Minor Hotels has named Martin Zarybnicky as general manager of Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel.
With a hospitality career spanning 29 years, he was previously complex general manager of two hotels under his remit, InterContinental Bangkok and Holiday Inn Bangkok.
He is also fluent in Czech, English and Russian.
InterContinental Saigon has completed a multimillion-dollar renovation to its function spaces, where the uplift now pays homage to Ho Chi Minh City and its surrounding landscape.
The multi-million dollar renovation comprises 2,560m2 of indoor and outdoor event meeting space, including six function rooms and an outdoor terrace, ranging from the compact Hon Ong meeting room to the expansive Grand Ballroom.
At the centre of the transformation is the 818m2 pillar-free Grand Ballroom that can host up to 1,200 attendees. It is fully equipped with the latest audiovisual technology and can be flexibly divided into two separate spaces for more intimate events.
The Grand Ballroom also features an oversized interactive chandelier featuring 7,980 crystal lightbulbs equipped with their own adjustable lighting technology systems that can be changed to evoke different moods. The Grand Ballroom also boasts an 8.5m by 4.5m LED wall, billed as the largest screen in town.
Just off the Pre-Function area is a new Business Hub, where the space features built-in ovens, a fridge and a generous-sized counter that can be used for cooking class. This space can be used as a meeting room with a lounge or can be used as an auxiliary space to the Pre-Function area.
Other indoor spaces include the Phu Quoc meeting room, a space that comfortably fits 80 to 140 people; and The Cham boardroom which has 12 seats for an executive meeting.
The Ascott Limited has appointed Serena Lim as its chief growth officer.
The hospitality industry veteran will lead Ascott’s global business development team and be responsible for steering and managing the company’s growth in management and franchise contracts globally, excluding China, where development will continue to be led by the in-market team.
With over two decades of industry experience, Lim joins Ascott from InterContinental Hotels Group, where she was vice president, development, South-east Asia and Korea.
Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) has refreshed the Sentosa brand to offer both local and international guests novel ways of discovering new experiences and celebrating connections on Sentosa.
The new brand identity sees the island taking centre stage and reflects Sentosa’s efforts to better connect with its audiences through leisure experiences that play up the island’s natural attributes and is anchored on four values: Island Soul, Island Connection, Island Discovery and Island Future.
In addition, the new tagline ‘Where discovery never ends’ draws inspiration from the island’s many unexpected sights, sounds, and experiences at every turn.
Thien Kwee Eng, CEO, SDC, said: “The natural island environment inspires SDC to continue to curate new experiences that empower our guests to forge new connections and foster deeper relationships with each other.”
In view of guests’ evolving needs and the desire to discover new experiences, SDC has delivered new leisure offerings over the course of its Golden Jubilee, such as the wellness festival, Zentosa Fest, and Sentosa Food Fest.
Looking ahead, Sentosa will introduce a diverse range of new leisure and experiential offerings, including new low-carbon leisure experiences in the nearby Southern Islands, Raffles Sentosa Resort & Spa, Sentosa Sensoryscape, the opening of Tipsy Unicorn Beach Club at Siloso Beach in April 2023, the upcoming The Palawan @ Sentosa, and more.
Sentosa will also make its first foray into the metaverse, via a virtual space known as SentosaLand, where guests can explore and discover a fantastical reimagination of Sentosa island. Hosted on gaming platform Roblox, SentosaLand will be accessible to the public from today.
Peter Pottinga has been appointed as the general manager of the soon-to-open InterContinental Chiang Mai Mae Ping hotel.
In his new role, he will oversee all aspects of the hotel’s pre-opening and opening phases.
He was most recently the general manager of InterContinental Budapest before taking the helm at InterContinental Chiang Mai Mae Ping.
Thailand today (January 9) revoked a policy announced over the weekend which required inbound travellers to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination, citing sufficient immunisation levels globally.
An update from the Tourism Authority of Thailand stated that the country remains fully-reopened to all international tourists.
Thailand’s health minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, clarified that “international travellers arriving in Thailand are not required to show proof of vaccination”.
Foreign arrivals are also not required to show a negative Covid-19 test result.
As part of Thailand’s full reopening to tourism, the authorities are offering a longer period of stay for visitors. Effective through March 31, 2023, visitors from visa-exempted nations will be permitted to stay up to 45 days – up from 30 days previously. Those eligible for visa-on-arrival can stay up to 30 days, up from 15 days prior.
Noor Azlan Abu Bakar has joined Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) as director of convention & exhibition, effective January 3, 2023.
In this role, Noor has been tasked with increasing the number of international business events in Malaysia, and meeting the company’s goals which include becoming the leading business events destination in the region. He will also be instrumental in building on the firm’s reputation with stakeholders and industry partners.
With over 32 years of professional experience, Noor was one of the pioneers in the Convention Division at Tourism Malaysia where he was entrusted with the planning of convention and exhibition activities including international associations.
Prior to MyCEB, Noor spent time in various prominent positions in Tourism Malaysia including senior deputy director and acting director international promotion division (America, Europe & Oceania). During his tenure, he was also posted overseas in the role of director of Tourism Malaysia’s offices in Taiwan and Tokyo.
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) and Thai Airways International Public Company (THAI) have signed a marketing deal to attract meetings and incentives travellers from Asia and Europe in 2023.
Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, president of TCEB, stated: “We will focus first on the overseas markets of meetings and incentive travel. This sector has been a huge market source of travellers for Thailand since the middle of this year.”
TCEB and THAI will be involved in joint marketing activities such as at major global tradeshows like IMEX Frankfurt 2023 in May in Germany, IT&CM Asia and CTW Asia-Pacific 2023 in September in Thailand.
Roadshows will also be held, where the first targets are Cambodia and Vietnam, with others planned for Sydney and Melbourne in May. Other marketing activities are in the pipeline to tap into the Singapore, Europe, UK, and eventually China markets.
“The particular focus is the markets where THAI and THAI Smile Airways operate flight services, for example, Europe, India, Australia, Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. The collaboration will also entail forming partnerships to support other key MICE events,” added Chiruit.
TCEB and THAI are confident that the collaboration will help revive the meetings and incentive travel markets to achieve 60 per cent growth when compared to the year 2019. In line with the prospect, TCEB and THAI are also designing new campaigns for 2023 to help speed the industry return to normalcy as soon as possible.
Both parties expect the collaboration to attract at least 500,000 travellers and generate 33 billion baht (US$985.4 million) in revenue.
The Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) closed off 2022 on a positive note, and is ushering 2023 in with a number of wins already in the bag, up until 2030.
In 2022, MyCEB together with industry partners staged 152 business events, bringing in an accumulative total of 402,320 delegates to the country out of which, 92,000 were international. The estimated economic impact generated in 2022 stands at around RM1.2 billion (US$274.3 million).
For 2023, MyCEB reports that there are currently 35 business events on the calendar, which will welcome over 40,000 local and international delegates thus translating into RM390 million in estimated economic impact.
From now until 2030, Malaysia has more than 88 business events in the pipeline, which are expected to welcome 104,834 delegates and bring about an estimated economic impact of RM1.47 billion to the country’s economy.
MyCEB will continue to participate in Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) Australia, IMEX Frankfurt, The Meetings Show London, IMEX America and IBTM World Barcelona.
There are also various assistance schemes to attract business events to Malaysia, and the aim is for Malaysia’s business events industry to return to pre-pandemic levels within two years, Abdul said.
MyCEB representatives have also been reappointed in China, India, South Korea, and various South-east Asian markets.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has expanded its Meetings Collection, which now includes over 160 hotels and resorts across the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
A curated collection of aspirational hotels and resorts in sought-after meetings destinations, The Meetings Collection caters to planners globally by putting their needs at the forefront, making it simple, easy and rewarding to organise multiple, multi-year meetings across a wide variety of hotels and brands. The Collection first launched in the US in late 2021 and is a part of Wyndham’s Wyndham Business programme.
In South-east Asia and Pacific Rim, there are over 25 participating hotels and resorts. These include Howard Johnson by Wyndham Incheon Airport in Incheon, Korea; Days Hotel & Suites by Wyndham Fraser Business Park Kuala Lumpur in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Wyndham Garden Hanoi in Hanoi, Vietnam. Meanwhile, there are some 70 hotels and resorts including Wyndham Chongqing Yuelai in Chongqinq, Wyndham Grand Foshan Gaoming in Guangdong, Wyndham Kunming Panlong in Yunnan, and Wyndham Garden Nanjing in Jiangsu.
Among the perks available to planners when booking with The Meetings Collection include multi-meeting discounts; up to 30 per cent group attrition with no penalty; dedicated sales team support; double Wyndham Rewards Points for planners; and exclusive destination experiences.
The above perks are available on qualified bookings at all US hotels and resorts within The Meetings Collection. Similar perks are available in all regions globally but in some cases, may be available only for a limited time.
