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GSTC to develop new criteria MICE with Singapore’s support
Alma Resort welcomes Jed Arricivita as commercial director
Jed Arricivita has been named Alma Resort’s commercial director. He will oversee commercial management, sales and marketing management, digital strategy and more, with focuses on leisure, business and MICE travel in his new role.
Having amassed more than two decades of business development, sales and marketing experience, Arricivita was most recently director of sales at The Peninsula Bangkok, a position he held for 10 years.
New at the helm
You are no stranger to Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, having been with the venue since 2017. How has the transition to the role of general manager been?
Well, it has only been a month since I officially stepped into my new role but the transition has been smooth so far. Being closely involved in many different areas of the centre’s operations, service delivery and building management over the last six years has helped me settle into my present duties quite seamlessly.
I am fortunate to have a very supportive and capable team that has been a great strength to me since joining the centre. My team mates are experienced, dedicated, display a great show of camaraderie, and ever willing to go above and beyond what is required of them.
I also had the opportunity to forge good working relationship with our clientele, industry colleagues and with our Kuala Lumpur City Centre precinct partners whose backing has been integral in the centre’s long-track record of success.
What are your priorities?
I am focused on ensuring the centre continues to deliver valuable impact and legacy to the city and the people of Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia. Moving forward, we, like everyone else, are dealing with many global challenges such as a shortage of skilled staff in the hospitality sector, rising operating costs and disruptions to supply chains. Navigating these challenges will be key to ensuring we continue to deliver a great venue and value proposition that meets our clients’ needs.
The world continues to evolve around the way we live, work and do business, how we manage relationships and deliver services and, to meet these changes is exciting and something I look forward to working on with my team.
My present priorities are around setting a change trajectory for the centre and our team to ensure we stay current and maintain our attractiveness as a sought after venue destination in Malaysia and globally.
What improvements are you making in operations?
With rising cost around utilities, food and staff, I am working on managing and enhancing our cost containment methods. We will be looking at pushing our digital transformation further across different levels of operations to improve efficiencies in offsetting these increasing costs.
We are also taking the opportunity to revisit all our offerings and client engagement touch points in various stages, from site-visits to planning, and event delivery to post-event follow-ups. We are seeing a higher response rate in our customer feedback, with majority of them indicating a very high level of satisfaction in our packages, space, and services. We are proud of our client’s post-event appraisal, and will be evaluating further requirements for future improvements based on these comments.
What new investments and initiatives are being considered?
Event formats are evolving with more focus on the inclusion of small collaborative-style spaces. So, we are looking at reconfiguring parts of the venue where organisers can provide enhanced and differentiated event experiences to their delegates.
Behind the scenes, we are also expanding our technical services to be a one-stop-hub to ease all aspects of the technical production for our clients.
Being equipped with the largest food production kitchen in Malaysia that comes with an award-winning culinary team, we are also growing our food and beverage offerings and services. We have already delivered hospitality services to a number of large sporting events and are looking forward to this aspect of the business growing further.
We are working together with the Kuala Lumpur City Centre Precinct and our Business Events Alliance (KLCCBEA) partners to create a sustainable meetings destination for our guests to meet, dine, stay and play responsibly. Facilitated by URBANICE Malaysia, a KLCCBEA Symposium was held late last year, to define, chart and develop a long-term plan to help create a sustainable KLCC precinct for Business Events, aligned to Malaysia Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Cities and the country’s Shared Prosperity Vision 2030.
In your opinion, what are the current challenges facing the business events industry in Malaysia and what should be done?
Post-pandemic, we, as the rest of the industry, are faced with multitude of global economic challenges such as continued supply chain disruption, the ripple effects of the war in Europe, fluctuating dollar and pound sterling, rising cost of energy and food prices, among others.
But, one of the more serious issues is around human resources. The lack of experienced workforce, higher demand for compensation packages, work-life balance and/or similar are real and will be on our back for a while.
We are a people industry but we seem to be lacking the people to drive the future growth of our sector. As business momentum picks up, we need to find healthy solutions to ensure the long-term sustainability of our industry. Whether by tweaking our hiring policies with clauses that bring real value and benefit to our staff or creating new pathways for our working culture to evolve with more intrinsic values, we have to act now.
A prolonged challenge that we continue to face in Malaysia is the global industry’s perception that Malaysia is not geared for large international events. Contrary to this, our venues and event supply chains are well-positioned to cater to events of all sizes and profiles. Malaysia has demonstrated this over the years by successfully delivering some the world’s biggest events. There are many venues here, with a wide range of accommodation options, ready and willing to host international events, and combined with our experience supply chain, English being widely-spoken, affordability and the value-for-money, the reality is far from the market perception.
There is also a lack of awareness and understanding of the value of business events in Malaysia. (Our industry) needs a strong recognition as an economic driver that is complementary to all industries, trades and academic sectors.
Our regional neighbours have started to recognise the value of business events and its significance in rebuilding economic prosperity and social well-being, and have put in place strategies that will lead to winning more international events. But, in Malaysia, we are still lacking strategic direction and policies to further develop the industry as an economic driver, employment provider, and a legacy builder.
Business events, as a critical vehicle of nation building agenda, must move in tandem with strategic economic policies. This is where we see a critical need for the private and public sector to work closely together, with more open dialogues and opportunities for collaboration, to change perceptions and showcase Malaysia’s unique attractiveness and its compelling value as the preferred business events destination in the region. We need a more cohesive national strategy stemmed from a unified and objective approach to realise the full potential of the industry and for the supply chain and the wider community to reap its true benefits.
As a market leader and an advocate for the industry, we are always committed to advancing Malaysia’s business events industry. We are open and looking forward to be part of these conversations with the relevant parties, and hope that more efforts will be mobilised to elevate and enhance our competitiveness and position in the region.
Incentive travel groups track back to Malaysia
Malaysia is seeing improved incentive travel demand from regional markets this year, but large gatherings numbering into the thousands are still rare, say inbound operators.
At press time, Malaysia’s largest incentive group scheduled for 2023 is a 3,000 pax gathering led by Taiwan’s WOW Prime Corporation, with staggered arrivals from March 26 until September 28.
Inbound operators told TTGmice that air connectivity is to blame. Although capacity is improving, it has yet to recover to 2019 levels.
Mint Leong, managing director of DMC Sunflower Holidays, is confident that her regular client since 2010, China-based health and wellness company, Perfect China, will return to Malaysia in the third or final quarter.
Sunflower Holidays has handled Perfect China’s incentives annually since 2010, but activities were halted for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Leong, discussions are ongoing with the management to bring the incentive back to Malaysia.
However, Leong doubted that attendance would match pre-pandemic levels, where group sizes averaged 6,000 to 8,000 delegates. In 2016, it peaked to 12,000 delegates.
She said: “Flight connectivity as well as high airfares remain the two biggest challenges. We are working on persuading them to return to Malaysia this year with staggered arrivals.”
Sunflower Holidays is currently handling a proposal for a 1,000-pax incentive travel group from Taiwan for a five-day/four-night programme in Kuala Lumpur and its surroundings. Should this project be confirmed, the trip will take place in 3Q2023.
Tourland Travel has secured an Indian incentive travel group from a multi-level marketing company for 8,000 qualifiers this October, with programmes in Kuala Lumpur and a day trip to Genting. Managing director A Aruldas said participants will arrive in batches over 10 days.
He believe that as air accessibility between Malaysia and India improves further, it will be easier to promote the destination in 2024.
Arokia Das Anthony, executive director of The Essence of Asia Tours & Travel, has had enquiries from India for corporate incentive events since August 2022. Group sizes range from 800 to 5,000 people.
“These big groups are interested in Kuala Lumpur,” shared Arokia.
While interest is strong, glitches in Malaysia’s e-visa process for Indian travellers last year had left a sour taste in the mouths of many Indian agents. Glitches on the website had caused many applications to get rejected, disappointing those who had purchased air tickets but could not travel.
Significant improvements have materialised, but Arokia said the damage had been done and many Indian agents are reluctant to sell Malaysia.
Wicked, The Musical flies into Sydney this August
Wicked, The Musical will be playing at the Sydney Lyric Theatre from August 25 this year.
One of the most successful musicals in the world, Wicked, The Musical has won over 100 major awards including the Grammy Award, the Olivier Award, six Helpmann Awards, three Tony Awards and six Drama Desk Awards.
The musical is based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. It tells the story of what happened before the iconic Wizard of Oz, with themes on good vs wicked; popularity and belonging; knowledge and truth; equality and justice.
Wicked, The Musical also features catchy songs and meaningful messages that will make this production a big drawcard for theatre lovers of all ages.
Tickets are priced from A$79 (US$53).
For more information, visit Wicked, The Musical.
Built environment industry gets new mega tradeshow
Singapore-based Conference & Exhibition Management Services (CEMS) has launched the three-day mega expo, Architecture & Building Services (ABS) 2023, slated to take place in the city-state this November.
The event serves the built environment industry, and is presented as an initiative under BuildSG, a national movement that encapsulates the spirit of collaboration in the transformation of the built environment sector.
It is positioned as a premier one-stop destination for international products, solutions, and service providers to boost their exposure to the local and international markets, covering sectors ranging from Architecture & Design, Facility Management, and Safety & Security.
Themed Designing a Safe & Resilient Built Environment, ABS 2023 will open its doors at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Halls B and C on November 15.
Visitors can expect six signature exhibitions under one roof – ArchXpo 2023; International Facility Management Expo (iFaME) 2023; Safety & Security Asia 2023; Fire & Disaster Asia 2023; Work Safe Asia 2023; Design Asia 2023.
There will be business matching services, VIP luncheons, and up to 12 specialised conferences.
MEETINGS 2023 commits to carbon-zero certification
Business Events Industry Aotearoa’s (BEIA) 27th MEETINGS 2023 this June 21 and 22 is gunning for the Toitū net carbon-zero certification as a Certified Event Operation – an achievement that will make the edition the most sustainable yet.
BEIA chief executive, Lisa Hopkins expressed excitement over this commitment as well as the pursuit of further sustainability goals for MEETINGS 2023.
“As the business events industry’s peak body, it is our role to lead the way in sustainability practices and make them core to everything we do,” she said in a press statement.
“Working with Toitū to achieve this certification means all emissions associated with the planning and operations of MEETINGS 2023 will be measured, audited in alignment with strict world-leading criteria, and then offset via quality assessed carbon credits.
“Not only will this show our exhibitors and buyers we are committed to reducing environmental impact, but also it will give us the platform to work towards continual reduction of carbon emissions for MEETINGS year-on-year,” Hopkins added.
MEETINGS 2023’s sustainability efforts include a sensible venue selection. It will be held at Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre, which holds a 5-Star Green Design certification from the New Zealand Green Building Council. Features of Tākina include high performance double glazing, automatically controlled LED lighting, heat pumps to reduce fossil fuels, ventilation and water efficient fittings and rainwater harvesting, energy efficiency signage options, and environmentally-friendly materials sourced from sustainable forestry.
Other initiatives for MEETINGS 2023 include carbon-offsetting hosted buyers air travel with Air New Zealand’s FlyNeutral programme, reducing printed material, eliminating satchels, and partnering with local charities Kibosh Food Rescue, Gillies McIndoe Research and Wellington Zoo to make donations on behalf of every hosted buyer.
“We know our 200 plus hosted buyers, who come from far and wide across New Zealand and Australia, are the lifeblood of MEETINGS. We also know that getting here comes at a cost to the environment, so BEIA will be offsetting carbon emissions from all hosted buyer flights from Australia and around New Zealand,” she said.
Hopkins acknowledged that successful sustainability initiatives require collaborative efforts, and is therefore encouraging event participants to play their part in reducing footprint.
Exhibitors can help by offsetting carbon emissions from travel and freight to Wellington if possible, using sustainable packaging, reducing waste from one-time items by creating reusable generic signage or digital signage options, and bringing reusable coffee cups and water bottles.
“We are also encouraging exhibitors to use sustainable, eco-friendly and biodegradable giveaway items, and arrange for plants used on stands to be donated or re-planted,” she said.
Hosted buyers can make a difference by bringing reusable coffee cups, water bottles, and bags, and by using the MEETINGS App, recycling name badges, walking to the venue if staying locally, and choosing one of three charities for BEIA to donate to.
Jeanette Mao now helms HK Express
Jeanette Mao has been appointed the new CEO of HK Express, taking over the reins from Mandy Ng.
In her new role, Mao will spearhead the airline’s growth strategy to expand its capacity and network, and lead the team in enhancing operational efficiencies and customer experience through digital innovations.
She has over 20 years of experience with the Cathay Pacific Group, and was previously general manager inflight service delivery.
Australia sees upward Indian events movement as connectivity improves
Indian business events movement to Australia is growing strongly on the back of improved direct air access between the two countries, making the market one of the fastest to recover since Australia reopened borders for tourism in 2022.
There are now 22 direct flights a week between India and Australia, compared to seven prior to the pandemic.
In an interview with TTGmice at the ongoing Business Events Australia (BEA) Asia Mega Famil Showcase that kicked off on 30 March, Robin Mack, Tourism Australia executive general manager of commercial & Business Events Australia, said the Indian market has been bringing in “sizeable groups”.
In July 2022, a group of 600 pax from an insurance company in India visited Melbourne and the Gold Coast.
Strong demand is persisting through 2023, with a group of 350 attendees from a dealership of an automobile company calling at Sydney earlier this year.
“Improved air connectivity has been a strong pillar of rebuilding the Indian market,” remarked Mack.
Australian flag carrier Qantas started four-times-a-week flights between Sydney and Bengaluru last year – making it the first direct connection between Australia and South India. The airline also commenced flights between Melbourne and Delhi in December 2021.
“Adding to this, indirect services from Singapore offer great connectivity for Indian MICE groups as (Singapore Airlines) flies to seven gateways in Australia,” he added.
Not only are Indian corporate groups eager to return to Australia for meetings and events, they are also staying on longer.
Mack shared that while Indian business events groups used to stay an average of five nights in two destinations in general, they are now extending their time to seven or eight nights for the same two destinations.
Kristian Nicholls, executive general manager client engagement, Business Events Sydney, said: “India was one of the first markets to open up for Sydney, and at present is among our top three key source markets. Considering the US inbound market is slower to restart at the moment and China has just opened up, I definitely see India as being a critical market for us moving forward.”
Illustrating the promise of the Indian market, Nicholls said demand comes from “vast business verticals, from insurance to paint companies, which we don’t see in other markets”.
“The average size of Indian MICE groups has been between 300 to 500 pax. However, now we are also seeing queries of 1,000-plus groups,” added Nicholls.
Australia attracted 59,000 business events visitors from India in 2019 who contributed A$339 million (US$229.7 million) in direct expenditure. India was the sixth-highest business events market in terms of visitors; and fifth in terms of spend.
The Biggest Luxury Event Venue in Jimbaran, Bali
The InterContinental Bali Resort recently opened its new Jimbaran Convention Center (JCC), a modern and luxurious venue designed to meet the needs of corporate events, weddings, and other special occasions. Located only a 15-minute drive from I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, the spacious events space is strategically connected to the resort and boasts modern amenities amidst the breathtaking location of Jimbaran. These features make Jimbaran Convention Center an ideal destination for anyone looking to host an unforgettable event in Bali.
ARKdesign Architects, in collaboration with Indesign Domus as the interior designer, design the Jimbaran Convention Center. The design is heavily inspired by a luxurious art gallery with the choice of materials and glossy finishes, such as metal gold, bronze mirrors, marble, timber panels, and wooden accents, blends perfectly with the display of paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media pieces that fill every corner of the newly established events space.
Imperial Grand Ballroom stands tall as the jewel of the well-appointed convention center. The multi-purpose space spans 2,300 sqm with a maximum capacity of 2,200 people and is dressed in contemporary design with a touch of Balinese flair. As part of InterContinental’s initiative to make their properties inclusive to every guest, The Imperial Grand Ballroom is designed to be a disabled-friendly space with the installation of adequate ramps and lifts and accessible toilets. Hearing loop facilities are also available for people who are hard of hearing.
Next to the main ballroom, the Puri Kencana Ballroom serves as a smaller multi-purpose event space. Meanwhile, on the Mezzanine and second floor, ten opulent meeting rooms sporting an extravagant interior design and completed with state-of-the-art audio-visual technology and high-speed Wi-Fi connection are ready for more private gatherings. The Jimbaran Convention Center is also fully air-conditioned, ensuring guests’ comfort regardless of the outside temperature.
The InterContinental Bali Resort understands that no two events are the same. In this regard, a designated banquet and event team will work closely with clients to create a customized package tailored to specific needs and budgets. From catering and entertainment to transportation and accommodations, the InterContinental Bali Resort team will take extra care of every detail so guests can focus on enjoying the event.
To complement the Jimbaran Convention Center, the InterContinental Bali Resort also offers guests a range of luxurious accommodations, from deluxe rooms to suites and private villas to suit every taste and preference. The newly renovated rooms and villas feature elegant Balinese décor with modern amenities and stunning views of the ocean or gardens.
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The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), with support from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), is developing a new set of guidelines for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) that will serve as the global sustainability standards for the industry.
The GSTC MICE Criteria will be developed with the input of relevant stakeholders in the field of business events, and will provide clear sustainability outcomes that the standard seeks to achieve. It can also guide the industry to make supply chains more sustainable and increase residents’ involvement in local events and exhibitions.
Randy Durband, CEO of GSTC, said in a statement: “The development of GSTC MICE Criteria will provide a globally-created and globally-applicable set of sustainability standards that serves as a platform for universal approaches to measurement, monitoring, reporting, and various forms of external verification needed to drive positive impacts from good practices.”
The application of the GSTC MICE Criteria has long-term impact, as its continued use can significantly reduce negative environmental impacts, preserve local cultures and cuisines, and support sustainable consumption and production patterns.
To accomplish this, the GSTC has formed a MICE Criteria Development Advisory Group, which comprises up to 10 organisations from both the public and private sectors with established track record in hosting business events.
The main objective of this group is to offer their expert opinion and comments to the GSTC Technical Team while GSTC will retain full oversight and control of the criteria development process.
The MICE Criteria Development Advisory Group will also encourage the business events industry to take part in the Public Consultation and Feasibility Assessment phases of the Criteria Development process.
The whole process of development and revision will be overseen by the International Standards Committee of the GSTC. The development and content of the Terms of Reference (TOR) endeavour to comply with the requirements of the ISEAL Standard-Setting Code of Good Practice.
STB’s support of the criteria development is in line with Singapore’s vision to become a sustainable urban destination, where large experiences come with small footprints.
Keith Tan, chief executive of STB said: “Such internationally-recognised standards are important, as they help destinations and tourism businesses understand if their sustainability efforts are on the right track. We look forward to working closely with GSTC and our industry associations to provide a Singapore perspective and help the tourism sector contribute to a greener world.”
STB, together with the Singapore Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers, will provide feedback, consultation, and industry expertise for the draft criteria, as well as to encourage industry adoption of the developed criteria when ready.