Sheraton Petaling Jaya Hotel in Malaysia has appointed Joyce Wong as director of sales & marketing.
Prior to joining Sheraton Petaling Jaya Hotel, Wong spent eight years with the Hilton group and mostly recent as commercial manager at Hilton Kuala Lumpur.
She has over a decade of corporate sales experience in the hospitality industry, having started her career in 2002 with the finance department of Renaissance Hotel Kuala Lumpur before becoming a coordinator in corporate room sales in 2005.
For starters, bring the group on a heritage walking tour around The Rocks area, led by an Aborigine, whose Dreamtime stories will contrast history with the modern, built-up cityscape.
Likewise, the iconic Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge offer more than concerts or a climb. They can literally be seen in a new light at Australia’s largest event, Vivid Sydney.
New South Wales minister for tourism and major events Adam Marshall described it as “an unmissable experience for Sydneysiders and visitors alike as our capital city is transformed into a kaleidoscope of colour”.
The three-week festival of light, music and ideas runs every May-June with spectacular, free public exhibitions of outdoor lighting sculptures, installations and grand-scale projections on iconic buildings.
But if peak-prices and large crowds (2.25 million in 2018) are a put-off, Sydney Opera House – Australia’s top attraction – runs customised events for incentive groups throughout the year.
Tours are available in seven languages, highlighting architecturally-striking venues and spaces usually off-limits to the public.
“Performance tickets, private opera recitals, curated menus from on-site caterers and even a sunrise yoga class on the Monumental Steps can also be arranged to create an unforgettable experience for incentive visitors,” said its head of sales, tours and experiences, Sarah Duthie.
Last October, Mandarin-speaking guides took a 75-member commercial real estate development group from China on a one-hour private tour of the performance venues and foyers. As the tour ended in the Concert Hall, a soprano surprised them with an opera recital beside a grand piano. They later mingled with her before taking a group photograph in front of the iconic Opera House sails.
When the function centre renovation is completed this April, premium and flexible events space will present more top-notch facilities and panoramic views of Sydney Harbour.
Another good view of Sydney Harbour is from the sea. Instead of a cruise, stage a sailing regatta! No prior sailing experience is required. Professional instructors assist in the yacht race as team members work together to steer their yachts to victory.
Cross the Bridge to Milsons Point where Luna Park Sydney delights not just with its ferris wheel, rides and superb harbour views but also event-staging options. Luna Park Venues offers 10,000m2 of indoor and outdoor spaces in up to 13 different event settings.
Crystal Palace takes 30 to 1,300 people while the Big Top holds from 500 to 3,000.
Outdoor capacity varies between 250 to 1,000 guests at Lavender Green. Sonar features live music and entertainment, and The Deck bar and brasserie hosts smaller parties. Whole-of-Park events can accommodate 8,000 people.
“It has been our goal to provide the very best catering Sydney has on offer in our harbourside venues. Team work is a massive part of what we do today; it all comes down to creating lasting experiences for people in such an iconic location,” said James Granter, general manager of sales at Luna Park Venues Sydney.
Beyond the city
Incentive planners can also organise a beach bash. Instead of the famous Bondi, head to Manly, Coogee or quiet Bronte. Enjoy a picnic, sandcastle building, beach volleyball, surfing lesson or just snap photos of surfer ‘hunks and babes’.
Alternatively, ride three hours’ north to Port Stephens. Activities include a quad-bike safari through the Stockton sand dunes, kayaking and stand-up paddle-boarding taught by accredited instructors. On a dolphin-watching buffet lunch cruise, the skipper will give a commentary on the region’s dolphins.
A day-trip to Hunter Valley can be scaled up or down for the group’s size. Besides cellar door stops, try a blind-tasting quiz or contest, short talk on wine appreciation or wine and food-pairing lunch. To placate beer guzzlers, visit a brewery. And don’t skip the cheese and chocolate shops!
In the Blue Mountains, Scenic World is a popular attraction due to its range of activities. Adventurers may take the Skyway cablecar, walk to the Three Sisters, climb down the 1,000-step Giant Stairway, walk through the temperate rainforest to the Railway bottom platform and ride back up to the main building. Shorter and easier routes are also available.
BESydney has been promoting Sydney globally for 50 years. Its CEO, Lyn Lewis-Smith, said: “We are pleased to see the growth of incentive business from our northern neighbours across Asia in recent years. We look forward to welcoming more organisations rewarding their top teams here in Sydney in 2019 – as new hotels come online, existing stock is completely refreshed, and exciting new experiences are added to ‘wow’ visitors.”
Carolin Lenehan, BESydney deputy general manager corporate affairs and communications, added that several major infrastructure projects are rapidly changing the face of the city, such as new public transport links, great walkability improvements, and the new Western Sydney Airport.
“We already have our primary airport close to the CBD. When this second airport opens in 2026, it will provide new access routes to key tourist attractions and regions to the west of Sydney as well as our emerging ‘second and third city’ precincts,” said Lenehan.
Business events will occupy a more prominent position in Indonesia’s tourism development strategy over the next five years, as the national government is now placing a stronger emphasis on growing tourism revenue over arrival volume.
Speaking at the Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association National Workshop in Jakarta earlier on Monday, Indonesian minister of national development plan Bambang Brodjonegoro said pushing the business events sector would be the most realistic way to achieve this target.
He said: “The government’s target for tourism for the next five years will no longer be pursuing an increase in the number of arrivals, but to make the sector more inclusive, yield a higher revenue and improve the economy for the people.”
Citing the example of the IMF-World Bank annual meeting held in Bali last year, Bambang revealed that the event attracted 34,761 arrivals from 189 countries despite taking place during Bali’s low season. The high-profile meeting benefitted not only hotels and venues, but other tourism-linked businesses on the island, such as local F&B outlets and their suppliers, and transportation providers.
“Moreover, business event travellers have proven to spend three times more than leisure travellers,” he said.
Bambang added that the development of business events will fall under the coordination of the Ministry of Tourism, as there is a “need to have a better strategy to bring more events to the country”.
“What is happening now is that business events are organised sporadically among the ministries, government agencies or the private sector. The IMF-World Bank event, for example, began with an initiative from the Ministry of Finance,” he revealed.
Moving forward, the Ministry of Tourism will take charge and coordinate national plans. Events will first be evaluated by the ministry, which will determine Indonesia’s interest in bidding as well as to lead the entire process, starting from the initial bid.
Arief Yahya, Indonesia’s minister of tourism acknowledged that currently different parties made bids for their own events. From now onwards, the ministry will be working together with associations to bid for events. In addition, his office this year has allotted Rp10 billion (US$714,285) for bidding purposes.
Bambang said his office would also be calling on other government offices to support the sector. He is also urging the private sector to develop more venues in different parts of the country.
“We need more venues with international standard to host more events. Therefore, the 10 New Bali destinations should include such venues in their development,” he posited.
Commenting on the plan, Budi Tirtawisata, chairman of the Indonesia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (INACEB), said: “INACEB as a private-sector organisation, will always support the government’s plan to boost business events sector. What we hope to see is for the Ministry of Tourism to have a deputy take charge of this sector.”
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced the acquisition of Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas and its management business, a move that is expected to amp up the hospitality giant’s luxury footprint, and provide instant entry into some of the world’s most sought-after locations.
The US$300 million cash acquisition from Pegasus Capital Advisors includes all of Six Senses’ brands and operating companies, but does not include any real estate assets. The sale includes the management of 16 hotels and resorts (1,347 rooms), 37 spas and sister companies Evason and Raison d’Etre. The Six Senses management will remain in place.
As an asset-light business, Six Senses currently manages 16 hotels and resorts, with 18 management contracts signed in its pipeline, and a further 50 deals under active discussion.
Following the acquisition, IHG expects to accelerate Six Senses’ growth globally to more than 60 hotels over the next 10 years. This includes bringing Six Senses to important urban markets, with a property already under construction in West Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City, IHG said in a statement.
IHG also revealed that Six Senses will sit at the top of its luxury portfolio, complementing luxury hotel brand, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts; the recently acquired and repositioned Regent Hotels & Resorts; and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, for which IHG has secured a presence in 14 countries, since its acquisition of the brand in 2015. The latest acquisition of Six Senses takes its portfolio of open and pipeline luxury hotels to 400 hotels (108,000 rooms) globally.
Keith Barr, CEO of IHG, commented: “Six Senses is an outstanding brand in the top-tier of luxury and one we’ve admired for some time. You only have to look at its iconic hotels and resorts to see how this acquisition will further round out our luxury offer. With a focus on wellness and sustainability, Six Senses has been voted the world’s top hotel brand for the past two years, which is testament to its impressive management team who bring deep experience to IHG’s luxury operations.
“Six Senses’ attractive development pipeline provides us with a platform for high quality growth. With the power of the IHG enterprise, we believe we can expand Six Senses to more than 60 properties globally over the next decade. This acquisition continues the progress we’ve made against the strategic initiatives we outlined a year ago, which included a commitment to adding new brands in the fast-growing US$60 billion luxury segment.”
Neil Jacobs, CEO, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, added: “This is an exciting new era for Six Senses… Joining forces with IHG means we can use a wealth of systems and operational excellence to grow our brand and reach new markets without losing our quirky personality and playful touch. It’s been a great pleasure to work with Pegasus over the last six years and we would never have reached this milestone without their vision and deep involvement.”
Over the next 12 months, Six Senses will open properties in destinations ranging from the private island of Krabey in Cambodia, a circuit of five lodges in Bhutan, to a 14th-century-old restored fort in Rajasthan. Additional projects are currently under way in Austria, Brazil, Mainland China, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan and Thailand.
Specialist recruitment and consultancy company for global events and exhibitions industry, tfconnect, has opened a regional office in Singapore to serve the Asian region.
This opening comes after requests from clients for additional assistance in Asia, and the office will also support a number of recent high-level tfconnect placements in the region.
Group managing director, Trevor Foley, said in a statement: “We will be able to support our clients on a wider range of roles with people on the ground in Asia.”
The Singapore office will be run by managing partner Andrew Lee, who has many years of international and business development experience in the events, exhibitions, venues and themed entertainment industries. Among the companies Lee has worked at include Reed Exhibitions, AsiaWorld Expo, Pico Group, International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions and Six Flags Entertainment.
May Lim has also joined the Asia team as senior consultant, global executive search. She holds many years of regional experience working for Reed Exhibitions and British American Tobacco/Rothmans.
The company has been working in Asia for several years, and made a number of senior level placements in the region including CEOs for Tarsus Group and Comexposium last year.
American Express Meetings & Events (AMEX M&E) – a division of American Express Global Business Travel – has renewed its partnership with event technology provider Doubledutch.
The agreement is an extension of an existing partnership, and will see Amex M&E use Doubledutch’s mobile attendee experience solutions for clients with “mature and robust” meetings and events programmes.
Doubledutch’s event management platform creates attendee experiences to encourage networking. As part of the new deal, the technology’s engagement data is now available within Meetings Insights, Amex M&E’s centralised data platform. This results in insights and reporting around individual events as well as across an entire meetings programme.
Additionally, the new agreement allows for the integration of travel data into event apps to create a “one-stop shop” for attendees travelling to an event, as well as personalised content, safety check prompts and advanced surveys.
As a part of the Meetings Marketplace, DoubleDutch has been vetted against American Express Meetings & Events’ standards for finance, compliance and security.
TTG Asia Media has joined the TripAdvisor platform so that we can better connect with you, our travel industry readers, and provide trip recommendations and inspiration for you and your clients alike.
Whether you’re a travel expert, meeting planner or association organiser, industry readers will benefit from our handpicked trips and articles on our travel feed on TripAdvisor.
Our team of reporters and correspondents in Asia-Pacific, with their deep understanding of their home market as well as the travel industry, will provide honest advice and recommendations of hotels, products and activities reviews.
We will cast the spotlight on one country every month – providing an in-depth review on local attractions, properties, as well as activities.
Simply click ‘follow’ on TTG Asia Media’s TripAdvisor page to subscribe to great travel content and recommendations!
Concept
The restaurant is inviting and homely, much like its speciality shippoku cuisine, which dates from 400 years ago.
At that time, international traders flocked to Nagasaki as it was one of the few open Japanese ports. Most hailed from China, Portugal and the Netherlands, so the city developed into a melting pot. The result was shippoku, which is a fusion of ingredients, cooking methods and serving styles from each country.
Food
The cuisine typically uses fowl, fish and game meats, as well as vegetables and rice, and is served as several small dishes that comprise a full meal.
Ginza Nagasaki Shippoku Hamakatsu offers five kinds of sharing courses for groups, ranging from US$46 to US$82 per person. There are also meals for individual customers.
MICE application
The restaurant’s first and third floors offer a casual dining environment. The hall on the first floor is done up in Western-style with circular tables and banquettes, and can seat 50 pax. The third floor, meanwhile, offers Japanese-style seating on low tables complete with cushions and tatami matting, and can accommodate 30 pax.
On the second floor, groups can enjoy a sophisticated dining experience in modern private or semi-private rooms furnished in Japanese or Western style. Regardless of furnishing style, rooms all have Western-style chairs and together accommodate 40 pax.
Service
The staff are knowledgeable about shippoku cuisine and provide a detailed description of each item on the course menu, making a meal here particularly appealing for corporate groups with an interest in food.
Contact
Tel: (81) 95 826 8321
Address: 6-50 Kajiya-machi, Teramachi, Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture
Monaco: Grimaldi Forum to benefit from city extension
The Principality of Monaco has launched an offshore extension project, which will expand its territory by six hectares in 2020.
The future eco-district, which has been named Portier Cove, will comprise a one-hectare public park; a 3,000 m2 retail area; a 9,000 m2 extension for Grimaldi Forum congress and conference centre; a marina with approximately 30 moorings; and public facilities such as a 160-space car park.
The additional area will allow the Grimaldi Forum to accommodate larger-scale events and increase its exhibition capacity by 50 per cent. These extra exhibition areas and conference rooms will be easily accessible and connected to the Diaghilev Exhibition Hall on level one. The extended area will also have its own independent entrance.
Manchester: EventCity to upgrade its offerings
EventCity, the largest exhibition and events venue in the north of England, has begun a major investment into updating its event spaces, including Hall 4. The £500,000 (US$644,761) refurbishment includes refurbishing all 10 of the venue’s meeting rooms and renaming them after Manchester people both past and present such as Emmeline Pankhurst, George Stephenson and Tom Kilburn, creator of the first computer.
San Francisco: Moscone Center opens its doors
The US$551 million refurbishment of Moscone Centre – the largest convention and exhibition complex in San Francisco, California – has been completed.
The construction, which was completed in phases over four years, has added 14,585m2 of usable space. In total, the Moscone Center now offers more than 46,900m2 of contiguous space and boasts a new 4,624m2 column-free ballroom. Before expansion, the largest contiguous space was about 24,150m2.
A new function and event space is set to open its doors this coming August at Victoria’s largest indoor/outdoor events and exhibition venue, Melbourne Showgrounds.
The newly expanded 2,500m2 event space will feature a pillarless 1,950m2 room, ideal for functions and exhibitions, alongside a new 600m2 glass foyer. The space will be able to accommodate up to 1,000 guests for gala dinners or 1,800 guests for cocktail or theatre-style events.
The event space also boasts complete climate control, high ceilings and an unobstructed floor space.
Located seven kilometres from the Australian city’s CBD, Melbourne Showgrounds features onsite car parking and public transport stops within a five-minute walk. A number of new accommodation options have also risen nearby.
The new space is now open for bookings.
