Chris Hall has joined Ponant as chief executive officer, Asia Pacific.
Formerly the boss of APT Travel Group, he is an experienced leader in the global tour operating, river cruise, expeditions and distribution space.
In his new role, Hall will work to accelerate the range of experiences across the Asia-Pacific business through additional ship deployment, including Ponant’s recently refurbished sailing yacht Le Ponant and the company’s newest vessel Le Commandant Charcot.
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has unveiled a five-year action plan (2023–2027) aimed at revitalising the economy and promoting Thailand as a premier destination for international events.
TCEB president, Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, said: “The lifting of domestic and international travel restrictions worldwide is accelerating the recovery of MICE. At this critical juncture, TCEB is embarking on a five-year action plan (2023–2027) to advance Thailand’s MICE industry.
“First, we will have our TCEB Go strategy, which will enable TCEB to partner with local and international organisations and further enhance Thailand’s position as a leading MICE destination in the world. Our immediate focus will be on innovative approaches and the development of sustainability solutions for the industry. The five-year plan will also be expressed through our new campaign called Thailand MICE to Meet You Year 2023, which aims to inspire the organisation of more MICE events throughout Thailand and generate revenue for more local economies.”
The plan will be supported by the TCEB Go strategy and Thailand MICE to Meet You Year 2023 campaign.
The TCEB Go strategy is made up of five themes which comprise collaborating with government agencies to bid for events; initiating marketing activities in new regions; creating destination competitiveness through developing each local city’s identity; fostering digital skills and innovation in MICE services; and committing to sustainability and environmental responsibility.
TCEB has also been actively promoting the Thailand MICE to Meet You Year 2023 campaign to stimulate the economy through events like conferences, training programmes, professional meetings, exhibitions, corporate events, and festivals. The campaign will help generate revenue and create job opportunities in different regions across the country.
This year, Thailand has already been chosen as host for several major events, such as World Congress of Nephrology (March 30 to April 2), 29th International Montessori Congress (August 2-5), AFECA Annual General Meeting 2023 in October, 62nd ICCA Congress 2023 (November 12-15), and World Allergy Congress (WAC) 2023 (December 1-3).
At the same time, exhibitions that serve the 12 targeted S-curve industries – those that will drive Thailand’s economic transformation – will continue to receive TCEB support. They include VIV Asia 2023 and Meat Pro Asia 2023 (March 8-10 ), both of which are aligned to the food production and processing industries, and ASEAN Sustainable Energy Week (ASEW) 2023 (August 30 to September 1), which relates to the next-gen automotive industry.
Other than meetings and exhibitions, incentive travel will also be a key economic contributor. Thailand is expecting more than 80,000 incentive travellers – 50,000 from Asia-Pacific countries and 30,000 from China – from March to November.
Come April 26, 2023, TCEB will also be celebrating National MICE Day to highlight the business events industry’s contribution to the nation’s development through the years. This event will also bring together experts in technology and sustainability to share insights and experiences that the business events industry can benefit from. More than 400 events professionals are expected to attend.
In the first quarter of the fiscal year 2023 (October to December 2022), Thailand welcomed 7.9 million MICE travellers, resulting in 28.5 billion baht (US$830.1 million) in revenue. Of that figure, 183,618 were international MICE travellers, bringing in 12 billion baht in revenue, while domestic travellers numbered 7.8 million, generating 16.5 billion baht in revenue.
Of all international MICE travellers, 97,015 attended exhibitions and generated the highest revenue of 6.9 billion baht, followed by the corporate meeting sector which brought in 55,687 travellers, generating 3.2 billion baht in revenue. International conventions attracted 17,653 travellers, generating one billion baht in revenue. The incentive sector brought in 13,263 travellers and a revenue of 851 million baht.
Likewise, the exhibition was the sector bringing in the highest number of domestic MICE travellers, 7.3 million, and generating 14.8 billion baht in revenue. This was followed by conventions which attracted 304,826 domestic travellers and generated 1.1 billion baht in revenue. The corporate meeting sector welcomed 129,054 domestic travellers and generated 537 million baht in revenue, while the domestic incentive sector generated 39 million baht with a total of 8,076 travellers.
“For fiscal year 2023, Thailand targets to welcome a total of 18.6 million MICE travellers, generating 109 billion baht in revenue for the country. This includes 760,000 international MICE travellers with a contribution of 50 billion baht, and 17.8 million domestic MICE travellers with a contribution of 59 billion baht. As for the five-year action plan under the TCEB Go strategy, during the fiscal year 2023-2027, it is estimated that over 160 million MICE travellers will visit Thailand, generating a total revenue of over 945 billion baht,” said Chiruit.
IHG Hotels & Resorts has announced the following senior leadership appointments.
Emma Hynes is the new director of operations – Australasia & Pacific. With 15 years of leadership experience across large hotel estates, she will lead the bulk of IHG’s Premium & Essentials-branded managed estate in Australasia, including the Crowne Plaza, voco and Holiday Inn brands.
Joel Gordon will start as director of operations, franchised, Australasia & Pacific on February 20, and will look after the IHG’s Franchised estate in the region, as well as provide additional support to parts of its managed estate.
James Young will take on the role of director of operations, luxury & lifestyle, overseeing the Luxury & Lifestyle estate which includes the InterContinental, Kimpton, and Vignette brands across Australasia and the Pacific.
Sam Swaffield, director of performance – JAPAC, will act as a conduit between IHG and the DOPs, setting the strategy for performance that will be adopted and embedded across the estate, as well as reducing complexity by streamlining initiatives, creating tools and support services.
Malcolm Zancanaro is the new director, new hotels Australasia & Pacific, and will focus on opening new hotels according to schedule. He has over 30 years’ experience in the hotel industry.
Cameron Burke has been appointed director, development Australasia & Pacific and he will drive the execution of IHG’s portfolio growth strategy for Australasia & the Pacific.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) recently organised a MICE-centric roadshow to Mumbai and New Delhi, to provide the latest updates about the destination’s developments and tourism opportunities to Indian event planners.
The series of roadshows marks the tourism board’s first physical event after a pandemic-induced gap of three years.
“The importance of the Indian MICE segment can be gauged from the fact that even though India has not been among the top 10 visitor source markets for us but when it comes to MICE it is among the top five source markets. Through these roadshows we educated Indian MICE planners on the new experiences we have to offer in segments like art and culture, culinary tourism, the great outdoors, upgraded theme parks and MICE venues,” said Puneet Kumar, director, South Asia & Middle East, HKTB.
New products in the pipeline include 11 skies by New World K11, touted as Hong Kong’s largest hub for retail, dining and entertainment, next to the airport; and Kai Tak Sports Park, an upcoming venue that can host large concerts.
“We also have an exciting calendar of sporting events in the line up like Hong Kong Sevens 2023 – the city’s premier rugby tournament, which we will promote in India. Indian carriers, Vistara and IndiGo are expected to soon resume flights to Hong Kong. This will provide a major boost to our growth plans in the Indian market,” said Kumar.
HKTB is also planning to organise a mega fam trip for Indian travel trade partners in 1H2023.
Over 140 Indian event planners and meeting organisers attended the roadshows, where HKTB’s delegation comprised 18 trade partners including Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong Disneyland Resorts, Ocean Park Hong Kong, Ngong Ping 360, hotels and DMCs.
Opened less than a year ago, Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre is taking serious steps towards its environmental obligations, with an agreement with Toitū Envirocare to acquire certification as a net carbon zero organisation.
For now, the venue is working to establish “an accurate benchmark of operations to not just know where we are at, but where we need to head in the future”, said general manager Ross Steele.
Attention will turn to net carbon zero operations by the end of the next financial year.
Steele said Toitū Envirocare is a favoured partner as its programmes are the only ones in New Zealand to be certified under the ISO 14064 standard (organisation) and ISO 14067 standard (product) by the JAS-ANZ (Joint Accreditation System for Australia and New Zealand). Furthermore, the organization takes a science-based approach to its programmes.
Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre’s ultimate goal is to “bring clients and suppliers along on the journey and look at ways to work with them to minimise the impact of the events we host – something we are well supported in with Ōtautahi Christchurch’s own commitment to reaching net zero emissions,” Steele added.
He said: “For us, sustainability and sustainable operations go beyond just measuring waste and offsetting carbon emissions. It’s about legacy – what we leave behind for future generations, and how we instil values that will ensure we are not only environmentally sensitive but leading the way in this area for years to come.”
Emphasising the destination’s own sustainable tourism commitment, ChristchurchNZ head of business events, Megan Crum, said Christchurch’s guiding principle is Small Footprint – Big Impression.
It is a walkable city with other environmentally-friendly transport modes, such as e-bikes and scooters. Electric public transport options will also bring travellers from the airport into the city, in just 15 minutes, shared Crum.
“The walkability also has a significant financial impact on event planners. There are no expensive coaches needed when they call for a conference in Christchurch. The conference centre is just a five-minute walk from 2,500 hotel beds and social venues. For the delegates, this is a place to breathe; they are not bound to a very strict transport schedule,” she said.
This year, Crum shared that ChristchurchNZ will deliver a comprehensive Business Events Sustainability Framework that will enable the destination to halve its emissions by 2030 and reach net zero carbon emissions by 2045.
Christchurch’s business events community are aligned on this sustainability movement, noted Crum, who said companies are committed to local procurement and sustainability design, and they incorporate CSR into event design.
Citing a shining example, Crum pointed to Christchurch Airport, which is the first facility of its kind to be awarded Level 4 Transformation of the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme. It decreased its carbon emissions by 90 per cent in 2015, and is now building a 400-hectare solar energy farm on its premises that will bring it closer to its climate-positive goal in a decade. It is also working with a consortium to enable zero-emissions aviation to take off in New Zealand, with a pilot programme to deploy the first green hydrogen-powered commercial passenger aircraft by 2035.
Melbourne, one of the earliest members of the BestCities Global Alliance, will once again welcome the BestCities Global Forum come January 2024.
As the alliance’s flagship event, the BestCities Global Forum is attended by industry thought leaders, international associations, and BestCities destination members.
While the BestCities Global Forum is typically held in December, BestCities has elected to host the next event from January 18-21 to coincide with the Australian Open tennis tournament. Delegates will have an opportunity to extend their stay in Melbourne to attend the matches, with BestCities and Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) planning to maximise the city’s exciting major events calendar to enhance the conference offerings.
Attendees can expect to explore how in-person meetings are critical to cultivating meaningful connections and purpose for meeting planners, associations and delegates, and to join in workshops, presentations and hands-on experiences.
The forum will soon be followed by Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME), Melbourne’s other major gathering of business events industry stakeholders, from February 19-21. Despite the close proximity of both events on the calendar, Melbourne Convention Bureau’s CEO Julia Swanson, told TTGmice that both events attract a different pool of specialists.
Director of marketing and partnerships for BestCities Global Alliance, Nigel Brown, added that the forum focuses on creating exclusive opportunities for member destinations to interact with planners of international and rotating meetings – unlike the buyer-seller interactions provided at AIME.
BestCities Global Alliance was established in 2000, and today has 12 member cities around the world.
American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) and Amadeus have renewed their strategic long-term technology agreement.
The agreement will further strengthen Amex GBT’s B2B travel platform by using Amadeus’s technical capabilities to help deliver an enriched, high-quality customer experience and operational efficiency.
Amex GBT will use a broad range of Amadeus solutions through the renewed technology collaboration to deliver servicing and support for customers, and to provide state-of-the-art disruption management solutions.
This includes the usage of the Amadeus Travel Platform to offer the widest possible range of content, including NDC-sourced content, to customers in an efficient, scalable way through the Amex GBT marketplace.
The International Association of Professional Congress Organisers’ (IAPCO) Annual Meeting and General Assembly 2023 marks the start of a new presidency tenure and the election of new officers to the Council.
Sarah Markey-Hamm, CEO of ICMS is the new president of IAPCO, taking over from the CEO of the Kenes Group, Ori Lahav, at the association’s Annual Meeting and General Assembly (AM&GA) that took place between February 6-9 in Jerusalem.
Markey-Hamm’s appointment follows her one-year tenure as president-elect since her election at IAPCO’s 2022 AM&GA held between February 10-13 in Rome. Markey-Hamm will be leading IAPCO for two years as president following which she will serve the association as Immediate Past-President.
ICMS is an established Professional Conference Organiser for over 50 years and has been a member of IAPCO since 2003.
Along with her new role as the president of IAPCO, Markey-Hamm has been chair of the International Congress and Convention Association, Australian National Committee and was on the ICCA Meetings Advisory Group. She has been a board member of the Business Events Council of Australia, and past president of the Meeting Events Australia Victorian Chapter.
Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) has indicated that sustainability and legacy are key to driving its events strategy, while helping the state achieve its Post Covid-19 Development strategy (PCDS) 2030 for tourism.
Last November, association heads from Malaysia and Singapore, as well as local and regional business events industry players gathered in Kuching for the 3rd Business Events Tribal Meet.
At the gathering, Amelia Roziman, CEO, BESarawak, introduced a sustainability starter kit, a reference for stakeholders to make conscious decisions to reduce the negative impacts of their events.
Sustainability plans are in the first phase, which will run up to 2025 and include a planning and development phase where partnerships are forged, and strategies, policies and guidelines are created.
This will be followed by the second phase, which is the implementation of all initiatives and action points with stakeholders, as well as further fine-tuning the initiatives.
With these efforts, Amelia envisions that by 2030, organising sustainable events with legacy impact will be second nature to all stakeholders.
In all, BESarawak’s target is to attract 1,245 business events to the state by 2030.Last year, BESarawak attracted 94 business events, surpassing its target of 90 events. Of the 94 business events secured, 81 business events have been assessed with a total of 570 impacts on the sector, economy, environment and political governance.
In 2023, plans are in motion to also create a legacy and sustainable event centre to further BESarawak’s objectives of driving legacy impact and sustainability forward. Specific programmes and initiatives will be announced in due time.
Another industry initiative by BESarawak – in collaboration with International Congress and Convention Association – was the inaugural launch of the International Journal of Business Events and Legacies (IJBEL). The objective of the journal is to widen the knowledge capacity of the global industry, ranging from practitioners and researchers to consumers and policymakers, by addressing real-world issues on business meetings, tourism, and legacies.
The first issue of 11 papers provides insights and knowledge into how global business event players are evolving and what impacts have been found until now, shared Amelia.
The biannual journal is also the world’s first to merge business events and legacy topics under one title, and is also the first journal in South-east Asia specifically for business events.
IJBEL is crucial in helping the Sarawak government achieve several PCDS-related objectives, by targeting specific economic sectors and enablers. Firstly, under the PCDS enabler of Education & Human Capital, IJBEL will help to optimise Sarawak’s human capital and produce an agile workforce that can excel globally. This also includes promoting entrepreneurship.
Secondly, under the PCDS enabler of Innovation, the journal is leveraging research and commercialisation to drive global innovation.
Thirdly, under the PCDS enabler of Sustainable Development, research will be used to make economic activities more environmentally friendly, so much so that it achieves global recognition.
In the longer term, BESarawak plans to introduce training programmes for stakeholders, as well as certification programmes to further develop its sustainability initiatives.
Amelia shared: “Restaurants, DMCs and hotels all require different training and certification. We will be looking into this in 2023.”
A restaurant owner in Kuching, Penelope Ling, hopes that BESarawak will also conduct programmes for those in the food business on how to minimise food wastage and hold workshops on recycling food waste in an environmentally-friendly manner.
Gracie Geikie, chair, Malaysian Association Of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers, Sarawak region, pointed out that the need for workshops on creating and designing legacy impact for business events targeted at PCOs and PEOs were necessary, as “some people still think that a CSR programme is the same as a legacy impact”.
Jason Worth has been appointed vice president sales & general manager Asia Pacific of Oceania Cruises.
He will be responsible for the strategic expansion, vision and continued growth of the company’s presence in the Asia-Pacific market.
Worth joined Oceania Cruises in 2011 and was most recently vice president sales Australia & New Zealand. Prior to that, he was vice president finance & accounting Asia Pacific at Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.
