A four-part video series that sheds light on Switzerland’s best business events and leisure offerings will debut on February 19, with a fresh episode out every Friday.
The Travel Spark with Switzerland series, hosted by TTG Asia Media group editor Karen Yue, will feature speakers from Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau, Switzerland Tourism and Swiss Travel System, who will take the audience through the sought-after destination and inspire travel ideas for when travel is possible again.
Travel Spark with Switzerland video series will inspire event ideas in the destination
The first episode, Travel Spark: Inspiring incentives in Switzerland, will be presented by Dominique Oi, MICE manager for Southeast Asia, Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau. Oi will discuss how various sights, experiences and venues in the destination can elevate a corporate incentive programme.
Travel Spark: Weaving around Switzerland, to be released on February 26, will see Melanie Brunner, sales & marketing manager for Southeast Asia, Swiss Travel System, sharing tips on how to make Switzerland’s comprehensive public transport network work for leisure and corporate groups.
This will be followed by Travel Spark: One big Swiss playground on March 5. Presented by Oliver Guggisberg, project manager for South East Asia, Switzerland Tourism, the episode details various fun experiences that can be found across Switzerland.
The series concludes on March 12 with Travel Spark: A taste of true Switzerland, presented by Jennifer Chin, project manager, Leisure & MICE for Southeast Asia, Switzerland Tourism. Chin will discuss Switzerland’s rich history and the resulting opportunities for unique destination experiences.
The Travel Spark with Switzerland series is part of TTG Asia Media’s Travel Spark by TTG programme, which aims to spark off travel and events desire and ideas, and show how trade buyers and their customers can return to travel and events in this new era.
Tokyo is well-known as a multi-faceted metropolis, complete with old and new aspects, from its centuries-old Imperial Palace, Buddhist temples and tea gardens to futuristic skyscrapers, cutting-edge technology and modern food scene.
Now, business event stakeholders in the city are encouraging groups to see another side of the destination – rural Tokyo. And, with rising interest among events planners for incentives and excursions in less congested places that allow easier social distancing, work is accelerating to whet appetite as international travel resumes.
Hachijojima, Tokyo
Efforts to promote rural Tokyo for business events is led by Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Tamashima, focusing on the mountainous and heavily forested Tama area in the west and the subtropical island chain (shima) that stretches 270km south. A new website under the Tamashima brand lists recommendations and model courses for day trips and overnight or 3D2N stays, each designed to help visitors enjoy the best of the two areas.
Despite being far from central Tokyo, the islands are well connected by high-speed jet boat and airplanes. Travellers can even depart central Tokyo on an overnight ferry to arrive in the morning.
Each island has unique characteristics that could appeal to excursions and incentive programmes. Oshima is a geopark with unique volcanic scenery; Nijima is a renowned surf spot; Shikinejima is filled with coastal inlets, coves and hot springs; and Hachijojima is popular for aquatic sports including scuba diving.
With the Tama area located about a 90-minute drive from central Tokyo, Hironobu Fujimura, director of the business events team at Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau (TCVB), said it has become “a real hot spot.”
“The Tama area allows visitors to see another face of Tokyo. Located in the foothills of the Okutama Mountains south-west of Tokyo is an oasis blessed with an abundance of nature and filled with fascinating cultural spots.”
Fujimura and his team at TCVB provide tours of Tama including Mount Takao, which was designated a three-star mountain by Michelin Green Guide Japan. The mountain has chair lifts and cable cars, allowing participants to prioritise hiking or viewing the scenery, and is recommended as a teambuilding activity.
Options for incentives include soba making, where participants learn about buckwheat before making and eating their own handmade noodles, and sake brewery tours. At the Ishikawa Brewery, guests can pair sake and locally-brewed beer with dishes at Japanese or Western restaurants. The facility can also host private parties for up to 100 people.
In 2021, Tama became more viable for conferences and exhibitions, too, with the opening of Green Springs in Tachikawa. The innovative, well-being-focused site includes the largest multipurpose hall in Tama, featuring indoor and outdoor stages with combined seating capacity for 2,500 pax. The adjacent Sorano Hotel has 81 guestrooms, each offering park views, as well as various dining options, an infinity pool and a spa. There are also extensive F&B offerings, shops and a 10,000m2 park at Green Springs.
Such new spaces boost the existing event facilities in the area. Nearby Hachioji has 18 convention facilities, 50 banquet halls and 1,768 guestrooms within walking distance of a train station.
However, industry experts admit that central Tokyo may still remain a bigger draw for business events, particularly those that are large or whose participants are new to Japan. In recognition of this, Tokyo Metropolitan Government offers a one-day tour of Tama as part of in-kind support for a large-scale conference held in Tokyo. But Tamashima could see growth in the coming years among repeat visitors or those seeking a quieter stay.
James Kent, general manager of The J Team DMC, said the ability to explore “rural delights within the boundaries of the metropolis will most certainly be an attraction, especially for incentive travellers who like to be treated to short transfers and (have) the next inspiration…just a stone’s throw away”.
Kent predicts the area will grow in popularity in the next few years along with “the delights that the Tokyo rural areas offer, such as farming experiences, cooking the locally-grown produce and the sublime sake that is brewed from the rice and water in these areas”.
More work may need to be done, however, to both raise awareness among industry players of what rural Tokyo has to offer and to compete with areas around Tokyo, according to Jarrod Stenhouse, managing director of Destination Asia Japan.
“We would need to see better options for lunches and activities (to include these areas),” he said, adding that a visit would need to be a “very special experience” in order to be included in schedules given “there is so much to fit in both inside and outside Tokyo – Nikko, Hakone, Kamakura, Yokohama.
Stakeholders call for Singapore government to also address the larger MICE ecosystem
Tourism, aviation and aerospace sectors – worst-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting travel restrictions – will get a further six-month extension to the Singapore government’s Jobs Support Scheme (JSS).
Through the programme, the government will cover part of the wages paid out by qualified companies, with subsidies ranging from 10 per cent to 30 per cent.
Tourism and aviation firms will continue to receive wage support from the government this year
Payout for 30 per cent of wages paid from April to June 2021 will be issued in September, while another 10 per cent paid from July to September will come in December.
The wage support will apply to the first S$4,600 (US$3,476.42) of gross monthly wages paid to each Singaporean or permanent resident employee.
In addition, schemes in support of career growth, training and attachment opportunities will be extended. There will also be continued access to trade loan assistance and grants for self-employed individuals and workers who have lost their jobs or are placed on involuntary no-pay leave for at least three consecutive months.
The extended JSS is part of an S$11 billion COVID-19 Resilience Package announced for Budget 2021 this afternoon. It is also the fourth extension for the scheme since its introduction in February 2020.
Deputy prime minister Heng Swee Keat said the extended JSS will cost the government S$700 million, and adjustments will be made based on the projected recovery of the different sectors. Other sectors that qualify for the extended JSS include food services, retail, marine and offshore as well as arts and entertainment.
Since its launch, JSS has subsidised 25 to 75 per cent of wages paid for 10 months and supported over 150,000 employers for up to 17 months.
In all, JSS has cost the government more than S$25 billion.
Aloysius Arlando, president of the Singapore Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers (SACEOS), said in a public message to members and industry colleagues that that government’s recent budgets and COVID-19 Resilience Package all aim to “safeguard lives, jobs, supply chains and core economic capabilities”.
“From 2021, our focus will be on Emerging Stronger, Together,” Arlando said, and urged members and industry colleagues to seek opportunities to “do things differently and collaboratively for the betterment of our business and people”.
Arlando said: “We encourage SACEOS members to not waste this lull period; work on hybrid event models, build up future-work-ready capabilities as outlined in the Event Industry Resilience Roadmap, adopt the certified practice to construct, conduct under the Safe Event Framework, and apply these permitted event parameters to test out business models, partnerships in pilot events.”
Commenting on the latest JSS arrangements, Singapore Airlines (SIA) CEO Goh Choon Phong said the government measures, which include vaccination priority for the aviation industry, “will help to bolster the SIA Group’s plans to navigate the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, while remaining nimble and flexible to seize all opportunities as international routes re-open and travel sentiments improve”.
Goh added: “The initiatives will also help our employees to retain their knowledge and competencies, and acquire new skills if necessary, ensuring that they are future-ready during this critical period.”
Editor’s note: The original post has been updated to reflect further details on the JSS extension and to include a statement from the SACEOS president.
All parties will promote Qantas services via Singapore
Australia has suspended quarantine-free travel with neighbouring New Zealand after three new community cases of Covid-19 were detected in Auckland over the weekend.
The travel bubble was set up so that New Zealanders could get to Australia without needing to spend 14 days in a hotel, although quarantine was mandatory for people travelling in the other direction.
Australia suspends travel ‘bubble’ with New Zealand
On Sunday, Auckland’s residents were plunged into a new three-day level 3 lockdown through Wednesday, shutting public venues and prohibiting gatherings outside homes, except for weddings and funerals of up to 10 people. Schools will stay open for children of essential workers but others were asked to stay home.
The Covid-19 alert for the rest of New Zealand was raised to Level 2, with all gatherings limited to 100 people, including at restaurants and cafes.
The source of the new cases is still unknown as results do not link directly to any other positive cases detected in New Zealand to date.
Over in Australia, the state of Victoria is currently undergoing a five-day snap lockdown that began on Saturday, as authorities similarly raced to prevent a third wave of Covid-19 cases sparked by the highly infectious UK variant.
Indonesia’s the Ministry of Tourism will host the seventh Bali & Beyond Travel Fair (BBTF) in Bali from June 8 to 12 this year, taking on a hybrid form with health protocols in place for the in-person programme.
As with its pre-pandemic editions, BBTF 2021 will gather both international and domestic trade buyers to meet with tourism sellers from Bali and other priority Indonesian destinations.
Bali & Beyond Travel Fair was last hosted in 2019 and will return to Bali this June
Tanto Ruwiyadi, vice committee chairman of BBTF told TTGmice that international buyers will participate at the show virtually while domestic participants will meet offline.
BBTF 2021 will focus on the theme, Exploring Sustainable and Wellness Tourism. A number of activities and forums led by reputable speakers will address new opportunities, trends and industry insights, as well as highlight the diversity of Indonesia’s regional cultures as a strategic asset for responsible tourism growth.
Recognised as the country’s leading international travel and tourism fair, BBTF is part of Indonesia’s strategy to promote new business opportunities and facilitate the industry’s recovery from the current crisis.
BBTF 2020, which was scheduled for June last year, was called off due to the pandemic and resulting restrictions on travel and mass gatherings.
Asia-Pacific’s meetings industry has swiftly adopted technology to adapt event formats to pandemic restrictions, and innovations in the events space are continuing today.
In this new episode of TTG Conversations: Five questions video series, Ashwin Gunasekaran, chairman of the ICCA Asia Pacific Chapter Executive Commitee, shares his observations on where Asia’s meetings industry stands today on the recovery track.
UFI has released an updated Covid-19 damage assessment for the global exhibition and tradeshow industry, where figures revealed that global industry revenues for 2020 dropped by 68% compared to 2019.
This result is based on regional data provided in the UFI Global Exhibition Barometer, which indicates that 2020 revenues represented only 23% of those from 2019 in Central and South America, rising to 24% in the Middle East and Africa, 27% in the Asia-Pacific region, 32% in Europe and 36% in North America.
Latest Global Barometer research highlights the severe impact of Covid-19, but indicates recovery may be possible this year
Exhibitions have a direct impact on numerous sectors in the regions where they take place – not just the exhibition industry (venues, organisers and service providers), but all related sectors, such as accommodation, restaurants and transport.
Taking all of these sectors into account, it is estimated that a minimum of €200 billion (US$224 billion) of total exhibition-related output was not generated in 2020, including €80 billion in North America, €65 billion in Europe and €46 billion in the Asia-Pacific region.
This equates to 2.4 million full-time jobs affected globally.
Exhibiting companies use face-to-face events to generate contacts that lead to business, either at or soon after the event, and the non-tenure of most exhibitions in 2020 has led to an estimated €330 billion of business volume affected. While a small fraction of that loss may have been compensated for specific sectors, with the development of purely digital solutions, the net impact remains very high.
“Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the exhibition industry, as well as those sectors who benefit from face-to-face events. The impact has not just been felt by exhibitors, who showcase their products and develop their sales, but also by those involved in tourism-related activities. We all look forward to the lifting of current restrictions and the rebound of our economies, where exhibitions will play an important role,” said Kai Hattendorf, UFI managing director and CEO.
The Suwon MICE Complex in South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province is officially complete, with the opening of a large-scale aquarium.
Located inside the Suwon MICE Complex, Aqua Planet Gwanggyo boasts a total floor area of 6,500m2 with 2,000 tons of aquarium area. The aquarium is comprised of nine zones, and visitors can see over 210 different types of sea creatures.
The main attraction, Ocean in the City, is the aquarium’s largest tank where visitors can see a variety of sharks along with a two-meter-long black manta ray. The aquarium will also stage special performances 365 days of the year.
The establishment of Suwon MICE Complex began in early 2019 with the opening of Suwon Convention Center, followed by the opening of Courtyard Marriott Suwon hotel and Galleria Gwanggyo Department Store in January and March of 2020.
Suwon MICE Complex is located an hour’s drive from Incheon International Airport and has a direct subway line which connects to Gangnam in 30 minutes.
The 45th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) will head to Busan in 2024, an event that is expected to bring 3,500 people from across the world onto South Korean soil.
The win has been years in the making, with Busan Tourism Organization and Busan Exhibition and Convention Center working together on the bid since 2019.
The Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research was hosted in Syndey this year
The Korean Committee of COSPAR, led by chairperson Jong Uk Park, who is with the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, has also been courting the Scientific Assembly to South Korea since the successful execution of the 3rd COSPAR Symposium in 2017. The event in Jeju was attended by about 350 people from 38 countries.
The nine-day Scientific Assembly will bear the theme, Team Spirit in Space Research.
Lee Chang-Yoon, head officer of Space, Nuclear and Big Science Policy
Bureau of the Ministry of Science and ICT, said: “The COSPAR Scientific Assembly is the world’s largest space science event with more than 4,000 academic presentations in various space research fields, including space science and exploration. We will support it as an opportunity to promote industrial cooperation between global and Korean space industries in a new space era.”
Held once every two years on a rotational basis, the Scientific Assembly is recognised as the largest academic event in the field of space research. The 2021 Scientific Assembly was held in Sydney, from January 28 to February 4.
Australia’s first Mövenpick hotel, Mövenpick Hotel Hobart, has opened on one of Hobart’s principal heritage streetscapes near the Hobart waterfront.
Intimate meetings can be held on-site, for the property boasts a flexible function space for up to 100 guests, which can also be divided into two smaller meeting rooms, along with a pre-event area and full bar.
Guestroom
The 221 guestrooms are situated on floors three to 18, all of which come with Tasmania-inspired interiors.
Amenities on-site include the Tesoro Modern Italian restaurant, and gym. Several Mövenpick brand experiences are also available, such as its famous Chocolate Hour, chocolate tasting packages, and energy shots at breakfast.
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.
