Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) has released the first in a series of videos showcasing a team member behind the scenes.
The first episode features sustainability manager Samantha Ferrier as she takes viewers behind MCEC’s ambitious five-year sustainability strategy. The strategy has drawn praise from across the industry for its uncompromising commitment to minimising environmental impact and creating actionable solutions for generating substantial industry change.
Samantha Ferrier kicks off the video series
Ferrier has spearheaded several successful waste reduction and recovery initiatives at MCEC to date, including commitments to eliminate unnecessary and single-use plastics and divert 90 per cent of waste from landfills by 2025, as well as the goal of becoming completely powered by renewable energy by 2028.
Future videos in the series will feature digital event manager Mark Higgins and executive pastry chef Alessandro Bartesaghi showcasing their expertise, with more to come throughout the year.
Developed in collaboration with Melbourne video production agency Monster and Bear, the series will run as part of a multi-channel marketing campaign supporting MCEC’s wider Home of the unconventional brand campaign.
CWT has appointed Belinda Hindmarsh as chief growth officer, and Brian Mogler as chief partnership officer.
Hindmarsh and Mogler, as well as chief strategy officer Julia Kou, will report to Patrick Andersen, CWT’s president and CEO. They also become members of the company’s Executive Leadership Team, with immediate effect.
Additionally, Judy Hendrick has been appointed Interim chief financial officer from July 1, 2022, taking over from Bill Courtney, CWT’s current CFO, who has announced his intention to retire at the end of June 2022.
Prior to her appointment as chief growth officer, Hindmarsh was chief operating officer of RoomIt and China, and she will continue to spearhead these and other commercial developments, plus marketing and communications. She joined CWT in 2018 to lead global sales effectiveness and was appointed senior vice president global market management & market development in 2020. She has over 20 years of experience in the travel tech space, having held various international and global operations, marketing, supplier management and commercial roles with Expedia Group and Aer Lingus.
Prior to his appointment as chief partnership officer, Mogler was CWT’s head of global supplier management and solutions group. He retains responsibility for CWT’s air & ground transportation strategy, commercial relationships, revenue and supplier agreements and supplier e-commerce and merchandising strategy. He will also take on responsibility for CWT’s gobal partnership network and certain technology partners. He has more than 30 years of travel industry experience, and joined CWT in 2011, having held a variety of management roles at American Express Corporate Card, American Express Business Travel, and United Airlines.
Julia Kou was appointed chief strategy officer in April 2022, and is dedicated to leading corporate strategy, mergers & acquisitions, strategic transactions, business insights & analytics, and is responsible for enabling CWT’s company’s vision and priorities. Prior to this, she was head of strategy, planning & analytics for two years. She is a board member of JTB Business Travel Solutions, and China Travel Management Services Compan, and joined CWT in 2016 following M&A, capital markets, and legal roles with Capgemini, Travelport, Cendant Travel Distribution Services Group, and Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett.
Lastly, Hendrick retired as CFO and chief growth officer of Aimbridge Hospitality on December 31, 2021, following 13 years in the role, and she has 20 years of extensive experience in hospitality and banking. She served for 15 years at Wyndham International in various executive roles, including executive vice president, chief investment officer, senior vice president of finance, and treasurer, before which she held senior positions at Chase Manhattan Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and First Republic Bank. She serves on the American Hospitality & Lodging Association’s Women in Lodging Advisory Board, the American Heart Association Board of Directors for the Southwest Region, and the Executive Committee of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce Executive Women’s Roundtable.
Accor’s Swiss-born hospitality brand, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, opened the Mövenpick Hotel Auckland, its first property in New Zealand.
Located in Tāmaki Makaurau, business travellers and corporate conferences can be held in the hotel’s full-service conference space situated on level one, equipped with eight function rooms, outfitted with state-of-the-art technology, inbuilt audiovisual, and free Wi-Fi access.
Executive Suite
Mövenpick Hotel Auckland will feature 207 contemporary guestrooms and suites, alongside facilities such as a gym, a street-side cafe, BODA restaurant and bar, and library.
Guests can also expect a range of curated experiences that are hallmarks of the Mövenpick brand, such as a daily Chocolate Hour experience in the afternoons that comprise live demonstrations from rolling truffles to icing cupcakes. There is also a 24-hour Sundae Service, and for business travellers with children in tow, the young ones are entitled to free ice cream for the duration of their stay.
Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts is set to open a second property in Wellington this coming July.
Operations at Changi Airport Terminal 2 (T2) will resume on May 29 as the air hub readies for an increase in passenger traffic in the months ahead.
Closed for upgrading works since May 2020, T2’s phased reopening will augment Changi Airport’s capacity. When completed by 2024, the expansion works will raise the terminal’s capacity by five million to 28 million passenger movements per year.
A passenger at Terminal 2
The expanded facility will sport a larger Arrival Immigration Hall with more automated immigration lanes and special assistance lanes; and a longer baggage collection belt to accommodate a larger volume of bags.
In this first phase of T2’s progressive reopening, key touch points such as arrival immigration, baggage claim belts and contact gates at the southern wing of the terminal will be ready for flight operations. T2 will host mainly peak-hour arrival flights of airlines operating in Terminal 3 (T3). A small number of T3 departure flights may use boarding gates at T2 although passengers on these flights will continue to check in and clear departure immigration at T3.
Updated information for arriving flights will be provided on the Changi Airport website and the iChangi app at least two hours before the flight’s arrival time.
Tan Lye Teck, Changi Airport Group’s executive vice president of Airport Management, said the “strong pickup in travel demand” has necessitated the progressive reopening of T2 ahead of the June travel peak.
“The start of flight operations at T2 will provide more capacity to support our airline partners, who are also gearing up to serve more passengers in the months ahead. T2 will reopen in phases over the next two years to support Changi’s recovery as a regional air hub,” he added.
Gangwon Province, South Korea (Gangwon) in collaboration with Korea Tourism Organization’s (KTO) Kuala Lumpur and Singapore offices hosted the Reconnect with Gangwon events on May 13 and May 17 to accelerate the recovery of the travel market.
Gangwon collaborates with KTO’s Kuala Lumpur and Singapore offices to host events to revive tourism
Taking the lead to revitalise local tourism and kickstart post-pandemic marketing, Gangwon teamed up with its 20 partners, Alpensia Resort, monapark Yongpyong Resort and designated travel agents to organise the event, which incorporated seminars, media interviews and business networking sessions to revive the connection with local travel partners and enhance Gangwon’s tourism appeal.
Both online and offline campaigns for Gangwon Safe Travel (G-Safe Travel) were also in full swing to create widespread awareness of the safety measures implemented in Gangwon and introduce selected certified-clean destinations to a global audience.
“As it’s our very first overseas event after the re-opening of international borders, it means a lot to Gangwon to drive post-pandemic marketing and promote the Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024 too,” said Kim Jong-Woug, director general of tourism, culture and sports bureau, Gangwon Province.
“We will devote our energy into rolling out our marketing plans with the aim of normalising the global travel market.”
G-Safe Travel: Meeting the demand for safe travel & reaching out to global travel market As health and safety issues continue to be of paramount concern among travellers as the world moves towards a Covid endemic state, Gangwon has carried out safety measures to keep destinations clean and safe for international travellers and put in place ‘Gangwon PCR Fast Track’, a support scheme for PCR tests, in partnership with KTO, Korea Association of Travel Agents (KATA) and Korean National Tuberculosis Association (KNTA).
Gangwon signed agreement with KTO, KTA and KNTA to revitalise inbound tourism
As part of joint marketing with 36 designated travel agents specialised in overseas markets, Gangwon will also keep at developing premium tourism products and reach out to the global travel market through outreach efforts such as familiarisation trips for the travel industry, tourism road shows and joint advertisements.
Keeping the Olympic legacy going: Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Games Riding on the resounding success of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Games aims to carry on its vision of nurturing a new generation of winter sports athletes.
Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Games
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The sporting extravaganza will be held from January 19 to February 1, 2024 in Gangwon
More than 1,900 athletes from 70 countries are expected to participate
The much-anticipated sporting extravaganza will be held from January 19 to February 1, 2024 in Pyeongchang, Gangneung, Jeongseon and Hoengseong in Gangwon.
More than 1,900 athletes from 70 countries are expected to participate in 7 sports, 15 disciplines and over 80 events.
For next year, other international events such as Gangwon Forestry Exhibition 2023 and the 12th World Choir Games Gangneung 2023 are also scheduled to take place in Gangwon to further boost overseas tourist traffic to the province.
Premium tourism offerings focusing on nature, wellness, Hallyu (Korean Wave) & cultural festivals Endowed with breath-taking lush greenery, some of South Korea’s most famous beaches and awe-inspiring mountains, Gangwon is well-placed for outdoor activities such as surfing, trekking, skiing, as well as wellness programmes to satisfy post-lockdown wanderlust.
Wonders of Gangwon
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Indulge in nature at monapark Yongpyong Resort
The well-loved Hwacheon Ice Fishing Festival welcomes more than one million visitors annually
Maengbang Beach is one of the locations where BTS filmed at
More than 500,000 visitors attend the Gangneung Danoje Festival every year
Tourist attraction, Alpensia Resort, features 6 slopes that can be enjoyed by beginners and enthusiasts
Good news for fans of raging global phenomenon, K-pop wave, too – they can now visit the filming locations of popular K-dramas such as ‘Goblin’ and ‘Crash Landing on You’, located in the province.
Currently the world’s biggest boy band, BTS, also filmed music videos for their album and travelogues across Gangwon too. The hotspots were subsequently bookmarked by ARMY – the group’s legions of global fans – to follow in their footsteps.
To top it off, Gangwon has added brand-new tourist attractions to welcome overseas visitors too.
LEGOLAND Korea, the world’s 10th LEGOLAND Park, opened its doors in Chuncheon, capital of Gangwon recently. It is also the first LEGOLAND built on an island, Jungdo, which is expected to make it one of the most scenic LEGOLAND Resorts to date.
Cheorwon Hantangang Columnar Joint Path, a walking path made by installing a bridge between the cliffs, in Cheorwon DMZ site is also another new tourist draw.
The return of well-loved festivals is underway too.
Hwacheon Ice Fishing Festival, which used to have more than one million visitors annually, is ready to welcome international visitors from this year.
Designated as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, more than 500,000 visitors attend the four-week-long Gangneung Danoje Festival every year too.
Festival-goers flock to the various ritual performances and partake in cultural festivities such as making festival fans, brewing the sacred liquor, drawing masks for the Gwanno mask drama, savouring Surichiwi rice crackers and washing their hair in Iris water.
Langham Hospitality Group has appointed Sherona Shng as managing director of The Langham, Hong Kong and regional vice president, operations – Asia.
In addition to her leadership role at The Langham, Hong Kong, the Singapore native will have expanded operational oversight of all Langham and Cordis properties in Hong Kong and Asia, including properties under development.
Maël Vastine is the new director of operations in Hong Kong for Ovolo Hotels.
He brings with him over 16 years of experience in hospitality, and will take on the responsibility for Hong Kong operations and provide strategic direction for shared services in Hong Kong.
Anantara has appointed experienced hotelier, Pitak Norathepkitti as general manager of Anantara Chiang Mai Resort.
Pitak joins Anantara Chiang Mai from Siem Reap in Cambodia where he oversaw Anantara Angkor Resort for the last two years.
His extensive knowledge and experience of the local and international market equips him with a holistic approach to hotel-keeping as he oversees the upcoming resort refurbishment and implementation of new dining and spa concepts.
BWH Hotel Group has named Ron Pohl as the company’s president of international operations and president of WorldHotels.
Pohl joined the organisation in 2007 and previously served as senior vice president and chief operations officer.
Pohl will be responsible for further strengthening the organisation’s presence around the world and enhancing the company’s operations on a global level.
Ram Hiralal is the new general manager at Jumeirah Bali in Uluwatu. She brings with her a keen understanding of the luxury hospitality sector having worked as a hospitality leader across Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives and the Caribbean, with eight luxury hotel openings under her belt.
Ram joins Jumeirah Bali from COMO Shambhala Estate Bali resort, where she was the general manager from 2018.
In her new role, Ram is passionate about working alongside her team to create exceptional experiences for the guests and furthering Jumeirah’s legacy in Asia.
A polished urban retreat designed for business travellers, Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown combines thoughtful design, seamless service, and exceptional facilities.
The five-star property excels in backing its expansive facilities with seamless service and personalised attention, setting the benchmark for luxury in Bangkok.