American Express Global Business Travel (AMEX GBT) has announced that Paul Abbott will assume the CEO role, taking over from Doug Anderson.
The change will take effect October 1, with a transition period during which Anderson will continue to advise GBT.
Abbott joins from American Express, where he is currently chief commercial officer, global commercial services, the company’s global B2B Payments Business. He has also served on the GBT board for the last four years.
Abbott has spent 18 years in the travel business, having started his career at British Airways and working in the corporate travel business at American Express. In his 24 years at American Express, he served in increasingly senior roles across various business units of the company.
Arinex raised money for Starlight children’s charity during their Christmas party last year
Australian event and conference management company Arinex signed a 12-month partnership with children’s charity Starlight in early July, a move which will see the former providing pro bono event management services and financial support through company-wide fundraising initiatives.
The announcement came after Arinex presented a cheque for A$6,340 (US$4,439) to Starlight in May, which was raised following its 2018 Christmas party raffle. The raffle consisted of prizes donated by Arinex’s venue and supplier partners – such as a Qantas return airfare to Cairns and a stay at Pullman Cairns International – which were auctioned to staff across the country.
Arinex raised money for Starlight children’s charity during their Christmas party last year
Arinex’s community work isn’t new; it stretches way back to the company’s founding and is an extension of its founder’s own devotion to volunteering time and energy to community projects. Arinex’s founder and chair, Roslyn McLeod, has been volunteering since primary school and is an active Rotarian of 26 years.
Nicole Walker, Arinex COO, said: “The spirit of helping others has always been a focus of our company. Staff are encouraged to assist local clubs and charities, and Arinex has long supported not-for-profit organisations such as the Cancer Council.”
In 2010 when the Rotary Club of Sydney decided to initiate the New South Wales Police Officer of the Year Awards, Arinex jumped right in with pro bono event management services. Ever since, staff dedicate about 1,100 hours each year to this worthy cause.
Arinex went on to contribute resources to the management of Rotary International Peace Conference in Sydney last year.
“The Conference had an important mission – to promote peace worldwide. It was our chance to do our part for the Rotary International president who was an Australian for that year,” Walker recalled.
With Arinex’s help, the Conference achieved its social and financial goals. Costs were minimised, allowing a profit that was channelled into a peace scholarship.
“It was gratifying for our staff, including myself who attended a number of organising committee meetings, to be a part of such an important conference with such a worthwhile cause,” Walker said.
While Arinex rotated its charity beneficiaries every year, in 2018 it decided to focus its fundraising efforts and community work on just one organisation, “in order to maximise our impact”, said Walker.
“Starlight was selected due to its worthwhile mission of supporting the families of seriously ill children and leaving a positive difference in the community, which mirror our values. There are also many opportunities for us to lend our event management skills and services towards its numerous fundraising events and activities across the country.”
The first of Arinex’s work with Starlight was the Star Ball in Sydney in August. As Arinex continues to seek other Starlight events to support, efforts in the meantime will be spent on internal fundraising for the organisation and facilitation of staff visits to the Starlight Express Rooms to experience first-hand the work the charity does.
When asked how Arinex motivates staff towards the spirit of giving, especially when the business of managing events requires long hours and often physically exhausting work, Walker said no incentives have had to be offered.
“This is something we all feel strongly about and so staff very much motivate themselves. In fact, the partnership with Starlight and recent enhancements to our CSR policies have all been driven from the ground up.
“This work ethic that permeates our company is also driven by our ongoing work with our clients, who are all doing wonderful things in their various areas of expertise. When you witness the positive impacts they are making, it is hard not to become inspired,” she explained.
Arinex has been successful in building lasting community legacies into client events. A recent example is its work in helping clients certify their events as carbon-neutral while also working with suppliers who have strong initiatives in environmental protection.
Outrigger Hospitality Group has appointed Kenny Kan as senior vice president and chief development officer for the Hawaii-based hospitality brand.
In his new role, Kan will oversee the company’s growth initiatives, both in Hawaii and around the globe, and help execute the company’s strategic growth strategy by increasing the Outrigger portfolio through acquisitions of resort properties and securing management contracts in Hawaii as well as global resort destinations.
Working closely with the CFO and general counsel, Kan will work towards further propelling the hospitality brand into impactful global expansion and sustainable development.
His role also entails reinforcing development across all three tiers of ownership and management, including: Outrigger Resorts, the “by Outrigger” branded portfolio and third-party managed assets.
He will report directly to Outrigger’s president and CEO, Jeff Wagoner.
Most recently, Kan served as vice president, capital markets and treasurer, for Alexander & Baldwin – Hawaii. He previously served in a corporate finance and strategic planning role for the Outrigger Hospitality Group.
Kan has also held leadership positions in The Resort Group in Hawaii, private equity firm Grove in New York and Goldman Sachs in Tokyo.
Global designer residence and hospitality company, Yoo Worldwide, has ramped up its expansion in the region with the appointment of Krongsak Paramacharoenroj as the group’s associate director of business development – South-east Asia.
Based at the company’s Bangkok’s office, he will report to Rich Millar, Yoo Worldwide’s vice president of business development – Asia Pacific.
In his new role, Paramacharoenroj has been tasked with driving the expansion of Yoo across South-east Asia.
Following his graduation, Paramacharoenroj oversaw the development of two restaurants and two boutique hotels in Thailand, before joining real estate and hospitality consultancy, C9 Hotelwork. There he worked on various consulting assignments for leading property developers and international hotel brands.
Hilton has appointed Nils-Arne Schroeder as vice president, luxury & lifestyle, Hilton, Asia-Pacific.
Based in Singapore, Schroeder will oversee all people, performance and product initiatives at a brand level, within Hilton’s portfolio of luxury and lifestyle brands, covering Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, LXR, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, and Canopy by Hilton.
In his new role, Schroeder will also be responsible for growing Hilton’s luxury and lifestyle portfolio in the Asia-Pacific region. He will oversee new and existing collaborations under the luxury and lifestyle portfolio, including the Waldorf Astoria and Aston Martin global partnership.
Schroeder succeeds Daniel Welk, who contributed significantly to growing and positioning Hilton’s luxury and lifestyle portfolio in Asia-Pacific.
With over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Schroeder was most recently regional general manager for Indonesia.
In his 20 years with Hilton, Schroeder has assumed leadership roles in Hilton hotels across South Korea, China, Malaysia and Indonesia. He also played a key role in the opening of four Hilton hotels in Asia-Pacific, including Conrad Seoul.
REWARD AND INSPIRE YOUR STAFF AT OCEAN PARK HONG KONG, THE WORLD-CLASS RESORT FILLED WITH ALL DAY FUN
Reward your staff with an incentive trip to Ocean Park Hong Kong, a world-class marine theme park with over 80 animal exhibits, exciting rides, incredible shows and seasonal festive events. Connected by MTR, the Park is just a few minutes away from the city. Ocean Park allows corporations to host charter events at a restaurant, in a specific zone or even by taking over the entire Park. You can enjoy exclusive access to the Park’s attractions, rides and shows, plus indulge in full catering services for a unique experience. For excitement seeking visitors, they can get full-day admission to the Park with access to amazing rides, including a floorless roller coaster with massive gravitational force, and innovative VR technology enabled roller coaster and free fall rides. Plan your incentive trip, come and enjoy our unique team building programmes now!
A VARIETY OF VENUES AND SERVICES TO SUIT ALL OCCASIONS
Designed to entertain and inspire your group, we can provide a solution to cater for all your meeting needs. From a range of meeting rooms, team-building activities and theme park events, we have it all.
After a whole day event, the Ocean Park Marriott Hotel located right next to Ocean Park can completed your resort experience. The Club wing guest room offering an exceptional experience to your business trip and lagoon swimming pool will be the coolest place hang out.
UNIQUE AND AWARD-WINNING TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES
Edutainment at its best at Ocean Park Hong Kong! There are a wide range of programmes for incentive trips in Ocean Park, that incorporating the Park’s natural setting, animals and rides, our award-winning team building programmes foster individual potential, enhance teamwork and help you reach your company’s goals.
HOLD MEETINGS INSIDE AN AQUARIUM OR A THE WELL-EQUIPPED MULTI-FUNCTIONAL HALL
Besides team building, host meetings in a unique settings would be rewarding and inspirational to your staff as well. What about having a meeting inside an aquarium with a few thousand fish swimming around you? –Neptune’s Restaurant is just the place if you’re looking for an intimate venue for a small group. For a big group, we have a multi-functional indoor venue at the Applause Pavilion which has seats that can cater to up to 900 people. Its eight-meter ceiling and 1,200 sqm. pillarless space is designed to host large-scale events like ceremonies, concerts, conference and meetings.
AMAZING ADVENTURES WITH DELECTABLE DINING FOR UNIQUE OCCASIONS
Take your taste buds on an adventure with delectable dining experiences beyond expectation. Enjoy gourmet Chinese cuisine cooked by a Michelin-starred chef at Neptune’s Restaurant while you admire the 5,000 fish inside the impressive aquarium, or embark on a sizzling journey of mind-blowing flavours from the open fire grill at Ginger Grill.
UNIQUE BEHIND-THE-SCENES TOURS
Enjoy an encounter with Ocean Park’s animal ambassadors. We can arrange a meet-and-greet session with our animal ambassadors! Our behind-the-scenes tours allow you to visit them. Ever felt like hugging a dolphin or seal just like the trainers do or wonder what lies inside the “restricted” areas of the panda’s enclosure? Enjoy the most intimate of moments with them.
SOLUTIONS FOR ALL YOU NEEDS
Special MICE packages are available for daytime or nighttime visits that offer you admission during or after Park operating hours. Ocean Park is easily accessible from anywhere in the city and provides an incomparable range of flexible venues and diversified activities. For more information, please contact Ocean Park sales department.
Mactan Cebu International Airport’s new international terminal improves global access to the destination
Cebu was already informed as the winner in the Philippines’ bid for hosting Routes Asia 2016. The inspection team, however, changed their mind and chose Manila instead upon seeing ongoing infrastructure projects, including the skyway that now links Ninoy Aquino International Airport to various parts of the metro.
But the loss was reversed with Routes Asia 2019 going to Cebu three years later in March. Cebu’s metamorphosis is palpable even though it is traditionally the Philippines’ most popular business events destination after Manila.
Mactan Cebu International Airport’s new international terminal improves global access to the destination
International event delegates are now able to fly directly to Cebu, unlike in the past when they had to fly via Manila, as Mactan Cebu International Airport’s (MCIA) newly minted resort-themed international passenger terminal 2 is the most modern and most efficient in the country, apart from being the most aesthetically pleasing.
The future augurs well for Cebu as more road and infrastructure facilities are under construction, new hotels like Sheraton and Dusit fill in the supply shortage, new attractions including the Temple of Leah are unveiled, and improved marketing spotlighting Cebu’s rich culture, cuisine and entertainment options gets underway.
Colliers International Philippines forecasted that “these developments will attract more MICE organisers, specifically from (South-east Asia)….We see regional events further boosting Cebu’s overall hotel occupancy in 2019 and raising Cebu’s stature as a MICE destination in the region”.
This outlook is supported by Bella Calleja, manager, corporate team 2 MICE, JTB Asia Pacific Philippines, who said: “The new airport is helping a lot. More Japanese people know Cebu as a prime destination than they do Manila. Another factor (in Cebu’s favour) is the direct Philippine Airlines flight from Cebu to Tokyo and Osaka.”
Besides Routes Asia 2019, other prominent Asian events held in Cebu include the PATA Annual Summit in May and the Center for Aviation’s North Asia Summit in June.
Most business events are held in hotels due to the absence of a proper convention and exhibition centre in the destination. The construction of the SMX Convention Center Cebu – touted to be the same size as SMX in Manila – is being delayed by local government issues.
Undeterred, SMX Convention Center vice president, sales and marketing, Agnes Pacis, said they are in the meantime focusing on their two existing properties, Sky Hall Seaside Cebu in SM Seaside City Cebu and Cebu Trade Hall in SM City Cebu, to meet the demand for medium-sized business events.
“While some of the existing hotel and non-hotel venues can take small to medium-sized events, there is certainly room for bigger players like SMX. Its arrival will only boost the city’s competitive position as one of the top business events destinations in both the local and international markets”, said Pacis.
Cebu is indeed enjoying a surge in inbound business events if the experience of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino – the hotel venue whose largest hosted business event numbered 7,500 pax – is anything to go by.
General manager, Anders Hallden, told TTGmice that his property is enjoying “record-breaking performance every year in both rooms and MICE,” and especially so this year, thanks to much-improved events hardware and intensified marketing and promotions of the destination.
Sabre Corporation has partnered Singapore Airlines (SIA) for the expansion of the carrier’s NDC programme, KrisConnect.
Sabre agents can now access Singapore Airlines’ NDC content
Effective November 2019, the collaboration will provide select Sabre connected agents in Singapore with the ability to access and book NDC content from the airline. As the programme continues to roll out across the region, all Sabre connected agents will have the ability to leverage KrisConnect.
SIA has been a member of Sabre’s Beyond NDC programme since 2018. The new KrisConnect programme, which will expand the airline’s digital distribution capabilities and enrich the customer experience, further establishes collaboration between both companies, said Sabre in a statement.
Under the KrisConnect programme, Sabre will provide travel agents with scalable, NDC-enabled offerings from SIA, and enable end-to-end workflows with rich, integrated content. With this launch, Sabre agencies will have access to a broader array of fares and a more tailored shopping experience via the Sabre agency point-of-sale, in addition to having access to new, KrisConnect-exclusive content categories, ancillary bundles, and third-party content.
Rakesh Narayanan, vice president, South Asia and Pacific, Sabre travel solutions airline sales, said: “With our scalable platform, we can transform the way air products are retailed, fuel product differentiation and optimise time-to-market to generate incremental revenue for the carrier.”
Vietnam’s Vietravel Airlines will begin operations next year, making it the sixth domestic airline to launch in one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets, according to a Reuters report.
Vietravel Airlines will join Vietnam’s overly-saturated domestic air travel market come 2020
Vietravel Airlines, owned by Vietnam’s tour operator Vietravel, will start with three to four leased planes and expects to place an order for Airbus SE or Boeing Co narrow-body jets at the Singapore Airshow in February, which will be scheduled for delivery within five years, chief executive Vu Duc Bien told Reuters in an interview.
Vietnam’s aviation market has been sustaining a double-digit growth rate annually, leading to heightened competition between Vietnam’s airlines.
Last month, Vietnam’s largest firm Vingroup JSC applied for a license to launch an airline next year, after property and leisure firm FLC Group’s Bamboo Airways launched its inaugural flight in January to become the fifth Vietnamese airline in an already-crowded market.
Vietravel Airlines is said to be finalising procedures to obtain the licenses and certificates required to launch its maiden charter flight slated for next November, according to the Reuters report.
Bien also told Reuters that Vietravel Airlines will buy either Airbus’s A321neo or Boeing’s 737 aircraft. The carrier plans to operate three to four aircraft in the first year, which will be expanded to a fleet of six in the second year, eight to 10 within five years, and subsequently, 20 to 30.
The majority of the carrier’s proposed new services will be international flights, the airline chief added, with target markets including Japan, South Korea, South-east Asia, Australia and China.
Vietravel Airlines has raised VND700 billion (US$30 million) via a bond sale, and plans to sell up to 34 per cent stake in the company to domestic investors within a year of operations for future expansion plans, the report further quoted Bien as saying. Bien also shared that several local banks have expressed interest in funding the company’s aircraft purchases.
Instead of keeping the brand legacy of Buffalo Tours Asia and Olympus Tours Americas, what’s the motivation to rebrand into Discova?
The plan for the “global DMC network”, as we called it back then, was to continue to grow across the world through acquisitions and organic startups. When that happens, it’s very difficult to maintain so many brands across the world as you acquire them. It also confuses our customers because the first thing they ask is, “Is it under the same company? Do you operate in the same way?”
So for us, it made sense to rebrand under a single brand to give us a platform to get onto the global stage. The name “Discova” is a little bit more international, and it’s an easy brand to take to new destinations. It’s easier to say we’re Discova Asia, Discova America or Discova Europe.
Managing director for Asia, Suyin Lee, says that the DMC will continue in its sustainable tourism efforts by working with local communities
What will Discova do differently compared with your DMC operations now?
Part of this brand change involves refocusing on our B2B partners. We’ve long noticed that a lot of DMCs look and feel a bit B2C, and even Buffalo Tours had a small B2C segment. But we’ve come to realise that our B2B partners is where we can add the greatest value.
What’s important to us is having the flexibility to lend our products and services – even our commercial models – to really suit our B2B customers, ensuring that our partners’ brand DNA really come through across all the destinations that we operate for them.
We’re certainly able to make it a lot easier for our partners to do business with us. Olympus and Buffalo work on two completely different systems – it’s not efficient.
We can have a single point of contact and consistency in the look and feel of how we do things (worldwide). The systems that we use, the documents we produce, the way our guides are trained, even our drivers – there needs to be some consistency in our portfolio of products and services.
It will certainly be so much easier to have a single platform across the world so whether our partners are buying for the Americas, Asia or Australia they’re using the same platform. For sure it’s going to be a combination of a system and technology that we can now invest in as a single brand.
What kind of competition are you seeing from other DMCs? Are they also taking a global approach?
Currently, there isn’t a global DMC that is consistent across the world. There are some big and strong DMCs based out of Europe and Asia, but they’re not really global – they’re very regional – so this is a great space for Discova to create something different and new.
As you bring your operations global, how will you balance that with keeping your experiences local and authentic?
Some 95 per cent of our workforce are locals. We’ve grown up in those communities, so anything that happens in the destination, how it’s evolving and the new products coming up, our people are there to share that with our partners.
Working with locals to ensure sustainable tourism is an important aspect of your business. How will Discova continue in this area?
Buffalo Tours has historically been very focused on sustainable and responsible tourism, largely because our people are from these communities, and we need to be able to ensure that they continue to benefit from tourism without being exploited.
For some of the community projects that we run, we have close to 30 social enterprises in our supply chain. We constantly look at environmental impacts like plastics and wet tissues, and over time we’ve been pushing and educating our partners to swap those products out for more sustainable alternatives.
In the same way that we’ve tackled the use of plastics, we’ve decided to educate our partners – tell them that instead of going to a certain popular destination, here is an alternative. It may not be as developed, but that is its charm, and if we continue to bring people there in a responsible way, the standards of that destination will be lifted. We do need to try to help all communities, rather than just a small community.
How have your partners responded to these efforts?
A lot of our partners are from Europe and they are phenomenal in terms of environmental consciousness and responsibility. They have really taken on board things like refill bottles – in the year before, we took out about 200,000 single-use plastics. I think it’s just about changing the mindset and I think most people in our business are really on board.
I want to roll it out at a greater scale across the world, particularly in Asia. This region is quite a mature destination and we would like to (expand) these existing initiatives (here).
Sustainability does seem to be picking up more slowly in Asia.
When we travel around Asia, it’s really disturbing how much plastic waste there is everywhere, on the roads and in villages. We work with many local communities to change that.
In Yangon, this incredible woman started to pay local villagers to collect plastics so she can (upcycle them) into reusable goods like handbags and tote bags. These people are making an impact because the villagers are earning money by collecting rubbish, while learning how to recycle plastics and tyres.
It’s our job to take travellers to these local enterprises. You’d need a DMC with people who live there and know about these enterprises, you can’t just pop them on your radar.
What about the issue of animal welfare in tourism?
Animal welfare is such a hot topic at the moment, (with elephant rides being a major concern now) from a consumer perspective.
We, the travel sector, (in part) created these problems of elephant camps, circuses and parks. Now to say that we’re just going to stop selling them and abandon all of these camps is impractical.
For example, in Thailand, there’s more than 3,000 elephants in captivity. What are you going to do, just let them go? If we stop supporting them in a responsible way, the elephants are not going to be looked after because the communities that benefit from tourism won’t have the money to look after them, and they’re going to have a massive collapse.
So it’s about how to work with these local communities, animal parks or elephant camps to really bring up the standards of welfare. A big focus for us at the moment is making sure that we follow well-informed guidelines, rather than just bowing to public pressure.
How does the company internally focus on such efforts?
We put a fair bit of investment and leadership support in it. We have a really great responsible travel working group with members from different parts of our businesses at all levels. They work on initiatives and we reward the best initiatives with incentive travel for the team, and we fund ideas where they’ve demonstrated the concept.
You’ve also been making leaps in glamourising tour guiding. Why is that needed?
We really take pride in developing our guides. In Indonesia, we launched a guide ambassador programme by inviting young men and women from marginalised communities to join us for six months. We pay for their living allowances and so forth, and they go through this guiding programme to get accredited before going on an apprenticeship with us.
We want to roll that out to Cambodia and Vietnam. Guiding is a bit of a dying trade, so we need to bring in fresh talent and nurture them by giving them a career path.
Some of our competitors don’t spend that kind of money because a lot of guides are freelancers. That’s where we create a stronger community among our guide base and we engage them in training whether they are freelancers or not. It’s important to show these communities that there is good living to be made in guiding, and it’s fun.
A polished urban retreat designed for business travellers, Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown combines thoughtful design, seamless service, and exceptional facilities.
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