Greg Erwin has taken the helm as general manager of Great Barrier Reef tour operator Sunlover Reef Cruises and its heritage listed, 100-room property in the CBD, Hides Hotel Cairns.
Erwin brings with him 20 years’ tourism and hospitality industry experience.
His career began with international hotel group Accor, where he spent 15 years in managerial roles in New South Wales before taking up a general manager position at the Novotel Oasis Resort in Cairns.
Previously, Erwin also led the strategy and transformation of two visitor attractions in Tropical North Queensland – Mossman Gorge Centre and Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park.
In 2010, with the launch of Malaysia’s Economic Transformation Programme, an organisation was created and tasked with establishing the country as a leading business events destination.
That organisation was Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), whose strategic priority is to attract high-yield business travellers. Moreover, business events were recognised as a key contributor to the country’s acquisition of a developed nation status.
A view of Kuala Lumpur City Centre
From its establishment in 2010 and up to 2018, MyCEB and its strategic partners secured 1,100 international business events that contributed an estimated RM8.5 billion (US$2 billion) in economic impact. In the same period, MyCEB provided support to 2,278 events with the aim of increasing average attendance, length of stay and spending in Malaysia.
In January 2016, MyCEB commissioned a study to review the health of Malaysia’s business events industry through a series of consultative workshops and interviews with business events industry stakeholders. The goal was to evaluate gaps, brainstorm solutions and chart Malaysia’s future in business events. As a result, a national business events roadmap with clear goals, designated roles and performance measurements was drawn to power the country’s business events industry to 2020 and beyond.
According to the roadmap, by 2020, Malaysia’s business events industry will deliver 16,720 new jobs, RM3.9 billion gross national income and 2.9 million business events visitors.
Zulkefli Sharif, CEO of the bureau, told TTGmice that the roadmap is on track. He projects eight per cent of the targeted 30 million arrivals next year will be be business event visitors, from the current six per cent.
With 2020 fast approaching, MyCEB and various industry associations such as Business Events Council Malaysia (BECM) have started work on a new roadmap for the next decade.
Zulkefli revealed that MyCEB is intensifying efforts to attract more Asian business events, in line with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia’s strategic direction to attract more Asian visitors. Besides the traditional MICE markets of China, India and South Korea, the bureau is now eyeing the incentive markets of Vietnam, Taiwan and Indonesia.
“Asian markets provide quick wins, high growth numbers as well as volume,” he remarked.
The exhibitions segment is also getting MyCEB’s attention, as the country expands its exhibition spaces. Setia SPICE Convention Centre Penang opened in 2017, followed by Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC) last year, while Sabah International Convention Centre is currently under development.
To fill these venues, MyCEB intends to gear up its participation in UK and US tradeshows next year, besides those that it is already investing in, such as AIME, IMEX, IT&CM China, IT&CM Asia and IBTM World. It is also encouraging and supporting local exhibition organisers to create more homegrown events.
Zulkefli said: “The future of business events looks bright as we have strong commitment and support from industry players and government agencies.
“Since this year, every ministry has been tasked to set up a dedicated focal point to facilitate requests from MyCEB on behalf of relevant associations for hosting of international events in Malaysia. This commitment from the government will help us to become a preferred business events destination in Asia.”
Alan Pryor, chairman of BECM, shares the same optimism. Illustrating BECM’s commitment to realising Malaysia’s MICE goals, Pryor said BECM is working with MyCEB to develop a terms of reference for research and data collection, as well as an advocacy kit to help it engage government and stakeholders more effectively.
“We are also re-visiting the MYCEB Business Events Roadmap 2020 and the harmonisation of industry education training, certification and accreditation. All these initiatives will have a phased approach and will take some time, but our vision is to have all materialise to deliver a concrete and sustainable impact for the business events industry in Malaysia, beyond the coming decade,” he added.
Pryor, who is also the general manager at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, projected that sustainability “will remain a primary focus and will influence where and how events are executed”, and as such future venues must be “designed to reflect sustainable design and sustainable practices”.
The Novotel Okinawa Naha has appointed Akio Izumi as the hotel’s director of sales & marketing.
In this recently expanded position, Izumi has been made responsible for the hotel’s overall sales and marketing activities including its numerous Asia Pacific MICE initiatives.
Izumi is a seasoned hotelier with over 20 years of industry experience. Prior to Novotel, he also worked in the same capacity at the Okinawa Marriott Resort & Spa.
United Airlines has appointed Joanna Patterson as sales director, South-east Asia.
Patterson will lead sales activities of United’s online markets for Singapore and the Philippines, as well as the offline sales territory in the South-east Asia region, and will be in charge of United’s strategic growth in the market.
With over 20 years’ experience in the airline and business travel industries, Patterson’s career spans senior management and sales positions in China, Germany, the UK, Switzerland, and Singapore.
She most recently served as director of account management in Asia at FCM Travel Solutions in Singapore. Prior to that, she was a key player in growing global sales for major Chinese and European airlines.
Thailand has spent a decade of growing and sharpening her claws – in the form of her business events hardware and capabilities, and now she’s ready for a good fight to snag some of the world’s most iconic events.
Looking back, Nichapa Yoswee, senior vice president, business, of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), said the bulk of development efforts went into raising the standards of local industry players and venues through partnerships with international standard certification agencies.
Bangkok’s city view
“Starting from this year and for the next decade, TCEB will deploy aggressive (destination) marketing to bring in big and iconic events that will support the government’s new economic policy. Many potential events will involve high-tech industries,” Nichapa said.
Thailand’s tireless investment in MICE heartware and hardware has made her one of the leading destinations for business events, particularly in the area of exhibitions.
Talun Theng, president of Thai Exhibition Association, shared that exhibitions in Thailand enjoy constant growth, with more spaces being used every year. At the same time, exhibitions are advancing in the use of technology to deliver increasingly exciting experiences for visitors.
TCEB believes that further infrastructure developments will help strengthen Thailand’s business events appeal over the next decade.
The U-Tapao Rayong Pattaya International Airport, which is being upgraded to a commercial airport and an MRO facility, is giving the country power to gun for its own international airshow. In August, TCEB announced the completion of a feasibility study on an Asian spinoff of the popular Farnborough International Airshow.
Over in Chiang Mai province, local business event specialists have banded together to form Chiang MICE, determined to attract major events with their combined expertise, the destination’s unique local culture, large venues and upgraded airport.
When asked about Thailand’s opportunities and challenges in the year ahead, Santichai Boonrasri, director of sales and marketing at the Sukhothai Hotel Bangkok, says the country’s improving economic standing and strengthening baht against the US dollar, British pound and euro have made her a more expensive option for the key longhaul markets of the US and Europe.
Kittisak Pattamasaevi, CEO of Montara Group, an operator of multiple hotel brands in Thailand, observed that companies are increasingly wanting to organise creative events while satisfying sustainability objectives. For him, this trend has presented Thailand an opportunity to showcase her unique venues, especially those that allow an extended lifespan for heritage buildings.
“Many planners no longer want to use large function rooms in hotels, preferring instead smaller or localised places,” Kittisak said.
With this in mind, Montara Group launched two unique heritage properties with the ability to support creative, small-sized meetings and product launches.
One is the Prince Theater Heritage Stay – once an old movie theatre near Bangkok’s Chinatown – while the other is the Praya Palazzo, a boutique hotel that was once an old mansion on the Chao Phraya riverbank. The two hotels aims to grow its portion of MICE business from 25 per cent to 50 per cent within the next two years.
The current PICC building with its striking Brutalist architecture. Photo credit: PICC Facebook
The government-owned Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) is set to become the country’s largest convention and exhibition venue when it completes its expansion in a few years’ time.
The expansion will involve the construction of an adjacent eight-storey building that will be completed over the next three years.
The current PICC building with its striking Brutalist architecture. Photo credit: PICC Facebook
The board of directors of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines), which owns PICC, has approved the construction. The multi-storey building will provide 30,000m2 of exhibition area on the first three floors and about 50,000m2 of office space – a steady source of income – on the upper five floors.
Previously in November 2018, PICC was on the lookout for extra land to expand.
This will make PICC – currently with just 4,300m2 of space – the largest convention centre in the Philippines, PICC’s general manager Renato B Padilla shared with TTGmice on the sidelines of the 7th Summit of the Philippine Council for Associations and Association Executives last week.
He added that this expansion will help to address the lack of large-scale venues in the Philippines. Padilla also shared that the building will be “modern and intelligent”, and will be able to cater to international trade exhibitions.
Leveraging on her hosting of Tourism Australia’s signature incentives showcase Dreamtime this week, Perth has unveiled its re-invented offering for the international incentives market.
The bi-annual event which kicked off on Monday welcomed 120 business event planners and media, with more than half from key markets across Asia including Greater China which represented the largest group.
Dreamtime business meetings in session
Long regarded as an overly expensive destination by business events planners, Perth’s tourism team was keen to highlight significant developments in infrastructure and market readiness for the sector post its mining boom era, including a 60,000-seat stadium that can host a dinner on the grounds for 15,000 people and an upcoming airport link that will cut travel time to the CBD to 18 minutes.
“The incentive market for us has grown in the last few years to now be a third of what we do and the output for this state,” Perth Convention Bureau CEO Gareth Martin told TTGmice.
“We have been probably too quiet previously about what we can do and certainly what’s possible in our destination, and the wonderful products and services that are here, as well as the competitive advantage that we have in some industry sectors,” he continued.
Additionally, Perth has added 706 new hotel rooms in the last eight weeks alone and a 45 per cent increase in four- and five-star accommodation over the past three years.
“You can’t deny the hotel infrastructure has been absolutely tremendous but that gives business events planners choice,” Tourism Australia’s executive general manager events, Penny Lion, told TTGmice. “A group that might be watching their budget now has more choice about which hotels (to consider) because the frame rates here are very cost effective.”
Asia-Pacific currently represents 90 per cent of incentive event business for Perth, led by Malaysia, Singapore and China, with the latter growing at the fastest rate. But Martin suggests there is plenty of room for growth.
Martin: Resurgent Perth is ready for more MICE business
“We’ve had a specific focus on our new Asian neighbours in terms of attracting incentive events, and have seen significant growth in those markets,” said Martin. “But I think… we haven’t scratched the surface of what’s possible, and a showcase like this allows many agents to come to Western Australia, where maybe they haven’t. Many people have gone to the east coast on several trips, and we have had little focus in recent times so this is our opportunity.”
Delegate attendee Melvyn Nonis, director of MICE Matters in Singapore, indicated he was impressed with what he saw.
He said: “This was a destination that was tired. People have been to Perth before. And of course with the mining boom, MICE planners disregarded the place because of the (expensive) costs and availability of hotels.
“But right now the signals that we are getting from Australia is that there’s a renaissance with a lot of hotels coming online and the prices have dropped. So I’m convinced that it’s timely for us to introduce Perth to our incentive clients and bring them here. They would get the Aussie experience like the other cities but I think there’s a certain uniqueness in Perth.”
Martin added that the state is currently bidding to host significant international events and a showcase like Dreamtime significantly lifts its profile towards winning those bids. The last Dreamtime event in 2017 held in Brisbane generated business conversions worth A$50 million for the city. Delegates are currently continuing their Dreamtime experience with educational tours in cities across Australia.
First row, from left: Kari Wendel, Ian Cummings, and Saskia Gentil
Second row, from left: Nathan Brooks, Cristina Scott, and Stuart Whatley
CWT Meetings & Events (M&E), the meetings and events division of CWT (the B2B4E travel management platform), has announced the restructuring of its leadership team to six global positions under managing director Derek Sharp.
First row, from left: Kari Wendel, Ian Cummings, and Saskia Gentil Second row, from left: Nathan Brooks, Cristina Scott, and Stuart Whatley
The focus of the six divisional structures is as follows:
Headed by Kari Wendel, vice president of strategic customers, this group will include CWT M&E’s top accounts, including many Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) accounts.
Led by Ian Cummings, vice president of commercial, this group will deliver the full portfolio of M&E services (e.g., SMM, events, incentives, group air, etc.) and account management best practices across the globe at the local, multinational and regional levels.
Led by Saskia Gentil, vice president of global sales and marketing, who will add to her current portfolio of global sales, global marketing.
Headed by Nathan Brooks, global lead of supplier management, who will continue to lead CWT M&E’s global supplier strategy, with a focus on growing the preferred supplier base and to drive more business to preferred suppliers.
Led by the newly-joined Cristina Scott, vice president, global operations, the goal is to ensure the highest level of discipline in how CWT M&E operates globally.
Led by Stuart Whatley, head of product and technology strategy, who joined the M&E team to develop more robust product and technology roadmaps and partnership strategies in the meetings and events space.
Marriott International held its sixth annual Run to Give charity run across 120 locations involving more than 620 hotels in Asia-Pacific from August through November.
More than US$500,000 was raised in support of longstanding non-profit partners as well as charities from local communities, with the participation of over 52,000 runners and volunteers. The funds raised this year was an increase of US$100,000 from 2018.
Today, Marriott International’s sustainability and social impact programme, Serve 360, is at its two-year mark, and continues to navigate the company towards its 2025 Sustainability and Social Impact Goals.
These annual charity runs have been a step for Marriott towards achieving 3.5 million volunteer hours in Asia-Pacific by 2025, which is one of its Social Impact Goals supporting the priority area Nurture Our World under Serve 360. Up till end of 2018, Marriott has already surpassed the two million volunteer hour mark in the region; the company expects to add at least another 100,000 hours towards this goal with the completion of this year’s Run to Give.
Canvas Planner wins IBTM Event Business Accelerator programme
IBTM World has crowned Canvas Planner the winner of its inaugural Event Business Accelerator (EBA), a newly-launched business mentorship and investment programme for young entrepreneurs.
The winner was announced at a graduation ceremony following two days of live pitching to potential investors at IBTM World 2019, which took place at the Fira Gran Via Barcelona in November.
Canvas Planner is a tool which helps to improve remote digital performance by combining digital whiteboards called canvasses with tasks in order to create a visual and collaborative approach to task management. The founders, Nanna Ulsøe and Jane Houlind Ulsøe, received a 5,000 euro (US$5,534) cash prize to help develop and scale the product to the meetings and events industry.
Ed Poland, Hire Space co-founder and chief operating officer, who sat on the judging committee, commented: “We decided to pick Canvas Planner as the winner of Event Business Accelerator because of its user-friendly and scalable product offering, which was outstandingly pitched by Jane Ulsøe on the Accelerate stage. We’re excited to see how the company will grow, both within the meetings and events industry, and beyond.”
Luxembourg unveils national CVB
The European city of Luxembourg has launched a national CVB – Business Events Luxembourg – as it looks to business events to drive the image and visibility of the Grand Duchy on the international stage, while contributing to economic development of the country.
The new Luxembourg CVB was set up by the government and the City of Luxembourg in a 50/50 investment.
Francois Lafont, CEO of Business Events Luxembourg, has said the bureau would play a “crucial role” in securing business events for the destination, with an emphasis on associations from its key economic and research sectors. He added that one of its main goals is to enter ICCA’s top 50 list of destinations worldwide, as well as double the number of international congresses.
Casa De Campo presents new event space
Luxury Caribbean resort Casa De Campo in the Dominican Republic has opened a new event space, Marina Riverside Centre.
The Marina Riverside Centre boasts an open-air tent design allowing for indoor and outdoor space, and has the capacity for up to 1,360 guests.
Set on the shores of the Chavon river, the function space is surrounded by river-edge views of both the Caribbean Sea and the nearby marina. It been designed to offer maximum security and exceptional privacy if needed, while being able to host late night events without impacting other resort guests.
The 2,830ha luxury resort currently features two large conference venues totalling 1,765m2 of dedicated meeting facilities, with numerous smaller outdoor and indoor venues also available on-site.
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.
