Michael Tang has joined Dorsett Putrajaya in Malaysia as general manager.
In his current role, Tang has been tasked with ensuring the profitability and sustainability of Dorsett Putrajaya’s operation, a role he takes on during this challenging period of Covid-19.
The seasoned industry professional has over 25 years of hospitality experience, and is no stranger to group, having been the general manager of Upper View Regalia Hotel, Kuala Lumpur since 2018; a hotel owned and managed Mayland Group of Companies and affiliated to Dorsett.
The Malaysian first began his hospitality career in 1996 in his hometown in Penang with the Casuarina Beach Resort, where he learnt sales and marketing. In 2001, he took up his next sales position with Equatorial Cameron and was based out of Kuala Lumpur.
Other positions he has held include associate director of sales for Concorde Kuala Lumpur, then a stint in Berjaya Hotels & Resorts where he took charge of four of the group’s properties, and HPL Hotels & Resorts as director of sales & marketing.
Sands Resorts Macao has unveiled the Maximise Your Meeting offer, available to book from now until December 31, 2021, for events taking place between now and June 30, 2022.
The Venetian Macao’s ballroom
Benefits under this offer are:
Five per cent discount on master bills
One complimentary room for every 20 rooms booked
One complimentary room upgrade for every 20 rooms booked
15 per cent discount on Gondola Rides, 25 per cent discount on Eiffel Tower experience and 50 per cent bulk-buy discount on teamLab SuperNature Macao tickets (20 tickets and above)
Up to 50 per cent discount on selected in-house entertainment
MOP 10,000 (US$1,250) credit on in-house audio-visual equipment rental and service
The more rooms booked, the more benefits. Event planners can enjoy all of the above six benefits when reserving over 151 rooms on a minimum of one of the nights within their stay period. In addition, the following benefits further apply:
Book 20-50 rooms daily and enjoy three benefits
Book 51-100 rooms on peak and enjoy four benefits
Book 101-150 rooms on peak and enjoy five benefits
Located at the heart of Cotai Strip, Sands Resorts Macao offers approximately 12,500 rooms and suites, and 150,000m2 of flexible meeting spaces.
The Maximise Your Meeting offer is available at Sands Resorts Macao hotels including The Venetian Macao; The Parisian Macao; Four Seasons Hotel Macao; Conrad Macao; Sheraton Grand Macao; and The St. Regis Macao.
Serko, a New Zealand-headquartered online travel booking and expense management for businesses, has rolled out its latest Trip Budget feature in Zeno, its travel booking and expense management tool.
With Trip Budget, maximum spend amounts can be configured for business trips and require approval when the total cost of a booking exceeds that limit.
A screenshot from the Zeno website
Trip budget amounts can be configured by:
Policy type (e.g. spend limits can be configured for each part of a trip booking, including air, hotel, rental car, etc.)
Policy category (e.g. domestic, regional or international travel)
Traveller profile (e.g. employee type)
When the total cost of air, hotel or ground transport booking exceeds the total trip budget, it will be highlighted to the booker, who will need to provide an ‘out of policy’ reason before the booking can be confirmed.
With the implementation of Trip Budget in Zeno, organizations can proactively manage spend before a trip is booked, empowering travel managers to deliver more savings and greater spend control to stakeholders.
Trip Budget is available to Zeno TMC reseller partners immediately.
En-terprises attaining the certification will provide a mark of assurance to their customers and stakeholders and inspire greater consumer confidence.
In-person business events and live performances will scaled down and event size caps will be reduced from July 22 until August 18, as Singapore further tightens movement restrictions in response to a surge in Covid-19 community cases.
For live performances and business events, up to 100 persons may be allowed with pre-event testing, and up to 50 persons without testing. For spectator and participatory sports events, up to 100 persons may be allowed with testing. Testing would not be required if there are 50 persons or less.
Latest Covid-19 safe management measures will reduce attendee numbers at business events and live show
The latest requirements include suspension of dining-in at F&B establishments, reduction in group sizes for social gatherings from five to two, and reduction in operating capacity at attractions and museums to 25 per cent from the current 50 per cent,
In announcing the updated Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) measures, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said a review would be done two weeks after implementation, and measures would be adjusted further based on the infection situation at that time.
The Covid-19 multi-ministerial task force decided not to differentiate the measures for those who are fully vaccinated, but will consider doing so when vaccination rates are higher or when the situation has stabilised, a Channel NewsAsia report quoted task force co-chair Gan Kim Yong as having said during a press conference on Tuesday.
The multi-ministry task force had earlier announced a tightening of community measures under Phase 3 (Heightened Alert) from July 19 to August 8, in response to growing Covid-19 clusters at KTV lounges and nightclubs. Since then, more clusters linked to a wholesale fish market and hawker food centres have emerged.
MOH said that unlike the KTV cluster, the current wave of infection affects a wider spectrum of the population including many seniors.
“At the current rate of transmission, it is likely that infection cases will rise sharply, and many people in the community will catch the virus. While close to 50 per cent of the population have completed their vaccination regimen, there remains a number of vulnerable individuals, such as our seniors, who have yet to take up vaccination,” the ministry said.
“Unvaccinated individuals are at higher risk of being infected, and higher risk of being seriously ill if infected. Hence, in the meantime, we must act decisively to contain the current outbreak and minimise the risk of our hospital capacity being overwhelmed, while we race ahead to vaccinate those who have not completed or started their vaccination.”
According to MOH, Singapore remains on track to having two-thirds of its population complete the vaccination regimen by National Day on August 9.
Changes in consumer’s travel preferences, media diet and media channels along with continued pandemic challenges require travel and tourism marketers to take a different approach to target audience engagement, says Lina Ang, managing director APAC, Sojern.
In this new episode of TTG Conversations: Five Questions video series, Ang discusses how travel intention has failed to match up with actual search and bookings here in Asia-Pacific, where travel restrictions remain while national vaccination programmes are still a work-in-progress; challenged marketing budgets for travel and tourism companies and the impact on advertising activities; and the rise in social media marketing.
Ang also dispenses numerous tips for travel and tourism marketers looking to stretch their dollar, make sense of what the end of third-party cookies will bring, effect call-to-action amid a pandemic, and more.
Jakarta's MICE stakeholders hope to get a city CVB up and running again; Jakarta skyline pictured
Stakeholders from Jakarta’s business events industry have come forth to urge the city’s administration to reinstate the Jakarta Convention and Exhibition Bureau (JCEB), to ensure there is sufficient financial backing to help the capital win business events post-pandemic.
In 2016, JCEB was terminated by the city government after 20 years of operation.
Jakarta’s MICE stakeholders hope to get a city CVB up and running again; Jakarta skyline pictured
These views were aired by stakeholders during a hearing with Dadang Solihin, Jakarta’s deputy governor in charge of culture and tourism, who requested input as the city government was preparing to issue business events regulations.
Before the pandemic, Indonesia lagged behind neighbouring countries like Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, in terms of the number of business events, said Hosea Andreas Rungkat, chairman of the Indonesian Exhibition Companies Association.
However, that has all changed due to the pandemic, as it has forced all countries to restart their courting of business events, Hosea noted.
“This is the opportunity to prepare a better marketing strategy, including forming a new CVB for Jakarta, so that after this pandemic ends, Indonesia’s MICE industry stood a chance to be on a level playing field with her neighbouring countries,” he said.
Christina Rudatin, lecturer of State Polytechnic of Jakarta and head of MICE Department Forum, said: “Jakarta has the opportunity to win bids. However, the list of potential business events were never used nor mapped by the Jakarta administration because the capital had no CVB.”
According to ICCA data, Christina pointed out that there were only 800 international business events slated from 2019 to 2029.
She lamented: “After the closure of JCEB, Jakartd has no focused marketing strategy and action plans on business tourism.”
Ndang Mawardi, president director and CEO of InspiroGroup, also pointed out: “We have difficulty answering questions about support from the Jakarta government when bidding for the hosting of international events in the capital, as there was no formal support structure.”
Dadang has indicated that he will be reading through the proposed business events draft, and convey the proposal of the reinstatement, or setting up, of a city CVB, to Anies Baswedan, the governor of Jakarta.
Radisson Hotel Group has opened a 150-key Park Inn by Radisson Bacolod in Bacolod City, the capital of Negros Occidental province.
The upper-midscale brand property is located within the SM City Bacolod lifestyle mall, which provides easy access to delegates attending conferences or functions at the SMX Convention Center.
Park Inn by Radisson Bacolod’s facade
Smaller meetings can also be held at Park Inn by Radisson Bacolod’s three function rooms, or within the private dining rooms at Arima, the hotel’s all-day dining destination that serves a range of international dishes. Other F&B concepts include Dash, a grab and go concept; the casual Lobby Lounge; and the al fresco Marapara Plaza.
Hotel facilities include separate outdoor pools for adults and children, a fitness centre, and a jogging path.
Radisson Hotel Group now operates five Park Inn by Radisson properties in the Philippines, located in Clark, Davao, Iloilo City, North EDSA (Quezon City) and Bacolod, as well as an upper upscale Radisson Blu hotel in Cebu City.
Sarawak is ready to open for business once targeted herd immunity of 80 per cent has been achieved
The Malaysian state of Sarawak is aiming to reopen for tourism and business events in 4Q2021, with the state well on its way to getting most of its population inoculated.
Currently, Sarawak is in phase two of its four-phase recovery roadmap, where domestic tourism activities will be allowed once the state enters phase three.
Sarawak is ready to open for business once targeted herd immunity of 80 per cent has been achieved
Sarawak’s minister of tourism, arts and culture, Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, said in a press release: “We anticipate entering phase three by the end of August where we aim to restart tourism and business events in Sarawak by the fourth quarter this year.”
Currently, Sarawak holds the highest record in Malaysia with 71.4 per cent of its adult population having been vaccinated with at least one dose, while 31 per cent of the adult population has completed both doses.
Recently, more than 2,000 of the state’s tourism and business events industry frontliners received their vaccination as part of the Industrial Covid-19 Vaccination Programme held at the Association of Churches Sarawak in Kuching from July 15 to 18, 2021.
Amelia Roziman, CEO at Business Events Sarawak, said: “The business events industry is finally one step closer to restarting. We are 70 per cent in delivering our state recovery plan for business events with updated Standard Operating Procedures and improved incentivised packages, alongside creative marketing and promotional materials to ensure the success of events held in Sarawak.”
The 25th World Congress of Dermatology (WCD2023) has been confirmed for Singapore come July 2023, with Triumph Group International (TGI) appointed once again to bring the high profile global meeting to fruition as event organiser.
The last edition in 2019 drew 17,000 delegates from 149 countries to host city Milan.
The last World Congress of Dermatology in Milan attracted 17,000 delegates from 149 countries
According to TGI, WCD2023 will be conceived as a green congress from the very beginning – in line with Singapore’s sustainable city status conferred by the Asian Green City Index.
Spokesperson Antonella Nalli shared that WCD2023 will feature a series of impactful online activities as well as a mix of in-person and online meetings and public events in Singapore and “hopefully around the world” in the lead up to July 2023.
Maria Criscuolo, chairwoman of TGI, said the company’s appointment to produce yet another edition of the congress reflects its expertise in organising medical events and in responding to the evolving needs of medical meetings.
Criscuolo said: “International solidity and reliability are the results of over 35 years of experience and thousands of organised events. However, experience is not enough. We need new ideas; we need to know how to read the signs of aging and be able to anticipate them. We need to understand that a medical event is different from what it used to be just a few years ago. We have entered the world of hyper-technological, sustainable and comprehensive global events. ”
The new win for TGI and Singapore comes as the Rome-based events and communications specialist expands its presence in Asia. It has launched an office in Singapore, joining Shanghai and Hong Kong.
More global travel industry companies are tapping the new Gopass Global pre-travel risk management platform to help their clients and staff plan Covid-safe travel in the post-pandemic world.
New user acquisitions in the past month include US-based corporate travel alliance Hickory Global Partners, which has more than 2,500 members; Lufthansa City Center, an independent franchise company in the travel agency market with 500 offices in 85 countries; and First Travel Group, New Zealand’s leading alliance of independent travel agencies.
Gopass Global can help users make data-informed decisions on Covid-safe travel plans
The platform distills risk factors relevant to a flight itinerary from 35 global data sources, in near real-time, including headline destination safety factors such vaccination rates, border restrictions, quarantine requirements and safety protocols. It also identifies the risks associated with trip routing, transit points, airports, airlines, aircraft type and even the choice of seat, and provides travel planners with a quantifiable risk score for each itinerary.
Gopass Global director of distribution, Dave Simmons, said: “Travel brands are quickly appreciating how our technology can help them navigate their way through the bewildering and ever-changing maze of information about Covid impacts on travel.”
Simmons added that as countries began to open up to international travel, employers and employees needed an objective and measurable assessment of the risk associated with any proposed itinerary. Maximum scores could be set as part of a company’s travel policy and complement existing duty of care programmes.
Acknowledging the value of travel risk data offered by the platform, Malcolm McLeod, CEO of First Travel Group, said: “Knowledge is power and if the initial reaction from our members is any indication, they can’t get enough of it.”
Simmons confirmed that Gopass Global will reveal more major signings in the coming weeks.
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
Behind the imposing, Brutalist concrete that defines Zurich’s Oerlikon district lies a surprising secret. While its exterior honours the neighbourhood’s industrial roots, stepping inside Mama Shelter reveals a vibrant, neon-soaked world that is a far cry from its rigid shell
A polished urban retreat designed for business travellers, Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown combines thoughtful design, seamless service, and exceptional facilities.
In-person business events and live performances will scaled down and event size caps will be reduced from July 22 until August 18, as Singapore further tightens movement restrictions in response to a surge in Covid-19 community cases.
For live performances and business events, up to 100 persons may be allowed with pre-event testing, and up to 50 persons without testing. For spectator and participatory sports events, up to 100 persons may be allowed with testing. Testing would not be required if there are 50 persons or less.
The latest requirements include suspension of dining-in at F&B establishments, reduction in group sizes for social gatherings from five to two, and reduction in operating capacity at attractions and museums to 25 per cent from the current 50 per cent,
In announcing the updated Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) measures, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said a review would be done two weeks after implementation, and measures would be adjusted further based on the infection situation at that time.
The Covid-19 multi-ministerial task force decided not to differentiate the measures for those who are fully vaccinated, but will consider doing so when vaccination rates are higher or when the situation has stabilised, a Channel NewsAsia report quoted task force co-chair Gan Kim Yong as having said during a press conference on Tuesday.
The multi-ministry task force had earlier announced a tightening of community measures under Phase 3 (Heightened Alert) from July 19 to August 8, in response to growing Covid-19 clusters at KTV lounges and nightclubs. Since then, more clusters linked to a wholesale fish market and hawker food centres have emerged.
MOH said that unlike the KTV cluster, the current wave of infection affects a wider spectrum of the population including many seniors.
“At the current rate of transmission, it is likely that infection cases will rise sharply, and many people in the community will catch the virus. While close to 50 per cent of the population have completed their vaccination regimen, there remains a number of vulnerable individuals, such as our seniors, who have yet to take up vaccination,” the ministry said.
“Unvaccinated individuals are at higher risk of being infected, and higher risk of being seriously ill if infected. Hence, in the meantime, we must act decisively to contain the current outbreak and minimise the risk of our hospital capacity being overwhelmed, while we race ahead to vaccinate those who have not completed or started their vaccination.”
According to MOH, Singapore remains on track to having two-thirds of its population complete the vaccination regimen by National Day on August 9.