stainability and a focus on vegetarian, vegan and gluten friendly options has been really important in the development of this menu
The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) has unveiled a new menu for 2022, which will feature Victoria’s finest fresh seasonal produce.
From grab-and-go gourmet to sophisticated dining, the food offerings have been given a new look, as well as include more diverse options such as vegetarian, vegan and gluten-friendly meals.
Sustainability and a focus on vegetarian, vegan and gluten-friendly options was a large part in the development of this menu
The beverage selection has also been given a facelift, and now includes house-made cocktails using spirits from Victorian distilleries, as well as Seltzers from Melbourne-based Moon Dog Craft Brewery.
Highlights include the new cocktail menu, with canapes to choose from such as Green mango, tofu, edamame, and sambal rice paper roll with nam prik or Truffle mushroom, whipped Meredith goat cheese and lemon thyme tart.
Meanwhile, the gala menu includes options of seared Wimmera duck breast with spiced carrot puree, pan fried panisse, crisp seasonal greens and red wine jus, and Seared Victorian 3030 barramundi with saffron potato, baba ganoush and herb oil.
MCEC also continues to offer sustainable options such as Ecoboxes and the 100-Mile Menu, a three-course plated menu including canapés, where all main ingredients are sourced from local farms and markets within 161km (100 miles) of MCEC, supporting Victorian food producers while reducing the carbon footprint.
Collinson’s Priority Pass has launched a global partnership with CarTrawler – a global B2B provider of technology solutions for the travel industry – offering members access to CarTrawler services through the Priority Pass app.
The partnership represents a push towards creating a seamless travel experience for members, by going beyond the airport to enhance the overall customer journey
With 56,000 locations around the world, CarTrawler leverages a network of over 2,200 car rental and mobility providers to ensure optimal availability and pricing – allowing for travellers to choose from a range of add-on transport options that best suit their needs, budget and schedule. The service will be available globally to all Priority Pass Members in 42 different languages and includes car rental, as well as a variety of airport transfer options including shuttle and on-demand ride-hailing.
The new global partnership is accessible within each market that Priority Pass has a presence. Members across Asia-Pacific including Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, Australia and India can gain access to competitive rates from multiple car rental and mobility providers such as Avis, Hertz, Europcar and Enterprise. Members can also simply use any valid payment card to hire their vehicle or pay for their transfer.
“Collinson is dedicated to continually innovating our range of premium travel experiences, to meet the rapidly changing needs of today’s traveller. More specifically our customers are looking for enhanced, digitally enabled, end-to-end customer experiences. This partnership with CarTrawler directly responds to that need, providing a market-leading benefit, beyond the airport, delivered directly into their hands via our Priority Pass app,” said Christopher Evans, joint CEO at Collinson.
Irmohizam Ibrahim, group managing director of the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur, was recently appointed the inaugural chairman of Convention and Exhibition (C&E) Member Advisory Council (MAC), World Trade Centers Association (WTCA), headquartered in New York.
On his appointment, Irmohizam commented: “It is a great honour not just to be the first Malaysian, but also the first Bumiputera to hold this position in chairing the global Convention and Exhibition industry, I sincerely hope that our country’s image can be enhanced and viewed positively by the whole world through more cooperation and collaboration amongst WTCA members which now comprises of 326 WTCs worldwide. In order to revive this industry, an open and inclusive approach by every member is necessary.”
Irmohizam expressed his sincere gratitude and thanks to all WTCA Board Members and the leadership of the World Trade Centers in all 86 countries who gave him confidence in leading a world organisation in the business events industry.
During his two-year term, Irmohizam aims to collaborate and make as many connections as possible to generate sharing of experiences between the association’s global members.
Previously, WTCA divided the C&E MAC into several regions, namely the Asia Pacific, America and Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Recently, all WTCA Board members have agreed to merge all MACs into one global group. This amalgamation will increase participation in business events, exhibitions, and conventions from all WTCA members. It is hoped that it will also benefit the rest of the world to collaborate and diversify services such as the business events industry.
The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre) has appointed an experienced programme and project management professional, Haryati Md Haidar, to the director of strategic projects role.
In this role, Haryati is responsible for establishing the structure and framework for the Centre’s strategic projects and organisational change management, while streamlining, facilitating and providing cross-divisional support to ensure seamless project management.
Haryati joined the Centre in 2004 and was heavily involved in the successful implementation of the Event Business Management System, which encompassed the Centre’s entire operation, from sales processing, event planning and delivery and inventory, to resource planning and revenue management. During this period, she designed, developed and customised process flows, business cases and management reports.
In 2009, Haryati was key to the delivery of the Centre’s Integrated Business Management System, where she was responsible for compliance monitoring. She was also integral to the development of the Centre’s strategic approach that ensured the venue continually met the requirements of its integrated management system standards, including quality, food safety, occupational safety and health, sustainability and business continuity.
Mandarin Oriental, Shenzhen, the Group’s newest luxury hotel in China’s Greater Bay Area, has opened.
The hotel is located on the upper floors of a new 79-storey building in Futian business district. Each of the 178 luxurious rooms and suites – among the largest in the city – provide vistas of the cityscape, greenery of Lotus Hill Park, Bijia Mountain Park and Shenzhen Bay.
Deluxe View Room
Event planners will delight in The Cube, the hotel’s main events venue. Function spaces within The Cube include the 700m2 Grand Ballroom, as well as the Mandarin Ballroom and Oriental Ballroom, where the latter two each features 400m2 of space and floor-to-ceiling windows. There is also a 900m2 covered outdoor event space named the Terrace, which offers scenic views of park greenery and the skyline.
Planners also have the option of booking The Gallery, a banquet space
on the 77th floor of the hotel offering sweeping views towards Lotus Hill Park and the glittering Shenzhen cityscape.
For business travellers and club guests, The Mandarin Club, located on the 78th floor, provides a private lounge experience. Meanwhile, recreational facilities include The Mandarin Spa, a fitness centre, and indoor swimming pool.
There are also eight F&B options on-site, ranging from the Cantonese fine-dining restaurant by Chef Fei, to the cake shop serving scrumptious patisseries from the hotel’s Afternoon Tea menu.
Langham Hotels and Resorts has appointed Jayson Heron-Smith to wear the dual roles of director of sales & marketing, The Langham, Sydney and director of sales Australia, global sales office at Langham Hospitality Group.
Heron-Smith brings over 25 years of experience and a wealth of knowledge to his new role; from starting out in F&B to working as an event manager and then through the ranks of sales and marketing to his current position today.
The Australian started with The Langham Hospitality Group across the pond in Auckland in November 2019 as director of sales and marketing at The Langham’s sister property, Cordis.
Before working for The Langham Hotels and Resorts, Heron-Smith worked for companies including Hyatt, Crown Melbourne, Hilton and The Star Sydney.
These figures are a statement of achievement for Sarawak (pictured) as the destination continues to recover from the pandemic
Business Events Sarawak has released its latest performance report spanning 2020 to 2021, revealing that the destination has secured at least 43,471 delegates over a total of 160,142 delegate days worth RM193.7 million (US$46.3 million) in direct delegate expenditure.
This is across a total of 109 future business events that will bring about an estimated RM365 million in total economic impact, RM 21.4 million in tax revenue and approximately 28,289 new job opportunities.
These figures are a statement of achievement for Sarawak (pictured) as the destination continues to recover from the pandemic
In terms of physical-to-virtual conversions, 34 events worth RM105.5 million in total economic impact have been converted, forfeiting the arrival of over 12,000 delegates, RM57.3 million in direct delegate expenditure, and 8,370 new job openings.
“Business events are playing an increasingly important role in developing Sarawak as an economically prosperous, socially inclusive, and environmentally sustainable destination by 2030,” affirmed Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Sarawak’s newly-appointed minister of tourism, creative industry & performing arts and minister of youth, sports & entrepreneur development.
“The sector’s involvement in achieving the Sarawak Government’s Post Covid-19 Development Goals is centred around delivering and optimising knowledge, innovation, and partnerships from business events.”
Various initiatives have been implemented to support recovery efforts and keep the destination active in the national and international scene; such as the provision of education for the local industry, a proactive approach to collaborating with stakeholders of varying levels, and Sarawak’s incentivised packages for local, national, and international business events planners.
Back in March 2021, BESarawak launched incentivised packages to support the sector’s recovery efforts and provide valuable financial and in-kind support to planners.
“The incentives and comprehensive support offered are integral to the sector’s rehabilitation,” asserted BESarawak’s CEO, Amelia Roziman. “Most importantly, these offers are appealing to planners and catering to today’s event needs. Beyond incentives, our team continues to provide pre and post-event support to ensure the best possible client experience that reflects Sarawak’s hospitality.”
Sarawak recently entered phase four of Malaysia’s National Recovery Plan, forecasting a positive restart for business events and a better outlook for the sector as a whole.
For 2022, BESarawak will continue to place destination development high on its priority through promoting legacy impact and mobilising Sarawak’s Covid-19 business events mitigation and recovery plans.
SafePoint monitors global travel restrictions and enhances traveller safety
Sabre Corporation has expanded SafePoint, its travel risk management product, to include global travel restriction tracking.
The solution is not limited to a singular event, and instead, provides information regarding the spread of Covid-19 and new variants, as well as destination entry restrictions imposed by countries including masks, vaccinations, health documentation and quarantine requirements.
SafePoint monitors global travel restrictions and enhances traveller safety
SafePoint monitors world events in near real-time, 24/7. It utilises hundreds of data sources for events and restrictions that may impact travel arrangements and/or traveller safety. This would help Sabre’s travel agencies and corporate customers make more informed decisions and enhance the safety of their travellers by alerting them to restrictions that may impact their itinerary. Travellers will then be able to use the information to take action at any stage of their trip.
“As travel rebounds, we believe a duty-of-care and crisis alerting solution is imperative to any travel business, especially in a world where travel advisories can change rapidly.
“SafePoint is designed to keep travellers and corporate travel managers apprised of critical events in a fast-moving world,” said Saunvit Pandya, senior director of product management, Sabre.
Beijing North Star Convention and Exhibition Investment, the investor and developer of the complex project China National Convention Centre (Phase Two) (CNCC-II), has agreed to partner with GainingEdge, an international consulting company for convention centres and business events.
As a result, GainingEdge is now responsible for the pre-opening operation and marketing of the convention centre from 2021 to 2025, seen as an important move on CNCC-II’s part in reaching and tapping into the international convention market. GainingEdge will provide a full range of consulting services for CNCC-II at the preparatory stage, by offering its expertise in venue management and international marketing.
Renderings of the upcoming CNCC-II
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CNCC-II is located in the Beijing Olympic Sports Center Area, and will serve as the Main Media Center (MMC) during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. After the Games, CNCC-II is expected to open at the start of 2024 as an international convention centre.
CNCC-II has a total floor area of approximately 780,000m2, with its main part of about 420,000m2 serving as the convention centre. Designed by French architect Christian de Portzamparc (the Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize), the project can host conferences, forums, banquets, and other commercial events of different scales for 30 to 20,000 people, as well as exhibition events for more than 50,000.
The supporting functions of CNCC-II lie on the west part of the main building with a total floor area of approximately 360,000m2, including a 5A Level-I office building, boutique shopping and retail shops, and two hotels, planned to be the Ritz-Carlton and Marriott Marquis.
Lessons will be delivered by a faculty of industry experts
Registration for the next edition of UFI-EMS (UFI Exhibition Management School) is now open, which will take place from February 14-24, 2022.
Delivered by a faculty of industry experts, the UFI-EMS combines both global insights and regional expertise in exhibition management, and will focus on the Asia-Pacific region.
Lessons will be delivered by a faculty of industry experts
Attendees will be able to enrich their business network and meet new peers in the industry, as well as upgrade their skills by staying on top of market trends and developments. They will also be given access to a focused Alumni group on the worldwide ETT Club industry e-platform.
There will be 10, two-hour-long interactive sessions as part of the UFI-EMS, where all sessions have been scheduled and will be held using Zoom. Participation and passing the final exam are crucial in order to pass the programme and be awarded the Exhibition Management School certificate.
Graduates from the UFI-EMS will receive a certification of completion which automatically count towards the UFI Certified Professional Designation.
The newly-opened Ritz-Carlton, Bangkok anchors the One Bangkok development with cosmopolitan elegance. Featuring the city's largest ballroom and a spectacular new penthouse suite, it delivers exceptional hardware and deeply authentic, soulful service for business and leisure travellers alike
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A polished urban retreat designed for business travellers, Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown combines thoughtful design, seamless service, and exceptional facilities.
