A rendering of the Nyaal Banyul Geelong Convention and Event Centre
The Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation has gifted a new name to what has been known as Geelong Convention and Exhibition Centre returning Wadawurrung language to country.
Named Nyaal Banyul Geelong Convention and Event Centre, Nyaal Banyul means “open your eyes to the hills”. It is made up of two Wadawurrung words – nyaal, meaning to open your eyes, and banyul, meaning hill. This name was chosen to encourage people visiting to take time to appreciate the landscapes of Wadawurrung Country.
A rendering of the Nyaal Banyul Geelong Convention and Event Centre
The Western Beach cliffs are a cultural and spiritual place for Wadawurrung People. From the site, Wurdi Youang (You Yangs) and Anakie Youang can be seen to the north, while the hills of the Bellawiyn (Bellarine) can be found to the east, the Fyansford hill to the west and the Barrabul (Barrabool) hills to the south.
The Victorian Government is investing more than A$260 million (US$175.6 million) to build the Nyaal Banyul Geelong Convention and Event Centre precinct as part of the Geelong City Deal, with additional contributions of A$30 million from the Australian Government and A$3 million from the City of Greater Geelong.
The consortium, Plenary Conventions, is delivering the project and will work with the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation to embed its culture, values, and knowledge into the building and public realm as part of a co-design approach.
The Corporation will also work with the future operators of the centre, the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust, to celebrate and educate the public on Wadawurrung cultural history.
Construction of the purpose-built convention and event centre will commence soon, and is slated for completion in 2026.
Cathay brings corporate customers more rewards with Business Plus
Cathay Pacific has revamped its corporate loyalty programme to allow SMEs and growing businesses to manage their business travel on a self-service travel platform.
Cathay brings corporate customers more rewards with Business Plus
Aside from a revamp of the website’s design, the Business Plus revamp includes changes such as Business Plus members now being able to earn Asia Miles to their company Business Plus account. These miles can be used to redeem rewards such as Cathay Silver Membership and Lounge Passes.
Asia Miles can also be transferred to any employee’s individual Cathay account, to be spent on rewards ranging from flights to hotels. The programme also offers priority baggage and seasonal campaigns where members can earn extra miles, lounge passes, or even free upgrades.
Be rewarded for meetings at the Nesuto Apartment Hotel Parramatta
Nesuto Apartment Hotel Parramatta in Sydney, Australia, is offering meeting planners a host of rewards for new events booked from now until November 30, 2023.
Rewards include an upgraded tea break with A$1,500+ (US$970) spend, one complimentary day delegate and upgraded tea break with A$2,500+ spend, two complimentary room nights for delegates use, one complimentary day delegate, and an upgraded tea break with A$3,500+ spend.
Be rewarded for meetings at the Nesuto Apartment Hotel Parramatta
In addition, every event booker on a minimum event spend of A$2,500 qualifies for a complimentary overnight stay including breakfast and a bottle of sparkling wine. Nesuto Apartment Hotel Parramatta will also extend a 15 per cent discount on overnight accommodation rates when booked in combination with an event.
Conference packages starting from A$64 per person for full day events.
Included in every Nesuto event booking is an onsite event specialist, free Wi-Fi, a presenter tool kit, a welcome gift, an afternoon surprise and delight, whiteboard and flipchart, delegate service menu, and inspirational doodle notepads.
The 105-key Nesuto Apartment Hotel Parramatta offers a pre-function area, and three individual meeting rooms, all streaming with natural light, inbuilt data projection screens and collapsible walls; these rooms can be combined to form a larger event space for up to 200 people.
Collinson, owner and operator of Priority Pass, has expanded its partnership with SÔNG HỒNG, a Vietnam-based provider of airport services.
The expanded partnership results in Priority Pass Members having access to 26 international and domestic lounges across Vietnam – 18 of which are managed by SÔNG HỒNG.
Phu Bai Business Lounge
Prior to the expansion, Priority Pass Members had access to 10 lounges across Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN), Noi Bai International Airport (HAN), Da Nang International Airport (DAD) and Cam Ranh International Airport (CXR).
With this announcement, Priority Pass Members can enjoy access to an additional 16 new domestic lounges in airports across Vietnam – 13 lounges in domestic airports are accessible with immediate effect. These include the Phu Quoc Business Lounge (PQC), Phu Bai Business Lounge (HUI), Dong Hoi Business Lounge (VDH), and Pleiku Business Lounge (PXU).
The remaining three additional lounges are scheduled to open soon, and join the Priority Pass network in the coming months.
“With Vietnam recording 101.3 million domestic visits last year and a strong forecast to welcome 110 million visits this year (an increase of around five per cent compared to 2022), including eight million international visitors, this is indeed an exciting time for the travel industry in Vietnam.
“Recognising the importance of this market to travellers, we are excited to extend our relationship with SÔNG HỒNG to ensure that our members can enjoy their bespoke airport lounge services when visiting this memorable market,” said Todd Handcock, global chief commercial officer and president Asia Pacific at Collinson.
Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre has appointed Nathan Gardiner as the new head of technology and innovation.
He joins the team after a successful tenure at the University of Canterbury, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise in the field of audiovisual and Information Communication Technology.
Travelport has completed the integration of its Travelport+ platform with Deem, a corporate travel management platform, just five months after the acquisition.
Travel management companies, corporations and their travellers that utilise Deem and Travelport+ will be able to access a wide range of rich and relevant content, all in one place, enhanced by the Content Curation Layer.
Deem is now integrated into Travelport+
This Travelport+ feature uses powerful artificial intelligence and machine-learning capabilities to provide agents and travellers with a more modern retailing experience with faster search responses, more pertinent results, and greater accuracy. When integrated with Deem’s interface, this will allow travellers to stay within their corporate policies while ensuring bookings (including NDC) are fully serviceable.
Moving forward, Travelport has big plans for the GDS-agnostic tool. In 2024, Travelport expects Deem to accelerate its international expansion, doubling its global footprint with a focus first in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, followed by Asia-Pacific.
Deem will also implement enhanced emissions data, which is already available on Travelport+.
Japan outlines strategy to improve MICE positioning; Tokyo pictured
Japan aims to become the number one business events destination in Asia, and among the top five business events destinations in the world by 2030, according to a new national government strategy.
Overall, the action plan aims to expand the country’s inbound travel audience by attracting visitors interested in business, academia, culture, arts, sports or nature as a means of international exchange.
Japan outlines strategy to improve MICE positioning; Tokyo pictured
Part of this strategy also includes attracting more international conferences to Japan. In the academic fields of science technology, nature and medical and social sciences alone, the target is 180,000 overseas-based participants in international conferences in Japan annually by 2025.
The Japanese government is also working towards boost the country’s position as a financial centre, to garner total spending of ¥860 billion (US$6 billion) by business visitors annually by 2025.
Steps will also be initiated to develop more events and activities related to sports, nature and culture, including night-time content, to support the hosting of large international business events that require excursions or incentives for participants. These offerings will be promoted widely to key business events markets.
“Domestic stakeholders should work together to promote high-value-added travel, adventure travel and MICE by strengthening sales promotion and information dissemination to overseas travel agencies,” said the Japan National Tourism Organization in a press release.
In the capital, Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau (TCVB) teamed up earlier this month (August) to provide subsidies “for the development and dissemination of new tourism content”, TCVB said in a statement. New or renewed projects that link Japanese culture, such as traditional performing arts, or historical resources, such as shrines, with nature can be awarded up to ¥13 million.
The TCVB also launched an online global development course in July 2023 to support “the next generation” of MICE human resources in Japan.
Rising costs and pricing pressures will likely continue to be a significant factor in business travel for the foreseeable future
Global business travel and events costs are set to climb higher through the remainder of 2023 and into 2024, albeit at a much more moderate pace than the exceptionally steep increases seen in 2022.
This is according to the 2024 Global Business Travel Forecast, published by CWT and Global Business Travel Association (GBTA).
Rising fuel prices, labour shortages, and supply chain challenges, coupled with red hot demand, caused travel prices to skyrocket in 2022 – far surpassing some of the increases outlined in last year’s forecast. Lingering economic uncertainty and a gradual easing of supply-side constraints are expected to result in more subdued price increases over the next 12 to 18 months, according to the report, which uses anonymised data generated by CWT and GBTA, with publicly available industry information, and econometric and statistical modelling developed by the Avrio Institute.
Rising costs and pricing pressures will likely continue to be a significant factor in business travel for the foreseeable future
Air
The global average ticket price (ATP) of flights booked for business travel rose dramatically in 2022, experiencing record price increases. The ATP rose by 72.2% YoY to US$749 in 2022, far surpassing 2019 levels (US$670). While demand has recovered strongly with passenger numbers quickly approaching pre-pandemic levels, driven primarily by pent-up leisure travel demand, airline capacity continues to be constrained by labour shortages and supply chain issues. Looking forward, ATP growth is likely to be more modest at 2.3% in 2023 and 1.8% in 2024, albeit from an already high base. Still, many corporate buyers now have less leverage to negotiate with airlines, as their travel volumes remain below pre-pandemic levels.
At US$855, the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region recorded the highest ATP in 2022, compared to other parts of the world. This represents a 31.5% increase from 2021. More modest price increases are expected going forward, with ATPs predicted to rise 2.9% this year and 2.2% in 2024.
However, in terms of year-over-year growth, the ATP in Asia Pacific climbed 148.7% YoY in 2022 to US$567 – the biggest increase seen in any region, despite a lack of international travel demand from China. Key business travel destinations, including Australia and Japan, fully reopened to vaccinated travellers and resumed visa exemption arrangements. Average airfares rose 75.3% for Australia and 79.3% for Japan in 2022, with a sharp rise in the share of longhaul tickets. As airlines in the region – particularly the major carriers from China – continue to add more international route capacity, the increased supply should help ease price pressures in the region, with ATPs forecast to rise 4.8% in 2023 and 2.7% in 2024.
Hotel
Like air travel ATPs, the global average daily rate (ADR) for hotel bookings exceeded earlier predictions, rising 29.8% YoY to US$161 in 2022. Occupancy rates have been high, but so have labour, energy, and F&B costs. In fact, several cities across the globe including London, Miami, and Singapore, reported their highest ADRs on record in 2022. Meanwhile, hotel construction remains down from its pre-pandemic peak, creating supply constraints. With fewer properties to compete against, existing hotels can sustain their pricing power for longer, even though ADR gains are slowing. ADRs are projected to climb a further 4.3% in 2023 to US$168, followed by a 3.6% increase to US$174 in 2024.
North America saw the highest growth in hotel ADRs of any region in 2022, rising 33.8% YoY to US$174. Occupancy in the region is expected to grow at a slower pace in 2H2023 and 2024 due to economic concerns, with ADRs forecast to rise 4% to US$181 in 2023 and 3.3% to US187 in 2024.
ADRs in Latin America also rose sharply by 26.9% YoY in 2022, as several countries in the region experienced double digit inflation. Now, with inflation appearing to have peaked, and ADRs are expected to grow by 9.1% in 2023 and 5.6% in 2024.
Ground transportation
Car rental supply has been constricted as companies sold vehicles during the pandemic when demand collapsed. As business returned, vehicles were not replaced at pace due to supply chain issues, largely due to a worldwide shortage of vehicle semiconductors which led to inflated vehicle prices. These factors have contributed to prices rising by 9.8% YoY in 2022, with a further 6.7% increase forecast this year. Pricing growth is expected to cool to 2.1% in 2024.
Meetings and events
In-person meetings and events have rebounded more robustly than many had expected. Client acquisition and relationship building are key business goals that are not easily executed virtually. There has also been exceptionally strong demand for incentive trips, as companies seek to motivate and reward employees. In fact, CWT Meetings & Events has observed these trips becoming longer and more frequent and expects the trend to continue.
The average daily cost per attendee was US$160 in 2022. This is expected to increase to US$169 in 2023 and then US$174 in 2024.
Lead times for events remain short in this post-pandemic world. However, organisers should now look at 2024 with a 12-month planning cycle if they want to keep prices at a reasonable level. At the same time, consolidating transient travel and M&E spend can give buyers more leverage when it comes to negotiating pricing.
Destination Gold Coast has appointed Brooke Campbell as head of business events.
Prior to her move to Gold Coast, Campbell was sales manager Australia at New Zealand International Convention Centre. She also spent time at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre as manager – associations and exhibitions.
In total, she has more than 15 years of experience in the business events industry.
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He was most recently the general manager at Kempinski Hotel Grand Arena in Bansko, Bulgaria.
