Asia/Singapore Monday, 15th June 2026
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PPHG unveils eco-friendly meeting packages

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The country’s first ‘Garden-in-a-Hotel’, Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay, Singapore, boasts of extensive lush greenery which functions as natural air purifiers and sinks for carbon dioxide

Pan Pacific Hotels Group, has launched an eco-centric meeting package entitled Meet Lite, Feels Right.

Available at PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering and PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay, this package is available for bookings between now and December 31, 2021, and is valid for meetings from now until March 31, 2022.

The recently-renovated PARKROYAL COLLECTION
Marina Bay is home to more than 2,400 trees, shrubs and plants

Meet Lite, Feels Right offers meetings with eco-friendly practices such as eliminating single-use plastics by serving filtered water in carafes, offering a flipchart made from recycled paper, and introducing stationary ‘stations’ where participants can help themselves to bamboo pens and recycled paper pads on a need basis.

The eco-friendliness also extends to the food, where morning and afternoon tea breaks will feature Rainforest Alliance-certified coffee beans and ingredients from hotel’s urban farm; while the farm-to-table working lunch will feature locally-sourced ingredients and plant-based meat alternatives.

Packages cost S$120++ (US$90) per delegate, and offerings differ slightly at each property.

Additionally, participants at PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering have the option of signing up for an architecture tour to learn more about the hotel’s sustainability initiatives or joining an early-morning Pilates class, while those at PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay will be able to try out the hotel’s pedal-powered juice blender bikes or participate in a Sunrise or Sunset Yoga session.

Nine ways to achieve a fruitful online networking session

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Building a network of suppliers and contacts is paramount in the MICE industry. But as members of the business events community are unable to meet face-to-face in this current climate, virtual networking has taken its place.

Here are some tips for event planners to help get the conversations flowing.

• First, select the technology to engage virtual attendees. For better networking, you want tools to enable one-on-one meeting scheduling, private video calls and chat within sessions.

• Also check to ensure breakout rooms are part of the platform. Then, curate small breakouts based on attendee interests. Ask experts to moderate sessions and encourage participation. Attendees can engage in real-time through two-way video calls and public and private chat.

• Provide a networking area, where attendees can jump in and have conversations with each other between sessions. Options abound, such as networking lounges, group chats, virtual coffee bars, mobile event apps, video meet-ups and more.

• For smaller groups, create brief interactive segments. Choose from team trivia challenges, meet-the-expert opportunities, moderated chat channels, happy hours, mini-yoga sessions, live deejays, standup comedians, gamification, themed parties and more.

• For experiential segments like cooking classes, consider sending kits of supplies before your event. Use online polls to determine attendee preferences and make sure the items you send are ones they will enjoy.

• Track attendee engagement. Capture metrics like page views, digital networking, session selection, dwell time, question submissions, polls, downloads, social media likes, and more.

• Then, connect like-minded participants. Modern digital event platforms use artificial intelligence to match delegates with experts and peers who share their interests. The technology also recommends sessions, exhibitors and networking opportunities based on an attendee’s preferences and event goals to facilitate meaningful interactions.

• Make it easy for attendees to connect. For example, create a searchable database with attendee profiles that are optional to fill out. You’ll help attendees connect with like-minded peers.

• Finally, don’t limit engagement to the day of your event. Create small networking groups beforehand that align with attendee preferences. On the day of your event, group members can convene in a networking session. Post-event, continue the conversation, sharing customised content with attendees.

New operations director joins Ovolo Australia

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Wayne Taranto has been appointed as the director of operations for Ovolo Group in Australia.

Based in Sydney, Taranto will be responsible for all operations across the group’s Australian hotel portfolio, including the Ovolo South Yarra slated to open this year.

With 26 years’ hospitality experience, Taranto honed his skills at Event Hospitality & Entertainment managing various Rydges Hotels & Resorts’ on the east coast of Australia. He has also served as food and beverage director for the Australian Accor Hotels network, as well as general manager of the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth.

In recent years, Wayne was responsible for establishing Crown Group’s hotel division, Skye Hotel & Suites; and managing d’Albora, Australia’s largest marina group, as CEO.

SingapoReimagine MICE virtual show to take place from March 3 to 4, 2021

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Brought to you by Singapore Tourism Board

The Singapore Tourism Board is organising a MICE virtual show as part of the Singaporeimagine initiative which will take place from March 3 to 4 2021, connecting international buyers with up to 40 leading suppliers with the latest updates on Singapore’s progress towards the safe resumption of business events, new and reimagined MICE experiences via live streaming virtual tours, and culinary masterclasses featuring Chef Malcolm, chef-owner of Candlenut, the World’s first Peranakan Michelin starred restaurant and Chef Janice Wong, Asia’s best pastry chef.

Buyers can expect to be engaged by the line-up of exciting virtual experiences weaving through gastronomic and cultural journeys, ranging from a visit to Singapore’s oldest coffeeshop – Killiney coffee – to uncovering the microcosm of our social fabric at Waterloo Street and Little India.

Top 5 voted buyers at the show will get to win a 3D2N trip to Singapore on Singapore Airlines, complete with a hosted stay and exclusive Singapore experiences.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to explore and reimagine travel in Singapore.

Your business is our passion.

Register your interest here.

Temasek and SPH merge MICE subsidiaries

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From left to right: SPH's Ng Yat Chung; SingEx's Robin Hu; and Temasek's Alan Thompson at the official signing

Temasek and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) have entered into an agreement to merge their respective MICE subsidiaries, SingEx Holdings and Sphere Exhibits, to form SingEx-Sphere Holdings (SingEx-Sphere).

Temasek will own 60 per cent in SingEx-Sphere, with SPH owning 40 per cent. Robin Hu, chairman of SingEx, will be chairman of SingEx-Sphere once the transaction is complete.

From left to right: SPH’s Ng Yat Chung; SingEx’s Robin Hu; and Temasek’s Alan Thompson at the official signing

SingEx-Sphere aims to be a regional MICE market leader for hybrid events driving best-in-class solutions from a combined portfolio of events management, venue and consultancy businesses. The merged entity is also looking to add intellectual properties in the form of new events and exhibitions via both organic curation and inorganic investments.

Ng Yat Chung, CEO of SPH, said: “This merger will allow us to tap on each other’s expertise, resources and networks to seize new opportunities to enhance the portfolio and achieve growth regionally.”

Hu said in a statement: “Events and Exhibitions remain the most robust marketing channels for businesses around the world. Both SingEx and Sphere Exhibits, with over five decades of combined experience in organising and hosting trade and consumer shows across a variety of sectors, have built a strong foundation for the MICE scene in Singapore and our region.

“We believe Covid, while having a dampening impact in the short term, had given rise to new opportunities in the form of hybrid activities hitherto unimagined. Our industry is fast becoming a digitally enabled intellectual property business. Those who are adaptable, nimble and unafraid to reinvent will succeed,” Hu noted.

S’pore suspends green lanes with Malaysia, South Korea, Germany

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Only a few green lanes remain open as Covid-19 cases surge worldwide

Singapore has suspended reciprocal green lane arrangements with Malaysia, South Korea and Germany for three months, due to a resurgence of Covid-19 cases worldwide.

These green lane arrangements, which allow essential travel for business or official purposes between two countries, will be reviewed at the end of the three months, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

Only a few green lanes remain open as Covid-19 cases surge worldwide

Travellers who have already obtained prior approval to enter Singapore can continue to do so.

These green lanes with Germany, Malaysia and South Korea were agreed upon in October, August and September respectively last year. Singapore’s other arrangement with Malaysia, the Periodic Commuting Arrangement, will not be affected. This arrangement is meant for longer-term travel for work and business-related travel.

Singapore also has reciprocal green lanes with Japan and Indonesia but new applications have currently been put on hold. Earlier this month, Japan suspended all its business track arrangements until its state of emergency is lifted.

Previously on December 28, Indonesia also announced a temporary ban on the entry of all foreign nationals. It recently extended its border closures to foreigners from January 26 to February 8.

With this latest suspension, only the green lanes with Brunei and a few cities in China – Chongqing, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shanghai, Tianjin, Zhejiang – remain open.

Gangwon Province lays out plans for a convention centre

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Photo caption: Seoraksan Mountain in Gangwon Province, one of many natural landmarks in the province

Plans are underway for the construction of a new international convention centre in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, the first in the South Korean province.

According to preliminary plans, the new convention centre is expected to have a site area of 54,200m2, a total building area of 16,200m2, and a total floor area of 36,900m2. The total project cost is anticipated to be 149 billion won (US$133 million).

Photo caption: Seoraksan Mountain in Gangwon Province, one of many natural landmarks in the province

The convention centre will be built in Hajungdo Island, an island in Chuncheon, also home to the new Lego Land Theme Park, currently under construction with a tentative opening date set for 2022.

Demand for an international convention centre in the province has been growing steadily, thanks to its successful hosting of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Aside from showcasing its capability to host large-scale international events, the hosting of the games also brought about the extension of a KTX (high-speed bullet train) line connecting major cities within the province to Seoul in under two hours.

In 2018, Gangwon was also the fourth region in South Korea based on the most number of annual MICE events hosted. Currently, the top three regions are Seoul, Gyeonggi and Busan, all of which already have their own large-scale convention centres – COEX (Seoul), KINTEX (Gyeonggi), and BEXCO (Busan).

Stakeholders are hopeful that the plans for the new convention centre will soon get greenlit. If approved, the convention centre is said to provide the boost Gangwon needs to break into the top three rankings.

Comprising the north-east region of the Korean peninsula, Gangwon Province comprises major cities Gangneung, Chuncheon, and Pyeongchang.

Marriott Bonvoy puts purpose into travel for corporates

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CSR activities such as food redistribution in Bali can be organised for corporates

Marriott International has launched Good Travel with Marriott Bonvoy, a programme that aims to offer meaningful travel by helping travellers forge connections with local communities in their host destination.

Good Travel with Marriott Bonvoy kicked off last Tuesday with a pilot at 15 Marriott International hotels across Asia-Pacific, offering purpose-driven experiences that focus on three pillars: Environmental Protection to support the resiliency of the natural environment due to environmental degradation, pollution and climate change; Community Engagement to create a positive impact in the communities where the group’s properties operate through cultural education or volunteerism; and Marine Conservation to restore and preserve marine ecosystems and species.

CSR activities such as food redistribution in Bali can be organised for corporates

Current experiences range from planting saplings at the JW Marriott Mussoorie Walnut Grove Resort & Spa in India to coral propagation, transplanting, and restoration at the Sheraton Maldives Fullmoon Resort and Spa in the Maldives. Other ways that travellers can make a positive impact in host communities include food redistribution in Bali, and beach cleanups in Sanya.

All these experiences are guided by Marriott’s sustainability and social impact platform, Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction, in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

On the motivation behind the carving out of Good Travel under the Marriott Bonvoy programme, Bart Buiring, chief sales and marketing officer of Marriott International Asia Pacific, said: “This umbrella creation within Marriott Bonvoy would make it easier to search and identify these specific experiences. Some of them have been around, while some of them are new. But the time to launch them is now, as people become more conscious of learning and engaging in more meaningful travel.”

Over time, Buiring shared that Good Travel will be expanded to most of Marriott’s Asia-Pacific destinations. But first, he pointed out, feedback from travellers on current experiences was needed, while the engineering of new experiences within hotels or cluster hotels is ongoing.

Although Good Travel with Marriott Bonvoy was created with leisure guests in mind as “domestic travel would recover first led by millennials with a growing aspiration for purposeful travel”, corporate groups who are interested in these experiences can work with individual hotels to see how it can fit their requirements.

Buiring added that Marriott hotels would be “delighted to tailor offerings in close consultation with the local community and respective NGOs”.

MCB expands digital footprint in China

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The website in-language content and specifically translated for Chinese MICE professionals

Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) has rolled out a new in-language website and set up two Chinese social accounts WeChat and YouKu.

Chinese-speaking decision-makers, influencers and planners can now also communicate directly with MCB’s local team in Shanghai through WeChat.

The website features in-language content specifically translated for Chinese MICE professionals

The new in-language website and presence on WeChat and YouKu feature relevant and engaging content; from information about MCB and its services, local knowledge to support planning a business event in the destination, to sample incentive programs, case-studies of successful programmes and the latest news on Melbourne incentive travel and business events.

MCB chief executive Julia Swanson said the website and social tools were the latest additions to the company’s ongoing and active strategy to engage with Chinese clients and demonstrated the bureau’s commitment to the region.

“While they may not be able to travel now, the appeal of Melbourne and Australia to the Chinese planners remains high. These assets, in conjunction with our in-market team and our regular Event Planner webinars will enable the bureau to strengthen existing connections, create new and meaningful relationships, and future business opportunities.”

China is the top visitor market for MICE groups to Victoria. Over the five years pre-Covid-19, MCB welcomed 23,000 delegates from Chinese MICE groups to Melbourne injecting A$100 million (US$77 million) in economic contribution to the Victorian visitor economy.

Events Industry Council names new board chair

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IACC’s CEO, Mark Cooper, has been appointed 2021 chair of the board of the Events Industry Council (EIC), the global voice of the business events industry on advocacy, research, professional recognition and standards.

One of his key objectives is to grow membership in regions where representation is yet to be realised, such as EMEA and APAC.

Cooper has significant experience within the business events industry, having been CEO of IACC since 2012. He has also held senior posts with conference venue operators and global agencies, including Dolce Hotels & Resorts, Sundial Group, Conference Direct and Warwick Conferences.

The EIC board is comprised of nominated members of the overall EIC that consists of more than 30 organisations in the events industry. These leaders are the governing body for the overall council with fiscal responsibility and strategic direction for all EIC programmes.

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