Asia/Singapore Sunday, 26th April 2026
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Major conference skips Colombo for Geneva

By Feizal Samath
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Leopard in the wild on the island of Sri Lanka

Organisers of the 71st meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora Standing Committee have decided to shift the conference to Geneva, Switzerland, in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings.

Originally planned for May 23 to June 3, CITES was postponed to September. But in a June 12 statement, CITES’ secretary-general Ivonne Higuero announced the decision to shift the conference to Geneva, and it will now run from August 16 to 28.

The UN wildlife conference is now headed for Geneva; leopard in the wild on the island of Sri Lanka

“This conclusion was reached after a consultation process with the CITES Standing Committee where they expressed security concerns; after careful consideration of the report of the mission of the United Nations Department of Safety and Security to Sri Lanka to assess the security situation on the ground; and after discussions with the Sri Lankan Government,” Higuero explained.

Sunil Dissanayake, director and CEO of Bandaranaike National Memorial Foundation – Sri Lanka’s biggest convention centre where the conference was to take place – confirmed the conference’s move to Geneva.

Dissanayake added that two weeks ago the UN Security Auditor was in Colombo on an inspection tour, visiting the venue as well as hotels, and said he was going to recommend that the summit could still take place in Sri Lanka.

“We offered new dates in September and the entire venue was booked for the event. But the UN committee has decided to shift the venue,” he said.

The wildlife conference was supposed to bring in 2,000 participants, and was viewed by stakeholders as a huge boost to its business events sector until the April 21 bombing shattered hopes.

Officials at Sri Lanka’s state-run Convention Bureau further shared there has been a pickup of 20-30 per cent occupancy in Colombo hotels this week which, when compared to almost zero occupancy in the days and weeks after the blast, was progress.

Shiromal Cooray, chairperson of Jetwing Hotels, said the cancellation of CITES was a blow to the industry just as travel advisories were being relaxed. Australia, India, China, the UK and Germany are among countries that have relaxed travel advisories.

Cooray said arrivals to the country are improving and that bookings, though slow, are trickling in for July and beyond. She believes the situation will further improve from December, but has braced herself for a 20 per cent dip in business compared to the same time last year.

Hong Kong business events spared from protests

By Prudence Lui
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Hong Kong protesters demonstrate against extradition bill

The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Carnival, scheduled for June 14-16 at Central Harbourfront, appears to be the only event casualty from the disruptive protests held around the Central Government Complex in Admiralty and Wanchai areas.

The protests across several days were held in opposition of a controversial extradition law, with June 16’s drawing more than two million Hongkongers to the streets.

Hong Kong protesters demonstrate against extradition bill

Doris Lam, general manager of Momentous Asia Travel & Events Co, told TTGmice that she did not receive any event cancellation or postponement, and a conference on June 16 carried on as planned.

“Fortunately the conference took place in a hotel away from Wanchai (and) the gala dinner was held at a restaurant nearby. It turned out to be a smooth and good day for us (despite the protest that day),” remarked Lam.

MIMS (Hong Kong) was also not affected, shared head of CME and congress division, Sigourney Liu.

“We had no events last week, only a medical conference that is scheduled at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) next week,” Liu said.

But she noted with concern that “travellers’ confidence is shaken” now.

“Therefore, we have taken extra effort to have a contingency plan in case roads are blocked around affected areas. For instance, we will ask delegates to remain in their hotel and (have the presentations beamed to them through) live videos,” Liu said.

Cancellation of the event is “hard” at this late stage, she said, as guests have been invited and delegates have paid for hotel accommodation.

“We have had queries from delegates asking if it is risky to come, but I reassured them that Hong Kong is still a safe city. Our delegates are well-educated and trained doctors who are used to crises (so they are less panicky),” she added.

A Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) spokesperson maintains that the destination is still business as usual and tourist activities are not affected.

However, the spokesperson noted that “Admiralty is the major transportation hub and home to various hotels, shopping malls and attractions, so the large-scale demonstration in the area may cause inconvenience to visitors”.

She added: “HKTB will continue to closely monitor the development and keep trade partners and visitors informed of the latest information.”

World PCO Alliance elects officers for a new term

By TTGmice
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World PCO Alliance members at IMEX Frankfurt

Officers for a new term were elected at the recent World PCO Alliance annual general meeting during IMEX Frankfurt in Germany.

World PCO Alliance members at IMEX Frankfurt

Irish member Noel Mitchell of Keynote PCO is the Alliance’s new president, taking over from Gregg Talley of Talley Management Group; Nancy Tan of Singapore-based Ace:Daytons Direct is now vice president; and André Vietor of Spain’s Bco Congresos will serve as treasurer. These officers will serve two-year terms.

Founded in 2009, the World PCO Alliance provides leadership in meeting management through the delivery of streamlined and effective meetings around the globe. The organisation is comprised of 21 leading PCOs in the meetings industry from around the world.

Conrad Bangkok raises meetings hardware standards

By Suchat Sritama
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The Conrad Ballroom and its modular LED panels

Luxury hotel Conrad Bangkok has emerged from a major renovation that has given it new bragging rights in the Thai capital’s business events scene.

The hotel’s grand ballroom now houses what is said to be Bangkok’s first integrated modular LED wall. With panels measuring 35 metres in width and sitting on a 270-degree track, the LED wall is fully adaptable to planners’ requirements.

The Conrad Ballroom and its modular LED panels

As well, the space is equipped with professional stage lighting and individual table lighting – again, said to be the country’s newest standards in hotel meeting facilities.

Elsewhere, the hotel’s main entrance, lobby and guestrooms have also been upgraded. The lobby now sports a new design and offers seats with convenient power points, a feature modern, tech savvy travellers will appreciate.

Guestrooms are equipped with in-room lighting and temperature controls for more precise energy management, which is in line with the hotel’s 2030 sustainability goals.

General Manager Herman J Ehrlich, said the hotel is redefining the standards for business hotels in the city through its new infrastructure.

He believes that the hotel’s events hardware is complemented by “an unusual resort vibe offered through our extensive recreational facilities such as full-sized tennis courts, 36-metre long swimming pool, oversized Jacuzzi, dedicated and secure children playground, relaxation garden, eleven spa treatment rooms, and 600-metre fitness club with Yoga and Muay Thai studio”.

When asked for his outlook on business expectations, Ehrlich said Thailand’s presidency of ASEAN this year would attract a string of related meetings to Bangkok, securing a path of steady growth across a variety of business events.

He also credited Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau for its efforts in promoting the country for business gatherings and the presence of hotels with quality venues as reasons for Thailand’s continued success in attracting business events.

Minor Hotels to bring Avani and Oaks brands into Yangon

By TTGmice
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Thailand-based Minor Hotels will debut its Avani and Oaks brands in Yangon, with the development of two hotels as part of a management agreement with Kajima Yankin, a wholly-capitalised subsidiary of Kajima Overseas Asia.

Construction work has begun onsite and vertical construction is scheduled to commence in 2021. The 250-room Avani Yangon Hotel and 221-key Oaks Yangon are both set to open in 2024 and will be part of a mixed-use development, complete with office and retail space located in central Yangon.

A rendering of the upcoming mixed-use development

Avani Yangon Hotel and Oaks Yangon will be located less than nine kilometres from Yangon International Airport and occupies two buildings joined by an underground retail centre landscaped above with an urban park. Known for its shopping and pagodas, Yankin Township sits just east of Inya Lake with the popular historic old Yangon town a few kilometres away.

Avani Yangon will feature 250 guest rooms with standard rooms measuring 39m2. Facilities include an all-day dining option plus a rooftop restaurant and bar, executive lounge, ballroom and meeting facilities. As with other Avani properties, the Yangon one would feature an Avani Pantry, AvaniSpa and a fitness centre.

Oaks Yangon will feature 221 rooms with a minimum size of 56m2, along with amenities and facilities for longer stays, including all-day dining, a kids’ club, swimming pool and fitness facilities.

Business events is now top yielding visitor sector for Victoria

By TTGmice
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Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria

Business events are delivering more money and more visitors to Victoria, Australia, with the Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) reporting that it netted more than A$500 million (US$343 million) in business events secured for the state in FY18/19 (July 1, 2018 to May 30, 2019).

This has cemented the business events sector as the highest yielding sector in Victoria’s visitor economy.

Melbourne (pictured) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria

In addition to monetary contribution, around 6,000 jobs are expected to be created for the state based on the events secured.

Significant wins include the 2023 Rotary International Conference which is expected to attract 20,000 Rotary members from over 200 countries and regions worldwide and injecting over A$110 million into the Victorian economy.

Other notable conferences include The International Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses, November 2019; International Congress of Genetics, July 2023; 20th International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology World Congress of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology, 2026; and the World Congress of Philosophy, July 2023.

“Business events are the cornerstone of our visitor economy, and the highest yielding sector of our tourism industry… Business events keep our hotels full, our venues buzzing and our economy strong. No one does business events quite like Victoria, and MCB’s outstanding efforts are to be commended,” said Martin Pakula, the state’s minster for tourism, sport and major events, in a statement.

An island meeting at Mövenpick Resort & Spa Jimbaran Bali

By TTGmice
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Akasa Ballroom

Mövenpick Resort & Spa Jimbaran Bali has unveiled a new Tropical Vibes Meeting Package.

Prices start at US$145 nett per person for a minimum booking of eight rooms, and a maximum booking of 15 rooms. Also included in the package is a meeting package for a maximum of 30 person, classic room accommodation for all delegates, and daily breakfast at the Anarasa Restaurant.

Akasa Ballroom

Customised F&B packages covering themed coffee breaks, inspiring lunches and lavish dinner buffets can also be added on, and start from US$40++ per person. As well, meeting options for Half Day or Full Day packages are also available starting from just US$30++ per person including all essentials.

The resort offers 297 rooms and suites, and all of its meeting facilities are located on a designated floor with direct VIP access in and out of the resort.

Function spaces include the 420m2 pillarless Akasa Ballroom that can host up to 300 guests. This venue can be further divided into three breakout rooms, and it is supported by three other Baga Rooms approximately 50m2 in size. For smaller corporate gatherings, a smart boardroom can accommodate up to 14 delegates.

Every venue is supported by complimentary Wi-Fi access, superior audio and visual equipment, screens and flip charts.

Contact Resort.Bali.Mice@movenpick.com.

Pullman opens outpost in west Shanghai

By TTGmice
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Accor has opened its 36th Pullman-branded hotel in China, in the heart of the Qingpu Industrial Zone in Shanghai.

Pullman Shanghai Qingpu Excellence offers 292 guestrooms including 16 suites, seven family rooms and one presidential suite. There are four dining establishments on-site, ranging from the Q – Seafood & Grill to the Azur Chinese restaurant.

Pullman Shanghai Qingpu Excellence
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Pullman has also launched a new Meet & Play meeting concept, combining memorable events through work and play in an energised setting imbued with cultural elements and fun interactions. Through the concept, Pullman hotels provide engaging breaks, icebreakers, and team activities that stimulate performance and enhance wellbeing.

The property itself offers more than 1,600m2 of banquet space, with the largest ballroom in Qingpu supported by seven function rooms. The 800m2 Grand Ballroom is pillarless, and boasts a eight-metre high ceiling, and technology including an 80-inch LED screen and advanced audio-visual equipment. An outdoor terrace that is connected to the grand ballroom can facilitate activities such as evening cocktails, small parties, and even yoga or tai chi sessions.

Other facilities include Fit Lounge with its heated indoor swimming pool, a business centre and an executive lounge. In addition, the second floor’s communal space of the hotel will also showcase Pullman Artist Playground series of exhibitions in partnership with local artists, photographers, sculptors, painters and designers, to offer guests art experiences.

The hotel is 40 minutes by car to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport and 60 minutes to the city’s CBD.

Two new GMs stand at Crossroads Maldives

By TTGmice
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From left: Martin van der Reijden and Tolga Unan

S Hotels & Resorts has appointed two general managers for its two new resorts at Crossroads Maldives – an integrated development owned by Thailand’s Singha Estate in Madives’ Emboodhoo Lagoon in the South Malé Atoll.

Martin van der Reijden has been named as general manager of SAii Lagoon Maldives, and is currently also the vice president of operations for Crossroads Maldives.

From left: Martin van der Reijden and Tolga Unan

The Swiss brings 23 years of experience to SAii Lagoon Maldives, much of which has been spent with Hilton Worldwide, managing hotels in Europe and Asia-Pacific. He has also spent time in the hotel design sector and has managed luxury resorts in the Maldives with Per Aquum and Lux. Most recently, van der Reijden was director and general manager of Lux North Male Atoll.

Meanwhile, Tolga Unan has been appointed general manager of Hard Rock Hotel Maldives, the first Maldivian outpost of the music-themed resort brand.

Unan has two decades of experience, including spells with Disney, Club Med and Hilton in the US and Asia-Pacific. He joins Hard Rock Hotel Maldives after two years as managing director of Naked Retreats.

SAii Lagoon Maldives will feature a series of rooms and villas, including overwater pool villas, while Hard Rock Hotel Maldives will feature 178 rooms, suites and villas, plus family-friendly experiences and Hard Rock’s branded concepts, including a Hard Rock Cafe, Rock Spa and two Rock Shops.

Both resorts are scheduled to welcome their first guests in summer 2019, where they will open under Crossroads Maldives’ phase-one development.

Both properties will also have access to facilities at The Marina@Crossroads – which will also open as part of the resorts’s first phase – including a 30-berth marina, the Junior Beach Club and Camp, the Crossroads Event Hall, Maldives Discovery Centre and Marine Discovery Centre.

Macau bridges MICE gap

By Prudence Lui
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The exhibition business in Macau demonstrated stable growth in 2018, having hosted 60 exhibitions – an increase of nine events year on-year – and welcomed more than 1.8 million delegates, an increase of 10 per cent over the previous year. Of that total, 1.4 million delegates came from 25 exhibitions that each drew 20,000 or more delegates.

While these numbers are trending upward, Alan Ho, chairman of the board of directors for the Macau Convention & Exhibition Association said Macau can do better, adding that the destination has fallen behind in terms of exhibition business because of the larger focus on conventions.

He said the city also has a number of hurdles to overcome before considerable growth in exhibitions can be expected.

“Macau’s exhibition business only took off recently,” Ho said. “However, I hope several major challenges can be addressed. First, Macau lacks professional buyers. Second, Hong Kong is already renowned as a logistics and commercial hub, and Macau cannot compete right now. Third, venue rental may not be expensive in Macau, but with booth construction and logistics costs, expenses end up higher than Hong Kong. Finally, stringent customs regulations in China make exhibiting commodities and material from the Gongbei Border (of Zhuhai) into Macau extremely slow and costly because they are taxed. This is daunting for organisers.”

Regardless, Ho projects that the exhibition sector will have “single-digit growth from 2019 to 2020”.

On a more positive note, the world’s longest cross-sea bridge linking Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau is expected to boost B2B business within the Greater Bay Area (GBA).

The Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) said the goal is to integrate Hong Kong and Macau with nine mainland Chinese cities in the GBA. In addition, the bridge now offers 24-hour accessibility to Macau from the Hong Kong International Airport, and this is expected to have a positive long-term impact on the growth of large-scale corporate events.

Mark Cochrane, managing director of Hong Kong-based Business Strategies Group said that it’s too early to see an impact on events in Macau, but he expects improvements will be made further down the road.

“The impact on the Macau MICE industry will be longer term as the GBA integration continues. As infrastructure continues to improve, Macau will enjoy better connectivity around the region. The bridge is already starting to see growth in traffic and usage, which will help Macau in the long run.

“But if you ask about the impact of the bridge on MICE events, I haven’t seen the driver of change yet. It may take five years for the integration of GBA, so I am looking at a five-year window,” Cochrane said.

He pointed out that with government support, Macau has done really well in the past five years in terms of net exhibition space sold, which has increased from 140,000m² to 220,000m².

“The Macau government and IPIM are committed to grow not only the exhibition business, but meetings, incentives and conferences too,” Cochrane noted.

Elsewhere in the city, Macau’s integrated resorts are optimistic that the bridge will bring more exhibition business over the long-term.

Stephanie Tanpure, vice president of sales for Sands China, said: “We feel that with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau-GBA initiatives, we may see positive business impact, but this is probably years down the road; potentially 2022 is when we will see a substantially developed (area).

“We are also very excited that the bridge supports the GBA initiatives in terms of mobility, connectivity and collaboration, as (such initiatives will) play a vital role in elevating Macau’s competitiveness in the global meetings industry.”

Tanpure shared that Sands China has some “exciting projects they are working on”, and are confident that as these are brought to the market, positive results will follow and the international meetings business will continue to grow.

Victor Lau, assistant senior vice president, hospitality and leisure sales, of Galaxy Macau, shared that he has started to receive new business events enquires thanks to the new bridge connection.

“The opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is exciting for the Macau MICE market, as overseas guests can enjoy more convenient transportation and flight options.”

Cochrane added: “You’ve got The Venetian Macao’s huge event space and Galaxy Macau is also building a new space. It’s good to have strong venues like these to help grow Macau’s MICE business.”

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TTGmice | Hub and spoke
TTGmice | EventsAir introduces Air Intelligence
TTGmice | Security concerns dampen Indonesian incentive demand for Europe