent knowledge exchange, networking and debate of industry issues.”

SOME MICE specialists in Singapore are fielding enquiries on Gardens by the Bay, the country’s new horticultural attraction, ahead of its official opening on June 29.

Located in Marina Bay, Gardens by the Bay will launch first with Bay South Garden, while the other two zones, Bay East Garden and Bay Central Garden, will be ready at a later stage.

A number of event spaces will come into Singapore’s MICE market once Bay South Garden opens, including an indoor space in the Flower Dome cooled conservatory, and outdoor spaces in the form of The Meadow, Silver Leaf and Supertree Grove. The largest of these spaces is The Meadow, which has a standing capacity for up to 30,000 people and a banquet capacity for up to 3,000.

Eeling Koh, director-MICE of Singapore’s World Express, who has received enquiries from corporates and special interest groups, said the space in the Flower Dome would be “especially competitive because it is air-conditioned, it isn’t part of a complex and it can take in a large event”.

The Flower Dome space can seat up to 700 pax banquet-style.

Best Travel Deals regional director, Patrick Lee, said incentive groups and visitors, especially those from Europe, would be drawn to the attraction, “as they love greenery”.

Lee said: “If the Singapore Botanic Gardens can draw corporate clients, so can Gardens by the Bay. In fact, Gardens by the Bay will make a more attractive proposition since its landscape is so beautiful.”

He added that enquiries were also streaming in from overseas tour operators.

THE SHERATON Macao Hotel, Cotai Central has rolled out a series of meeting offers ahead of its opening in September.

Armed with 15,000m² of meeting space and access to a further 5,000m² within the Cotai Central complex, the 3,863-room hotel will lay claim to being the largest property in Macau.

Meeting planners who book a minimum number of rooms will enjoy rewards in the form of discounts on master bills, additional Starpoints and personalised gifts. For instance, planners who book 300 to 599 rooms for an event will have two per cent of their master bill shaved off and will be given double Starpoints and a personalised Sheraton gift.

Planners who hold the largest meeting at the hotel and who materialise the most number of roomnights during the promotion period, will also stand a chance to win a seven-day getaway, including return business class airfares for two, luxury suite accommodation and a personalised themed private dinner.

Half-day and full-day meeting packages, priced at HK$450+ (US$58+) and HK650+ per delegate respectively, are also offered in the lead up to the hotel’s opening. Packages include one complimentary value-add, with options including a themed welcome cocktail, executive helicopter return transfers between Hong Kong and Macau, with on-ground roundtrip limousine transfers for one VIP, and 25 tickets to The House of Dancing Water live show.

The meeting offers and rewards are valid for bookings confirmed by December 31 this year, and materialised between November 1 and December 31, 2013.

MORE MICE stakeholders in Japan are joining the Kyoto Convention Bureau (KCB) in bringing in business, as the Japanese city gains greater popularity as a destination for meetings, incentives and conferences.

According a statement issued by the bureau earlier this week, member count has grown from 244 to 270 since March this year. The membership includes conference facilities, hotels, travel agencies, conference organisers and other MICE services providers.

James Kent, KCB international marketing manager, said: “Our members have seen the benefits of being a part of KCB, as the amount of business they get has been increasing. This has shown other venues and service providers how they can tap into this lucrative market.

“We’re delighted that more organisations are joining (the bureau), and the addition of the new members will help make the city an even more attractive place to do business.”

THE RITZ-CARLTON, Beijing has launched a full-day meeting package for this summer.

Priced at RMB650 (US$102) per person, excluding a 15 per cent surcharge, the package includes use of a meeting room, a morning welcome coffee service upon arrival, morning and afternoon coffee break with four types of snacks, a tailor-made luncheon, full-day coffee and tea service during conference hours, and standard meeting amenities and audiovisual equipment.

A minimum guarantee of 20 persons is required, and the deal is valid till August 31. Other terms apply.

The hotel, which is located in Beijing’s China Central Place, offers 1,100m² of meeting space, including a ballroom and nine function rooms.

CARLSON Rezidor Hotel Group has opened the 214-key Radisson Blu Hotel Nagpur in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

The hotel, located minutes from Nagpur city’s main commercial and business zones including the Mihan special economic zone, has over 10,000m² of event space which can accommodate up to 1,000 people. The space comprises a ballroom that spans 1,200m², with two collapsible partitions to divide the hall into three meeting rooms, as well as three boardrooms, a business centre and a business-class lounge.

Other facilities in the hotel include a spa, a fitness centre, an outdoor swimming pool, and a variety of dining options such as Ethyl Bar and Lounge, Cakewalk Tea lounge and Pastry Shop, The Creative Kitchen, Ni Hao and Indya Oye.

Simon Barlow, president, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, Asia-Pacific, said the company, which has been operating in India for 14 years, would have 100 operating hotels in India by 2015.

“We have just signed a strategic partnership with Bestech Hospitalities to develop our Park Inn by Radisson brand in north and central India, and the newly opened Radisson Blu Hotel Nagpur will be the fifth property that we are managing for Bestech,” Barlow said.

THE CAPITAL city of South Korea has won the rights to host two high-profile events –- a ministerial meeting on climate change this October and a radiation association conference in 2020.

The 2012 Pre-COP (Conference of the Parties) Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change, which will set the groundwork for the 18^th United Nations Conference of the Parties in Qatar later this year, is expected to be attended by 300 delegates from 50 countries. Participants will include government secretaries, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretaries and members of non-government organisations.

The other major win for Seoul is the 15^th International Radiation Protection Association conference in 2020, which is expected to bring in 2,500 overseas participants from 90 countries.

These wins come along with news of Seoul retaining its fifth spot on UIA’s list of top international meetings destinations in 2011 for the second consecutive year. Seoul held 232 international meetings in 2011, 15.4 per cent more than the previous year.