More than 50 of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre’s (the Centre) team members recently celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD) with a stroll in the park and a casual high tea session.
The centre also themed its activities, including specially crafted F&B and décor, to match the 2019 IWD theme #BalanceforBetter. All digital screens around the venue also displayed a celebratory message marking IWD.
Angeline van den Broecke, the centre’s director of global business development & marketing, said: “#BalanceforBetter is a very appropriate theme this year as there is such a universal need for more active adoption of gender balance and for us to acknowledge initiatives that have brought important issues to the fore such as #MeToo and #TimesUp.
“We all need to find ways to assist in contributing to awareness and education on equality, in the workplace, and in social and domestic environments.”
Currently, the centre employs 119 women (38 per cent of the total organisation), of which 80 (67 per cent) hold executive to senior managerial positions despite residing in an industry that is often perceived as male dominated.
Portugal: Six Senses Douro Valley adds event spaces
Six Senses will be introducing event spaces and new accommodation – seven suites and three guestrooms – to its property in Douro Valley Portugal.
The space in which the new meeting rooms are being created offers a vineyard view, and can accommodate groups from 20 to 70 people. Its walls will have ‘writable’ sections to enhance fun at interactive meetings, and all rooms will be equipped with the latest technology.
A dramatic feature is the indoor-outdoor adjoining room for pre-function or break-out sessions. With a massive open skylight and a full height living wall, the multi-functional space can transform from a quiet lounge into a meeting venue.
The new 10 rooms on the ground floor have generous outside areas with comfortable seating plus hot tubs in the bathrooms. Two of the current guestrooms on level six will have private wooden bridges leading to secret gardens with seating and hot tubs.
The additions will be ready by July 2019.
Dubai: AIM Group International opens a new office
AIM Group International has set up shop in Dubai, with the intention of developing the meetings market in the UAE with a focus on Expo Dubai 2020.
The Dubai office is managed by Mariano Genzone, regional manager of Middle East & Africa, who has been based in Dubai for more than eight years, with experience in destination management and corporate consulting and training.
As a DMC, the Dubai team expects to support clients with innovative and effective solutions for their growth through training projects and the organisation of meetings and events.
With this new Dubai office, AIM Group’s international network now comprises 17 offices.
US: Area15 to open in December
Area15, Las Vegas’ upcoming immersive entertainment, retail and dining destination, is gearing up for an opening in December.
Located just seven minutes from the Las Vegas Strip, the complex will offer numerous flexible indoor and outdoor event spaces spanning more than 3,700m2.
This includes the outdoor 2,972m2 Sectar I, which can hold up to 4,500 people and boasts a three-metre-high perimeter wall for privacy; and the 177m2 Sectar V, a circular bamboo volcano structure that can hold up to 200.
Spaces are open for bookings beginning in January 2020.
Indonesia-based hospitality management company Archipelago International has opened the doors to its first Harper-branded hotel in Sumatra.
Deluxe Room
Harper Palembang features 163 rooms, alongside facilities such as two F&B venues, a lounge and a swimming pool. For events, the hotel is also home to five medium-sized multifunction rooms, as well as one of the largest ballrooms in the area, which can accommodate up to 1,500 guests.
Located in the city centre, Harper Palembang stands 30 minutes from the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport. The property joins Archipelago’s two other hotels in the area, the Aston Palembang Hotel & Conference Center and favehotel Palembang.
China’s main gateway cities continue to dominate the ranks for Asia-Pacific international meetings and the formation of a Ministry of Culture and Tourism in March 2018 is expected to boost the country’s prospects, including second-tier locations.
There are also signs that China’s “national image” will get a shot-in-the arm with news that a new marketing campaign will be launched in 2019 and more would be done to foster cooperation between the public and private sectors to promote culture, tourism and trade.
The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) Commercial Sub-council has already stepped up activities with the ministry, according to Jack Yao, secretary general, and vice president, China Business Event Federation.
Yao said: “For the first time CCPIT is cooperating with the new ministry and the private sector to identify and create business opportunities centred around culture.”
While it would be difficult for China to form a centralised convention and visitor bureau like some other Asian countries, Yao, who has also been named second vice president, Asia Marketing Federation, said the government is paying more attention to develop and promote a “national image” with the launch of the new marketing campaign.
Welcoming the news, Sarah Keenlyside, founder and CEO of The Bespoke Travel Company, said more destination marketing support is definitely needed, especially if China wants to spread business to second- and third-tier cities.
Like others in the private sector, Keenlyside said the DMC, which was set up about 10 years ago, has had to rely on its own resources, adding that China can borrow from the many successful examples of what CVBs in Asia have and are doing.
“China is one of the safest countries to visit or do business in, and the wonderful culture and other positives should be played up,” she said, adding that negative stories also needed to be better addressed.
She hopes the new ministry can also consider a “less of a one-size-fits-all approach in dealing with travel companies” and to cut down on paperwork.
A meetings and incentive veteran commented that China is no longer a “cheap” destination and more needed to be done to value-add by applying technology to create “smart travel” and to provide more meaningful and in-depth experiences for event attendees.
The managing director, who had requested anonymity, added: “For SMEs (travel and event agencies) to survive, we need to know early if city or provincial government support will be given, or else it will be difficult for us to cap costs.”
His wish list for the new ministry includes establishing a consistent industry standard of service across China.
He explained: “Industry standards are still not uniform in China and the availability of English-speaking staff to be able to attract more international events and business assistance for smaller companies are some of the issues I hope the new ministry will address.”
Exhibition organisers are missing out on opportunities to expand regular events and mount bigger events in the absence of large-scale venues in the Philippines.
One glaring example is the Philippine Garment Industry & Fabric Expo, which is unable to double its exhibition space to two halls this year as a result of the lack of space at SMX Convention Center Manila.
While World Trade Center Metro Manila is one of the three largest in the country, it pales in comparison to other mega venues overseas
“It limits us because we cannot expand to 100 booths,” the organiser, Marisa Nallana, president of PETCO, told TTGmice. She added that the lack of large-scale venues also pose a problem for foreign event organisers who want to bring big fairs into the country.
Afro-Asian World Events’ owner Angel Ramos Bognot pointed out that as exhibition centres in Manila at this time are already fully booked for the year, the country is missing out on big exhibitions.
Bognot cited an example: “World Trade Center Manila cannot give me a date (for my event) this year (and only accept a 2020 date) because all of their regular exhibitions are already booked (with them).”
In comparison to mega venues overseas, Philippines’ venues are small. Its three largest venues – SMX Manila, World Trade Center Metro Manila and the Philippine International Convention Center – have a combined event space of just 30,000m2.
This pales in comparison to other exhibition venues of formidable sizes built in South-east Asia in recent years, such as the 70,100m2 Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Center; the 68,100m2 Jakarta International Exhibition and Congress Centre; and 48,000m2 Malaysia International Trade & Exhibition Center in Kuala Lumpur.
In addition, upcoming mega venues include the 22,600m2 Kuala Lumpur Convention Center (its 11,000m2 expansion will open later this year); and the 60,000m2 Aichi International Convention Centre to open in September 2019; among others in India, China and Japan.
Acknowledging that events venues are small and “already operating on full capacity”, the Philippine MICE Roadmap launched last year has proposed “the construction of 10 exhibition halls with combined capacities of at least 100,000m2 in the long term”.
Mitch Ballesteros, Ex-Link Events’ CEO, suggested that since events organisers and exhibitors constantly need venues and rentals keep on escalating every year, industry associations could form a new group to help address the issue and come up with an alternative space.
For example, she shared that collectively, the industry can use crowdsourcing as a way to address the lack of venue space, instead of relying too much on developers, and being too comfortable in venues that are part of mixed-used developments.
The future of Singapore's MICE future looks bright
Singapore will play host to a sizeable number of business events from 2019 and beyond, with several of these events secured being inaugural editions.
This comes on the back of a strong performance of the BTMICE industry in 2018. From January to September 2018 (year-to-date 3Q2018), tourism receipts from the BTMICE sector rose by 10 per cent to hit S$3.4 billion (US$2.5 billion), compared to the same period in 2017. This was driven by growth in BTMICE visitor arrivals, which also rose 14 per cent year-on-year for the same period, to hit two million arrivals.
The future of Singapore’s MICE future looks bright
Melissa Ow, deputy chief executive, Singapore Tourism Board (STB), said: “High-profile events in 2018 that garnered strong global interest, such as the DPRK-USA Singapore Summit and the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, have helped increase awareness of Singapore’s business events industry.”
In particular, there were more business events from the Professional Services, Technology and F&B clusters, “clusters are aligned to Singapore’s key economic sectors”, said Ow.
On the Professional services front, Singapore is set to host, for the first time, the Baker Tilly International Global Tax Conference 2019 & Baker Tilly International World Conference 2019, as well as the Kaspersky Security Analyst Summit 2019. In addition, Singapore has also secured the KPMG Asia Pacific Tax Summit 2019, INSOL 2019, Understanding Risk 2020, 18th Asia Pacific Life Insurance Congress 2021 and Asian Patent Attorneys Association General Assembly and Council Meetings 2022. Collectively, these events are expected to draw close to 10,500 foreign delegates to Singapore.
In the technology sector, American technology heavyweight Oracle will be bringing the Oracle OpenWorld Asia 2019 to Asia for the first time, with Singapore being chosen as the convention’s host city. And for the second year running, Ingram Micro will hold its Ingram Micro One APAC 2019 regional conference in Singapore in 2019.
The Lion City has also secured SAP Field Kick-Off Meeting 2020 and 2021, SAP’s annual premier regional field sales event. Close to 6,000 international delegates are expected to arrive into Singapore through these business events secured in the Technology sector.
Besides existing F&B business events such as Speciality and Fine Food Asia, Food Japan and Vitafoods Asia, Singapore will also be hosting debut editions of the Southeast Asia Café Expo and Equip&Dine Asia 2019 (a collaboration with EquipHotel Paris). The Global Restaurant Leadership Conference 2019, which has re-located from Dubai, will also hold their highly successful C-suite level, thought leadership event for the first time in Singapore this year. These two events combined are expected to attract more than 3,500 international visitors.
In the F&B cluster, an event of particular note taking place is the Food&HotelAsia – HoReCa and F&B 2020, billed as Asia’s largest international trade and networking event for the food and hospitality industry. For the first time, Food&Hotel Asia (FHA) will expand their show into two dedicated events: FHA-HoReCa and FHA-F&B – in 2020. With the expansion, these two events are expected to bring in over 45,000 international delegates to the island nation
Diving in the Philippines is a popular activity for Europeans visiting the country, hence it’ll be one of the niche interests the TPB is highlighting
With a recent refresh of its destination campaign, the Philippine Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) is extending its focus on more granular marketing content to European markets.
TPB recently revived the It’s More Fun in the Philippines campaign with a strong focus on crowd-sourced visual content shared by tourists online.
Diving in the Philippines is a popular activity for Europeans visiting the country
While this may signal the weight that TPB is placing on digital marketing, Marie Venus Tan, COO of TPB told TTGmice that visuals and other content serve to paint a clearer picture of fun in the destination, meant to resonate both online and offline.
“Our (marketing content) are meant to illicit interest, and not simply (highlight the destination), but what’s in the destination. It’s important that we don’t merely focus on beaches, as this is a very competitive area regionally, or mountains. We would have to go deeper into culture and folklore, for example.”
TPB intends to highlight more tourism assets that appeal to niche interest, and part of that will involve opening up new destinations.
“We are appealing to areas that address specific niche interests. For instance, surfing in Siargao. We will use more action shots that will evoke curiosity.”
She added: “Boracay does not need promotion – it needs enhancements. We are opening up Iloilo, and other destinations outside of Mindanao such as Bukidnon. These areas are interesting for experiential tourism, (and figure into) the strategic direction towards special interests.”
Content will be targeted to different markets. “Diving is an important niche while we’re here in Europe. In the UK, it is birdwatching, among other activities. And in India and the Middle East, weddings.”
In Europe, the UK, Germany and France are the top performing source markets in terms of both volume and growth, Tan said. Emerging markets in eastern Europe, such as Poland and Russia, are also coming onto the radar, she added.
As tourist numbers grow and new parts of the Philippines are promoted to visitors, industry observers foresee connectivity to be a continued challenge with the lack of direct international connections and capacity strains at the country’s main gateway.
Tan stated that communications is vital to “manage expectations” of travellers, as well as to tie back to what makes the Philippines different from its neighbours.
“We are an archipelago with many islands, not a landlocked country (offering) seamless and contiguous travel. How we communicate that to manage the expectations of travellers is very important.
“Connectivity is a challenge. But at the same time, talking about it is one way to bridge knowledge of what the Philippines is. Many people tend to look at the countries in South-east Asia as similar, which is not right.”
Down the line, Tan shared that there may be plans to appoint MICE representation in Europe. In the region, the destination has had offices in Frankfurt and London since the 1990s.
Tan elaborated: “We are now strategising and working out a MICE action plan. (In addition to the tourism offices) the Philippine Department of Tourism already has, we are probably going to have MICE representation in Europe or the Middle East.”
This is the first informative MICE brochure the country has launched
Multi-media marketing organisation We Are Lao, together with group of 16 hotels offering event venues and facilitates, have launched The MICE Guide to Laos at ITB Berlin last week to promote the country as “The Last Frontier” for business events and incentives.
“Laos is a relatively new player in the MICE industry compared to neighbouring countries like Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam,” said Denis Dupart, general manager of Pullman Luang Prabang, which recently launched a Meet and Play MICE package that blends outdoor experiences, socially-responsible events and corporate meetings together.
This is the first informative MICE brochure the country has launched
“This means we can provide experiences that are much harder to find in the more established markets, such as highly-personalised services, as well as unique locations and activities,” he added.
Luang Prabang View’s general manager and managing director of We Are Lao, John Morris Williams, agreed: “Laos has huge potential as a MICE destination, but it has yet to be tapped, as it is still seen as a new destination in the eyes of many overseas travel agents.”
“Vientiane is a great destination for MICE as it combines the conveniences of modern infrastructure, such as the recently extended airport, a variety of hotels at different levels, and a number of experienced ground-handlers and DMCs that offer authentic experiences that only Laos has to offer in this part of the world,” said
Having successfully hosted a number of ASEAN and multi-national events, Vientiane’s recent expanded airport and diversity of hotels across different market segments and a pool of experienced groundhandlers and DMCs also made the Laotian capital idea “a great destination for MICE”, stated Crowne Plaza Vientiane’s general manager Oliver Horne .
Southern Laos also has offerings for the business events market, industry players pointed out.
“Pakse already has four MICE-ready hotels and a newly-built event hall in town,” said Dyan Barutzki, marketing advisor at Swiss Contact Laos, noting the destination is “still largely undiscovered by international companies.”
“The key to success is how to approach the right target audience with the right way of communication,” said Champasak Grand Hotel’s manager Korlarp Kaewthai. “A strong southern Laos MICE community could help impact our approach to reach that target.”
Spanish hotel group Meliá Hotels International will be taking over the management of The Reed Hotel in Ninh Binh, Vietnam, from May onwards.
The property, occupying the highest building in the area, will be rebranded to as Meliá Ninh Binh by January 2020, and will have 153 rooms alongside facilities such as an infinity pool, fitness centre, VIP lounge and three F&B options.
Melia adds The Reed Hotel in Vietnam to portfolio
In addition, the next-door convention centre will also fall under Melia’s management. Event planners may avail the 4,000m2 of meeting space across multiple meeting rooms.
The hotel group will also position Meliá Ninh Binh as a bleisure-focused property, in recognition of the destination’s growing MICE market.
Meliá Hotels International continues to expand its presence across Vietnam with a total of six operating hotels and seven in the pipeline. In total, the group has 20 properties currently in operation and 32 properties in the pipeline that are expected to be open by 2022.
New Zealand’s Christchurch Town Hall has reopened to the public some eight years after the deadly 2011 earthquake.
The heritage-listed building, located in the city’s downtown on the banks of the Avon River, received a three-year refurbishment costing NZ$167 million (US$114 million).
Christchurch Town Hall auditorium
Several spaces are already open, such as the 460m2 Douglas Lilburn Auditorium, which can hold up to 2,250 people theatre-style, and the 225m2 Victoria Room, which can seat 140 in banquet-style.
The renowned acoustics and array of spaces are linked by light and airy concourses, making this venue ideal for conferences and seminars to gala dinners and performances.
According to New Zealand news website Stuff.co.nz, the entire complex will be restored by August, with The James Hay Theatre to reopen in April, and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra’s new headquarters will be complete in May.
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.
