TAIWAN and Hawaii have been selected as host destinations for Amway China’s Leadership Seminars in 2013, and up to 17,000 top achievers are expected to head to Taiwan, the larger of the two events.

Michelle Ko, corporate and MICE manager of East Shanghai International Travel Service, which handles all travel procurement for Amway China’s incentive movements, said the two destinations were chosen for their ability to host group sizes of such scale, appeal and “freshness”.

She explained that both events were rewards for top achievers, although the smaller event – the one in Hawaii – was reserved for the highest echelon of incentive winners, who would also be guaranteed a slot in Taiwan.

Ko was speaking to TTGmice e-Weekly on the sidelines of the China Night gala dinner, a highlight of Amway China’s incentive programme to Laguna Phuket in April and May. The company flew more than 15,000 top achievers into the Thai leisure destination in daily batches over a one-month period, housing them in various hotels and resorts within the complex.

Ko said: “Amway China’s incentive programmes have been growing since they started six years ago. There were 7,000 participants at first, and this year there are 15,000.

“As China (its economy and its people’s purchasing power) is still so strong, we anticipate a bigger crowd next year despite higher sales targets being set.”

The mega incentive has effectively raised the Thai leisure island’s profile among Chinese travel companies and travellers.

Aaishah Bohari, director of sales & marketing, Angsana Laguna Phuket, said the resort was expecting a surge in Chinese guests during the upcoming Chinese New Year season.

“Because of the Amway China incentive, we have been getting a lot of calls from Chinese travel agencies that do not usually work with us. Many of these agencies have locked in room allotments for the festive season next year,” she said.

Ko added: “Amway China’s incentive in Phuket has been widely reported by Chinese media, and many Chinese companies are following the developments closely.”

“(These) companies want to see how well Phuket copes with such a huge event, to (help them) decide if they (should) bring their own events here in the future.”

ADVENTURE programme specialist, Quest, is seeing a resurgence of corporate teambuilding bookings in recent months, with May said to be the busiest month in the company’s history.
Alun Gathergood, regional manager of Quest, which operates adventure-based teambuilding programmes for corporate and schools since 1995, told TTGmice e-Weekly: “The corporate market had gone through some quiet time, but things are getting really busy now. We are getting three groups this week, one of them being Sony India.
“We’ve smashed all budgets with May’s business alone.”

He added that group sizes were also getting bigger, and a 400-pax group was due to arrive next month. The average group size for corporate teambuilding was five to 200 pax.

Business is largely driven by international companies with offices in Asia, although C-level personnel from the US and Europe will be among the participants.

China and India were also churning out increasing demand for corporate teambuilding programmes, said Gathergood, adding that Quest was asked to conduct a programme in Rajasthan, India.

“We have, in fact, done programmes in Hong Kong and Macau,” he said.

Quest will begin operations in Vietnam’s Laguna Lang Co integrated resort next month, following the launch of Quest Bintan this January.

THE CAMSUR Watersports Complex (CWC) in the southern Luzon region of the Philippines is looking to extend its positioning as a top sports tourism destination into the MICE sphere by offering its facilities for corporate rental.

The complex, which is managed by the local government, offers three halls of varying sizes that total more than 10,000m2.

Camarines Sur provincial governor Luis Villafuerte Jr said facilities at CWC were capable of supporting MICE activities and special events such as weddings.

Corporate groups that take their events to CWC can also engage participants in watersports such as wakeboarding, wakeskating and waterskiing.

CWC is also supported by 500 guestrooms, which Villafuerte acknowledged were more suited for “young adventure types”. However, he believes that CWC can offer corporates a fun approach to business events.

He is currently considering an offer by a five-star hotel brand to build convention facilties on site.

THE THAILAND Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has taken its 100 A-Head programme to India, as part of its efforts to attract more Indian visitors to trade exhibitions held in the kingdom.
The programme, which targets event promoters, MICE tour operators, DMCs, trade associations, chambers of commerce and trade publications, will see TCEB dishing out US$100 per pax to groups with at least 15 participants who stay a minimum of three days/two nights in Thailand.

According to a TCEB publication, the 100 A-Head programme had helped India’s Doon Valley n Travel to bring a group of 70 poultry trade members to Victam 2012 in Bangkok this February. Jatinder Dhamija, operations head of the travel firm said: “The programme helped promoters like me to double the participants’ joy. They get to gain new knowledge at the exhibition and enjoy the benefits as well.”

Further efforts to court more trade show attendees from India will come in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that TCEB is likely to sign with India’s Ministry of Tourism in 2013.

Supawan Teerarat, TCEB director of exhibition, said the agreement would be in line with the bureau’s “strategic approach under the ASEAN MICE Collaboration, which is aimed at promoting the MICE tourism industry in the ASEAN region”.

Supawan said: “The Indian MICE segment is an essential market for Thailand. In 2011, India ranked second in terms of overseas visitors for trade shows in Thailand, and in 2012, we are projecting a 10 per cent increase in the number of MICE travellers from India.”

“We are looking forward to partner with the travel trade in India to enhance our overall efforts for promoting Thailand as a MICE destination.”

AMERICAN EXPRESS has launched its new Corporate Membership Rewards in Singapore – the first Asian market to access the programme that offers savings and benefits on corporate expenditure.

The programme allows businesses to consolidate reward points earned through multiple cards issued to employees into a single company account, and to use these points for redemptions on items such as statement credits against travel-related charges, credit amounts against corporate card statement balance, dining and fuel vouchers, and employee incentives.

Every S$1.60 (US$1.30) spent on the American Express corporate card earns the company one rewards point.

Jennifer Berthold, vice president & general manager, global corporate payments, American Express, said: “This programme provides the type of corporate savings and maximum benefits from company spending that our corporate customers have been telling us they want.

“(It) provides businesses an additional way to save by virtually turning company-wide expenses into savings.”

INDONESIA MICE & Corporate Travel Mart (IMCTM) will return to Bali this year with a brand new format and a fresh set of organising partners.

Formerly a co-operation between RajaMICE, Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy and Bank Danamon American Express Corporate Card, RajaMICE is now partnering Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and a number of regional NTOs to organise the event.

Panca Sarungu, CEO, RajaMICE said: “As much as Indonesia wants to develop 10 destinations for MICE, the feedback we received from participants was that Bali is the one (destination) that is ready. Hence, we decided to bring this annual show, which is in its fifth year, back to the island.”

According to Sarungu, the format of this year’s IMCTM, which will take place from May 15-18, has been altered from a pure inbound MICE show into an inbound and outbound affair, facilitating increased participation from regional and international NTOs and travel trade.

This will differentiate it from Indonesia Corporate Meeting & Incentive Travel Mart (ICMITM), a pure inbound show which will be held in Medan from May 8-12.

One of IMCTM’s NTO partners, Tourism Malaysia Jakarta director, Jamil Darus, said: “We view the potential of the Indonesia market for MICE business as very promising in the coming year. With the positive economic growth (in Indonesia), every company is looking to move their business meetings overseas. It is our main objective to take part (in the mart)…to further strengthen the Malaysian brand as a MICE destination for the Indonesia market.”

This year, IMCTM is expecting more than 100 sellers and 150 buyers comprising a mix of BNI’s corporate clients, and representatives from multinational and Indonesian companies and incentive firms from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

KUONI Destination Management (KDM) and Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA) have recently concluded two seminars that helped travel consultants in Vietnam take advantage of the country’s booming MICE business.

Some 200 leading consultants attended the seminars – more than double the number expected – in Ho Chi Minh City (April 19) and Hanoi (April 20). KDM and GTA drew their experience in planning on average 150 incentive trips a month to offer tips on how best to sell MICE travel. They shared examples of tailor-made itineraries created for previous clients to Asian destinations and popular European capitals that are accessible by direct flights from Ho Chi Minh City, such as Paris, Amsterdam, London and Frankfurt.

Participants were given a MICE brochure and a DVD of past incentives trips.

Fiona Rodel, KDM general manager group sales, Thailand & Vietnam, said: “Seminars like this are a great way to demonstrate what we are all about. And this is only the start of the relationships we want to build. It’s fantastic that so many Vietnamese (consultants) attended to tell us about their needs and the particular issues and requests they receive. In return, I hope we have inspired them with the wide range of solutions we can offer and given them practical help that will see their businesses grow.”

Phan Thanh Lam, director of Vietravel, Vietnam’s largest travel company, hopes to extend the training module to his entire sales force to sharpen their incentive expertise.

The two seminars marked the start of a comprehensive MICE training programme that will be conducted in Vietnam over the coming year. KDM and GTA will return to the country in August, offering training focused on Russia and the UAE.

A few vacancies remain on the August seminars, and interested consultants can enquire with Jamie.Ferrer@hk.kuoni.com.

PHILIPPINES’ SMX Convention Specialist Corp is strengthening its position in the international business events market with hardware expansion in Manila and Davao.

The SMX Convention Centre, sited within the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City, Manila, will turn five this November and is looking at expansions totaling 10,000m2.

SMX Convention Center AVP for sales and marketing Marivic Marquez said the company’s first option was to construct the new facilities adjacent to the existing centre, but considerations were also made for the additional spaces to be included within a hotel next door. The hotel is targeted for a 2015 opening.

The company will raise another MICE centre in the capital city by early 2013. Part of a mixed-use residential and commercial complex in the Bonifacio Global Centre, near the Makati business district, the 2,000m2 Aura Pavilion will house three halls and nine meeting rooms.

Beyond Manila, SMX Convention Specialist Corp is set to open a convention centre in Davao in the third quarter of this year, offering some 5,400m2 of space that can be divided into three separate halls. It will be adjacent to a new mall and a future Park Inn by Radisson hotel that will open next year.

Explaining the hardware expansion, Marquez told TTGmice e-Weekly that there was repeated demand for larger convention facilities in Manila, while Davao could capitalise on the recent increase in flights into the destination through the country’s international airports including Mactan Cebu International Airport and Clark International Airport.

SRI Lanka, where hotel rates have more than doubled in the past three years, is in danger of pricing itself out of the convention and corporate travel market, travel industry officials say.

“Some of the rates for cultural sites are among the priciest in the world, while five-star hotel rates which were US$55 to US$80 in 2009 are now going at US$170,” said Chaminda Dias, executive director, Luxe Asia, adding that visits to all key cultural sites now cost an average US$60 from US$30 earlier.

Nilmin Nanayakkara, managing director of Nkar Travels & Tours, said in an interview with TTG Asia e-Daily earlier this year that his company “could have attracted more MICE tourism from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, if not for the rates”.

Rates have risen sharply since the ethnic conflict ended in May 2009 and tourism numbers have surged with a million expected this year, from 450,000 in 2009.

Hoteliers, however, disagree with the pricing issue.

“When we were at war (conflict), people said we were priced too low. Now they are saying we are priced too high,” said Hiran Cooray, chairman of Jetwing Hotels.

Anura Lokuhetty, deputy chairman/CEO of Serene Pavilions boutique hotel, said hoteliers, unlike tour operators, had made huge investments in the post-war era to upgrade services. “Even if rates have gone up at cultural sites, they are still cheaper than those overseas,” he said.

Rumy Jaufer, managing director of state-run Sri Lanka Tourism, said the country needed to pursue high-end corporate travellers instead of cheaper (segments).

THE SECOND Shanghai Business Events Week will welcome a larger audience and showcase a stronger line-up of anchor events when it takes place from April 16 to 20.

Anchor events this year include Incentive Travel & Corporate Meetings (IT&CM) China, Fundamentals of Business Travel Management Course and ICCA Association Database Workshop.

Patrick Chen, deputy director-International Tourism Promotion Department of the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration (SMTA), which had initiated and inaugurated the business week last year, told TTGmice e-Weekly that the first edition had created a stronger demand in Shanghai for improved MICE education, business opportunities and networking.

“The Shanghai Business Events Week last year generated many business leads for Shanghai in 2012 and 2013,” he added.

While SMTA was unable to provide a total attendance projection for the business week at press time, the Fundamentals of Business Travel Management Course has reported a 100 per cent increase in attendees. The course, to be conducted in English and Mandarin to cater to locals, will have 32 participants this year, up from 16 in 2011. Attendee profile also saw a marked change – while attendees last year were primarily from Shanghai, this year’s turn-out will include participants from other Chinese cities such as Nanjing, Wuhan, Shenzhen and Hunan.

As well, the China (Shanghai) International Meetings & Conferences Forum (CIMCF) – another anchor event under the umbrella of the Shanghai Business Events Week – has a stronger backing with the presence of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development. The latter joins SMTA in organising the forum this year, which will feature a high-profile panel of speakers comprising MICE industry leaders such as Martin Sirk, CEO, ICCA; Aloysius Arlando, CEO, Singex Group; and Li Jian’an, vice chairman-cum-general secretary, Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Chen said the cooperation between Shanghai and Beijing in hosting the forum offered a “great opportunity for both tourism authorities to work together in promoting China as an ideal destination for global MICE events”.

Additional reporting by Patricia Wee.