The former STB chief Lionel Yeo is now the next Sports Hub CEO
SportsHub (SHPL), the company that owns the S$1.3 billion (US$973 million) Singapore Sports Hub (SSH) facility at Kallang, has appointed former Singapore Tourism Board (STB) head Lionel Yeo as SSH’s new CEO, with effect from February 3, 2020.
“The Singapore Sports Hub is a major national project that I had been involved with during my time in government service. I am aware of the challenges SportsHub faces and also of its achievements and tremendous potential. I am humbled to be given the opportunity to serve as its CEO, and look forward to engaging with all stakeholders to build on its success for Singapore,” Yeo said in a media statement.
The former STB chief Lionel Yeo is now the next Sports Hub CEO
He will take over from SHPL chairman Bryn Jones, who had been acting CEO since April.
Yeo will be the fourth man to helm the Sports Hub after Frenchman Philippe Collin-Delavaud, India-born Singaporean Manu Sawhney, and Oon Jin Teik, according to a report by The Straits Times.
During Yeo’s tenure at STB from 2012 to 2018, he played a key role in attracting major sports and leisure events to Singapore, including the BNP Paribas Women’s Tennis Association Finals, the Singapore Rugby Sevens and football’s International Champions Cup.
Yeo is also currently serving as CEO Advisor at ride-hailing firm Grab.
SSH’s chairman Bryn Jones said: “We are delighted to have appointed Lionel after a search that began in June this year for a candidate that would lead the team behind SportsHub to deliver a comprehensive programme for everyone in Singapore to watch, play and support sports events and also to enjoy world class entertainment.”
He added: “The CEO has the all-important job to realise the SportsHub’s vision, goals and plans with the support of our partners and to work closely with them to deliver this vision and our long-term strategic plan to be the region’s premier sport, entertainment and lifestyle destination.”
In 2018, Sports Hub hosted more than 210 events or more than 400 event days annually, said the company in a statement.
Lisa Hopkins has been appointed as the new chief executive of Conventions and Incentives New Zealand (CINZ), following Sue Sullivan’s resignation in September.
Hopkins will begin her Auckland-based new role on February 3, 2020.
In total, Hopkins has over a decade worth of experience in senior business events leadership positions in New Zealand and offshore.
Prior to joining CINZ, Hopkins was vice president and managing director, APAC for BCD Meetings and Events, based in Singapore.
She has held senior leadership roles with cievents and Carlson Marketing in Singapore and New Zealand. In New Zealand, she was director of the APEC Task Force for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade when New Zealand hosted the 1999 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum.
Hopkins is a member of the Asia Pacific Advisory Board for international business events network, PCMA.
Galaxy Entertainment Group has appointed Joey Pather as the senior vice president of MICE Sector.
In his new role, Pather will be responsible for the overall vision and strategic execution of Galaxy International Convention Center (GICC), as well as develop its suite of MICE event solutions and venue management services to drive demand optimisation.
The South African joins GICC with more than two decades of hospitality and MICE management experience under his belt. Pather has a track record of leading and strategising conference and exhibition center development – from planning, marketing and promotion to stakeholder relationships and operations management.
Prior to joining Galaxy Entertainment Group, he was CEO of Guangdong Tanzhou International Convention and Exhibition Centre (GICEC) in Foshan. He has helmed the facility since its opening in 2016.
Absolute Hotel Services has named Leon Dolle as general manager of Eastin Grand Hotel Nha Trang, a 1,086-room property set to open in Vietnam in 2020.
Dolle returns to South-east Asia from Germany, where he was most recently cluster general manager of two hotels there. He was part of the opening team for the Conrad Bangkok as well as the JW Marriott in Kuala Lumpur.
In 2012, Dolle joined citizenM as corporate F&B director, where he developed new F&B concepts and opened eight hotels, including flagship hotels in New York, London and Paris.
2019 has been a big year for Busan, which recently brought Asia-Pacific delegates together for November’s 2019 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit, marking thirty years of cooperation between the Republic of Korea and the ASEAN region. Talks took place at historic island conference space Nurimaru, purpose-built for APEC South Korea 2005, another historic summit that put Busan on the map as an event destination; and BEXCO, one of the nation’s largest convention centers. Correspondingly, getting to the city from abroad has never been easier thanks to new direct air routes in 2019 between Busan and Singapore as well as the Philippines, and a growing list of cruise lines.
Nurimaru APEC House
Infrastructure
In addition to the ASEAN-ROK Summit, BEXCO regularly holds many of South Korea’s largest-scale events across its 76,910m² of floor space, including December’s 2019 International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Congress, expected to draw 15,000 participants alone. In 2016, Busan doubled its convention center offerings with the opening of the Busan Port Exhibition & Convention Center (BPEX), by adding 11,007m² of event space right above the main cruise terminal. Among the city’s many luxury offerings is the new Hilton Busan resort complex, complete with its own private beach and outdoor event space for 1,500, while F1963, an old wire factory-turned-art space, is one of Busan’s most popular unique venues and celebrated urban regeneration projects.
The Bay, Busan.
Attractions
Busan’s own local flavor makes for a great introduction to distinctly Korean-style offerings – literally in terms of cuisine, with seafood fans finding plenty of great catches in Jagalchi Market and meat lovers not wanting to miss out on Busan’s pork dishes and a visit to an alley specializing in braised pigs’ trotters. Those wanting to get their sea legs can choose a luxury cruise from Tiffany 21 Yacht Club – one of the city’s top providers of marine-based MICE gatherings, while visitors preferring to soak away their stress will love the steam baths of the Dongnae Hot Springs district.
Financial Support
The Busan Tourism Organization offers comprehensive support for international conferences, corporate meetings, and incentive programs hosted in the city, with a range of tailored packages available to suit varying requirements and group sizes. Support spans everything from financial and marketing assistance to venue recommendations, tailored cultural programs, and more.
Singapore continues to defend its title as Asia-Pacific’s leading business events city, having been crowned Top Asia-Pacific Meeting City for 17 consecutive years by ICCA.
The UIA Global Rankings 2018 also placed Singapore at the top of its international meeting country chart while the Cvent 2019 List of Top Meeting Destinations in Asia saw the city-state in pole position for four years in a row.
The glittering Singapore skyline at night
A strong testament to the destination’s appeal was the monumental 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit between country heads Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. Held on June 12, 2018, the summit propelled the country into the global spotlight. The event clearly demonstrated the country’s ability to deliver high-profile, sensitive gatherings, as well as her high levels of safety and security.
Since the landmark meeting, corporate meetings from the US at Capella Singapore – where the Summit was held – have risen.
Diana Lee, director of sales & conference services, told TTGmice: “The meeting got us a lot of media coverage and many Americans, in particular, have since then showed keen interest in Singapore and our hotel.”
The accompanying stronger overall interest in the hotel’s event facilities has encouraged the luxury property to enhance its offerings. For instance, the property recently unveiled an 81m2 curved LED wall in its Grand Ballroom – offering four different screen configurations and high-resolution displays – as well as a new sustainable event F&B menu.
“We realised many clients needed an LED screen, and would bring their own supplier to our venue. By offering this built-in LED wall here at our Grand Ballroom, we will help our clients save on events costs and time,” said Lee.
Continuing this upward trend, Singapore went on to host the Bloomberg Economy Forum last year.
In 2018, Singapore welcomed more than 2.9 million MICE visitors, a growth of 12.1 per cent from 2017.
Singapore’s MICE landscape continues to flourish this year, with a host of notable events and meetings such as the inaugural Skift Forum Asia, VidCon Asia, Deloitte All Hands Meeting and Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure Conference. VidCon is the largest event for the global community of online content creators, and its inaugural Asia edition will be held here in December.
The country’s pipeline continues to be promising with events secured well into the years ahead. In 2020, it will welcome, for the first time, an expected 8,000 attendees for the International Trademark Association’s 142nd Annual Meeting. The Lions Clubs International Convention will also bring to town some 20,000 foreign attendees, making it the largest association congress ever to be held in the city-state.
Next up in 2022, Singapore will be the first South-east Asian host for the International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, with an expected visitorship of 2,000 delegates. Singapore has also been selected to host the 25th World Congress of Dermatology in 2023; this will be the largest medical convention to take place in the city, with an estimated 15,000 participants.
Invigorated by its robust events line-up, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) this year launched the In Singapore Incentives & Rewards (INSPIRE), a global incentive programme in collaboration with 29 local businesses. INSPIRE offers qualified MICE groups a selection of more than 60 complimentary experiences during their time in Singapore, including attractions, thematic tours and teambuilding activities.
Melissa Ow, deputy chief executive, STB said, “These incentives have been designed to complement groups’ itineraries and provide exclusive experiences that showcase the best of what Singapore has to offer.
“Building on the positive reception received for the previous INSPIRE programme that was offered to corporate groups in South-east Asia and specific regions, the new global INSPIRE includes markets such as the Americas, North Asia, Oceania and more.”
Philippine tourism stakeholders have taken it upon themselves to troubleshoot the logistical nightmare that plagues this year’s South-east Asian (SEA) Games, with reports of athletes having to grapple with airport delays, lengthy transfer services, insufficient food, and subpar accommodation.
These logistical chaos ahead of the 30th SEA Games, which will officially open on November 30, ensued in an emergency meeting convened yesterday by the Philippine Department of Tourism (DoT), where the Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP), Philippine Hotel Owners Association (PHOAI), Hotel Sales and Marketing Association (HSMA), and Philippine Association of Convention/Exhibition Organizers and Suppliers (PACEOS) were in attendance to pledge their unbridled support to assist with the SEA Games.
The emergency meeting held on November 27 served as a platform for tourism stakeholders to raise questions and suggestions in accommodating SEA Games delegates
To smoothen out the transport, accommodation, and food related problems, the DoT has assigned a focal person in each of the four clusters – Manila, Southern Luzon and La Union, Clark, and Subic – where delegates are staying from November 19 to December 19.
Initially intended for Philippine tourism destination promotions, existing information desks at the lobbies of participating hotels are now disseminating SEA Games-related information from the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC) and assisting with concerns, which will be forwarded to PHISGOC for proper handling.
The DoT is also reaching out to hotels in Clark, Calabarzon, and La Union to ensure quality and consistent services throughout.
Orly Ballesteros, board member of both the TCP and PACEOS, speaking to TTGmice on the sidelines of the 7th Summit of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PACEOS) yesterday, said: “Planning is essential. We had three years to prepare (for the SEA Games). Logistics like transport and accommodation are small things (which should have been planned for).”
Having the right people, such as roping in the correct suppliers and partners to aid with the logistics planning, should already have been thought of from the onset, Ballesteros opined,.
“You need MICE professionals because an event organiser or a production company is only an expert in one particular core competency of an event. If you have (the help of a MICE professional), you will get an overall view of what elements are needed,” he elaborated.
Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives’ founder and CEO Octavio Peralta agreed that the logistics should have been handled by professional event organisers.
“We have many expert PCOs and DMCs (who can help out with the planning). The DoT should have been allowed (by the SEA Games organising committee) to get involved, (and leave) the logistics and organisation to the experts,” Peralta lamented.
Against the public backlash the country has received due to ill preparation, Ballesteros believes that now with tourism experts joining the fray, it will help “government officials handling this event to avoid further embarrassment and errors”.
Believing that Filipino hospitality will eventually shine through, Peralta added: “Asians are always polite. (After) the initial knee-jerk reaction, I don’t think they will harp on it. They will forgive and forget. We have a good image and relationships with our neighbours.”
Last night, Borneo Convention Centre Kuching celebrated its 10th anniversary with a gala dinner that highlighted the centre’s decade-long achievements.
Sarawak’s chief minister, Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari Abang Openg, lauded the contributions the centre has brought to Sarawak, particularly in the international exhibitions and conventions sector.
Sarawak chief minister Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari Abang Openg (fourth from left) and BCCK’s Raziah Mahmud-Geneid (second from right) cut BCCK’s 10th birthday cake. Looking on are BCCK’s Eric Van Piggelen (leftmost) and Steve Ng (second from left).
In his address, he said BCCK has contributed over RM92 million (US$22 million) to the Sarawak economy since the convention centre was built a decade ago. Last year alone, the centre brought in RM8 billion in tourism receipts.
Abang shared: “The centre has hosted 104 international and regional conferences, including the 55th International Congress and Convention Association Congress 2016 which was held for the first time in Malaysia and the World Islamic Forum 2017, held for the first time in Sarawak. BCCK was also the venue for the 14th Asia-Pacific Physics Conference 2019, which was held for the second time in Malaysia since 1992.”
The chief minister also acknowledged BCCK’s efforts that support the state government’s initiatives to grow and strengthen Sarawak’s digital economy, as well as facilitate events that encourage advancement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
BCCK’s chairman, Raziah Mahmud-Geneid, said in her speech that BCCK will not rest on its laurels, and instead, will “continue to be dedicated in competing for local and international events both big and small, and aim to make BCCK an iconic and preferred venue above all others in the region”.
“BCCK has seen great success over the past 10 years, and we look forward to another 10 years of success and growth in the international business events industry,” she concluded.
BCCK was the first purpose-built venue in Sarawak. Since its opening in 2009, it has hosted over 1,800 events and over 2.4 million delegates and visitors.
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has highlighted 115 new incentive activities and venues across 14 Thai cities, in time for MICE groups heading to Thailand in 2020.
The list of activities include enjoying ethnic hill tribe cuisine in Chiang Mai, producing salt lick for wildlife near Pattaya, dinner on the floating table in the lagoon in Phuket, exploring the historical streets in Bangkok on a Thai Bus Food Tour and discovering a new venue – a former rice-milling barn in Khon Kaen.
The Thai Wake Park in Chonburi is one of TCEB’s newly-listed venues which can host teambuilding activities. Photo credit: Thai Wake Park Facebook
Second-tier cities, located near primary destinations, also offer new experiences for delegates. These include a coffee café run by inmates from an occupational training programme in Chiang Rai, turning sea salt into spa products with salt pit operators in Samut Songkram (near Bangkok), supporting a crab bank housing young crabs before their release into the sea in Chonburi (near Pattaya), producing paper and thread from pineapple fibre in Song Khla in southern Thailand, and teambuilding activities in a former US military camp in Udon Thani (near Khon Kaen).
Also announced was a range of new venues which can host teambuilding and themed adventure activities. They are Volume Climbing Gym in Khon Kaen, Zero Latency (virtual reality attraction) in Bangkok, Water Sport Ground in Pattaya, Thai Wake Park in Chonburi, and the Windsurf Club in Nakhon Sri Thammarat.
Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, president of Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), said in a statement: “For the past year we’ve collaborated with key MICE cities and other major destinations across Thailand to develop their local resources, creating new activities based on their local culture and designed for the business events sector.”
Chiruit added that these new activities span seven themes: history and culture, CSR and green meetings, beach bliss, exhilarating adventures, treasured team building, lavish luxury and culinary journeys.
To encourage planners to take advantage of these new products, TCEB has developed three support campaigns: Meet Now: The Big Sisters; Meet Now: Beyond Bangkok & Pattaya; and Meet Sustainable.
Meet Now: The Big Sisters offers financial support for groups from 50 to over 1,000 pax, of up to 500,000 baht for two locations, Bangkok or Pattaya.
Meet Now: Beyond Bangkok & Pattaya offers financial support of one million baht for groups from 30 to over 10,000 pax.
Lastly, Meet Sustainable offers a maximum of 200,000 baht – for a group of at least 50 people – should an event have at least two out of seven sustainable practices such as using a venue certified for sustainable environment or energy management, electronic registration and reusable badge, or donating left-over food to non-profit organisation.
Expo 2020 Dubai has partnered with international events group Informa on a wide-ranging agreement that allows visitors to Dubai to combine events held at the Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC) with Expo 2020 experiences.
UK-headquartered Informa was also announced as an authorised ticket reseller, which will allow visitors, exhibitors and delegates will be able to combine the full suite of Expo 2020 visitor experiences with DEC events, summits, seminars, product launches, networking opportunities and meetings.
Informa’s Peter Hall (left) and Expo 2020 Dubai Bureau’s Najeeb Mohammed Al-Ali on the formation of the event partnership
DEC will host a number of events organised by Informa during Expo 2020. These include the 20th Cityscape Global (November 10-12, 2020); NAJAH (November 1-2, 2020), an annual higher education student recruitment fair and exhibition involving international universities; the Seatrade Maritime Middle East exhibition and awards, as well as Terminal Operator Conferences during UAE Maritime Week 2020 (December 6-10, 2020); and Leaders in Healthcare conference (dates to be announced next year).
The agreement with Informa follows the announcement of other major events to be held at DEC during Expo 2020, including the World Government Summit and Global Islamic Economy Summit – both of which will take place in November 2020 – as well as the Global Business Forums on Africa, Latin America, ASEAN and World Chambers Congress 2021, all hosted in partnership with Dubai Chamber.
DEC is on the Dubai Metro Route 2020 extension and offers 45,000m2 of customisable space configurable for all types of events. It will feature the latest developments in technology, including best-in-class audio visual facilities and high-speed 5G connectivity.
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.
Last night, Borneo Convention Centre Kuching celebrated its 10th anniversary with a gala dinner that highlighted the centre’s decade-long achievements.