Singapore to host Rotary International Convention 2024

December 7, 2017

Singapore has won the provisional bid to host the Rotary International Convention in 2024, which is set to be the largest association congress ever hosted by the Republic.

More than 25,000 Rotary members from around the world are expected to converge on Singapore to connect, engage and share insights on how to create positive, lasting change in their communities. To be held at the Singapore EXPO Convention and Exhibition Centre, the event will run for five days, and include workshops, forums, breakout sessions, entertainment and other meetings.

The Rotary International Convention 2024 will be the second time Singapore is hosting the event

The annual convention, held in different cities around the world, was last held in Singapore in 1999 and was attended by approximately 19,000 participants.

The winning provisional bid was led by Rotary regional leader Chew Ghim Bok, and supported by Rotary clubs from Singapore and around Asia-Pacific. In addition to the Singapore Tourism Board, various public agencies and business event industry stakeholders also contributed to the successful bid.

As part of Singapore’s bid to host a convention that makes a lasting difference, the Rotary Clubs of Singapore plan to champion a legacy project striving towards sanitation progress and hygiene awareness by 2025.

Sexton steps down from PCMA; Karamat takes over

By TTGmice

December 7, 2017

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After more than 12 years at the helm, PCMA president and CEO Deborah Sexton has decided to step down at the conclusion of Convening Leaders in Nashville January 2018.

The board has voted unanimously to approve COO Sherrif Karamat as the new CEO. Karamat joined PCMA in October 2003 as vice-president of sales and became COO of the organisation in April 2008.

(From left) Deborah Sexton and Sherrif Karamat

In addition to her role as CEO, Sexton has also served as president of the PCMA Education Foundation and publisher of PCMA’s Convene magazine.

Under Sexton’s leadership, and through her partnership with Karamat, PCMA more than doubled its membership and revenue, as well as expanded its global reach. During her tenure, the Foundation has more than tripled its support for scholarships, research and education programmes.

Sexton be moving on to launch a consultancy.

Tour East establishes leisure presence in North America

By TTGmice

December 7, 2017

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Shortly after beefing up its sales infrastructure in Europe, Tour East is now growing its representation in North America.

The DMC, which operates in 14 Asia-Pacific countries, has appointed New York-based Delivering America and Joe Cauchi as its sales representative on the continent, building on its longstanding MICE-dedicated presence in Minnesota.

Travel industry marketing company helmed by Cauchi (pictured) now representing Tour East in North America

Chris Bailey, senior vice president of Tour East, said: “Increasing air connections and related capacity from several major cities throughout North America makes travel to the Asia-Pacific region so convenient. When you combine this with the wide ranging and extremely affordable experiential-based travel opportunities this region offers, visitors can only grow.”

ITB Asia inks partnership with ACTE

By TTGmice

December 7, 2017

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ITB Asia has signed an agreement with the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), which signifies an alliance with ACTE to be ITB Asia’s 2018 Corporate Travel Association Partner.

ACTE will play a leading role in promoting ITB Asia 2018, and joins ITB Asia’s Buyers programme partners to recommend quality buyers and corporate travel managers to the show in Asia.

(From left) Messe Berlin (Singapore)’s Katrina Leung, and ACTE’s Benson Tang

In addition, ACTE will be the official partner in organising the programme for ITB Asia Business Travel Day during ITB Asia 2018. The programme will include topics such as driving change, identifying industry pain points, building solutions and best practices, attracting new talent to the travel industry and reaching consensus through open discussions, among others.

“Through this strategic alliance and partnership for ITB Asia 2018, we look to strengthen the participation numbers in our corporate sector. We believe there will be a lot of positive impact through this partnership,” said Katrina Leung, executive director of Messe Berlin (Singapore), the organiser of ITB Asia.

Photo of the day: Seoul MICE Alliance looks ahead to 2018

By TTGmice

December 7, 2017

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At newly opened hotel-plex Seoul Dragon City, some 300 participants gathered for the 2017 Seoul MICE Alliance (SMA) Meeting on November 24 to reflect over the past year, strengthen relationships, and share ideas and plans for growth in the Seoul MICE industry on a collaborative scale.

The meeting was organised with the aim to vitalise networking among the SMA members, to welcome the 38 new members – totalling 260 members – and confer outstanding members with certificates of recognition and awards.

The Annual Seoul MICE Alliance Meeting was scheduled after the Seoul MICE Week that took place in the afternoon on the same day, where worldwide MICE professionals gathered to discuss the latest trends in MICE and the outlook on Seoul, currently ranked the third convention city worldwide.

Beyond Asia: Gösserhalle, Rotterdam Ahoy, and Anaheim Convention Center

By TTGmice

December 7, 2017

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Gösserhalle celebrates debut in Austrian MICE scene
Located close to the Vienna Central Station in Favoriten is Austria’s newest 5,000m² event space – Gösserhalle.

Previously an old beer warehouse, the 120-year-old building has been split into five event spaces ranging in size from 200m² to 1,300m². For example, the Archtrium & Garden features a covered outdoor area of 350m², and a garden area of 1,000m², as well as a 950m² hall for 700 people in a gala seating or 1,300 people in theatre-style.

In addition to the five main halls, there are also plenty of ancillary rooms such as office space, break outs and dressing rooms.

Rotterdam Ahoy adds a new wing
In January 2021, Rotterdam Ahoy in Netherlands will mark its 50^th anniversary with a new, multipurpose convention centre.

The new building will comprise 35 rooms, a 7,000-pax auditorium, music venue, and theatre. Construction of the new convention centre will begin after the renovation of current five exhibition and event halls on the west side of Rotterdam Ahoy.

The hall renovations and the conference centre are part of the large-scale qualitative transformation of the Rotterdam south area (Hart van Zuid) with the goal of a new and vibrant city centre.

ACC competes expansion
The Anaheim Convention Center (ACC) in California has opened its largest and most significant expansion in nearly two decades – the ACC North.

The seventh expansion adds 18,580m² of flexible meeting space, enlarging the entire ACC to 167,225m², with more than 92,900m² of exhibition space.

Tom Morton, executive director of Anaheim’s Convention Sports & Entertainment Department, said: “Not only is this our largest expansion since 2000, it is one of the most significant in terms of the features and innovation it brings to Anaheim.”

[Sponsored Post] Princess Cruises offers Ship Open-House for MICE players in 2018

By TTG

December 6, 2017

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Unforgettable MICE Retreats at Sea

Explore various destinations on an all-inclusive cruise getaway: Princess Cruises offers convenient itineraries of three to five days for meetings as well as seven to 11 days that make great incentives. Companies can explore cruise retreats in Southeast Asia and Australia during December to March or other popular destinations like Japan, Europe, Alaska during summer – guests can disembark at the various ports to explore the destination as a team.

Engage your team – for innovative team building ideas, allow us and our crew to help chart out a day of exciting activities to boost morale, improve communication and strengthen the teamwork.

Network in style and Dine in elegance – Go on a journey of culinary discovery on board Princess Cruises. There are countless ways for a group to get together for a drink or share a meal, including private cocktail gatherings, wine tastings, fine dining in our restaurants, dinners in our specialty restaurants and more. The dining experience onboard can be customized to cater to your group. With multiple, large capacity dining rooms, we can dedicate an entire dining room or section one just for you.

Room to relax – Committed to ensuring that our guests wake up each day feeling refreshed, renewed and rejuvenated, we’ve collaborated with the leading experts in both the science and beauty of sleep to develop the Princess Luxury Bed. A bed that is designed to provide the ultimate night sleep for our guests.

Entertain your team – Every evening, the ship will be alive with entertaining possibilities and your delegates will revel in it. Let the transition from work to play be seamless with our wide range of entertainment options. Catch spectacular production shows at the Princess Theatre, host private parties in the cozy lounges or bars, enjoy the latest blockbusters on our giant 300 square foot LED screen with our signature Movies Under The Stars® or even try scoring a date with Lady Luck at our Las Vegas Style Casino.

Reward your Top Achievers or Corporate Elite:

Come Back from your retreat feeling refreshed, renewed and rejuvenated with the pampering facilities onboard Princess Cruises.

Choose among accommodations ranging from affordable inside staterooms or balcony staterooms to upgrading them to our finest suites onboard.

Pamper them with a Chef’s Table dining experience which comes with behind the scenes tour or choose to add to their reward with award-winning shore excursions, a cocktail or beverage package, spa treatments, private balcony dining experiences with Champagne, etc.

[Click on images to learn more]

Sapphire Princess will be homeporting in Singapore for four months in 8 December 2018 to 21 March 2019. Voyages are between three to 13 nights, stopping at various exciting destinations which includes Phu My (Vietnam), Ko Samui (Thailand) and Bali (Indonesia).

Introduction to Sapphire Princess:

Sapphire Princess is an 116,000 ton world class liner which carries 2,670 passengers and features a large number of staterooms with private balconies, the award-winning Lotus Spa, fitness center, specialty restaurants and boutiques among other amenities across 18 decks. On every sailing, there is always something in the daily onboard offerings that brings out the vibrant, youthful side of team members to create lasting memories.

Find out more about Sapphire Princess here.

Spectacular production shows on every sailing: Catch the remarkable and dynamic production shows every evening with your team at the Princess Theatre. These imaginative shows feature Broadway classics, popular hits and original numbers performed by some of the largest and most talented casts at sea.

On Sapphire Princess, we have enticing food options available on board from hand-tossed pizza at Alfredo’s Pizzeria to multi-course dinners at five fine-dining rooms or casual dining options at the buffet, 24 hours International Café, and even room service is free!

Find out more about food and dining here.

Team building activities: Princess Cruises has a wide array of onboard entertainment for teams to spend quality time together and bond at a corporate retreat. Learn something new together with your team every day with our enrichment classes. Get your heart pumping with Zumba classes in the morning, hone your photography skills in photography classes or get your creative juices flowing with our arts and crafts classes. After lunch, learn how to play the ukulele with our talented musician. Guests can also pick up dancing in the various dance classes throughout the day.

Recharge your team – relax in many of the ship’s pools, unwind at our adult’s only top-deck retreat – The Sanctuary, rejuvenate in our award winning Lotus Spa, or engage in some retail therapy on board our duty-free shops carrying a wide variety of international brands. After a full day of excitement, Movies Under The Stars® is a great way for the team to relax under a backdrop of sky and sea and catch up on blockbuster Hollywood movies.

Find out more about our entertainment here.

Exclusive Corporate Invitation:

Princess Cruises is organizing a showcase of Sapphire Princess in Singapore on Wednesday, 24 January 2018. Programme includes a product presentation, exclusive ship tour and 3-course networking lunch.

Event Details:
Date: 24 January 2018 (Wednesday)
Time: 10.00am – 2.30pm
Ship: Sapphire Princess
Port: Marina Bay Cruise Centre (61 Marina Coastal Drive, Singapore 018947)

Interested parties can email support@carnival-sg.com or call +65 69226788 by Mon, 15 January 2018 to register.

About Princess Cruises:

One of the best-known names in cruising, Princess Cruises is a global cruise line and tour company operating a fleet of 17 modern cruise ships renowned for their innovative design and wide array of choices in dining, entertainment and amenities, all provided with the experience of exceptional customer service. As an award-winning destination leader offering international cruise vacations, Princess carries two million guests each year to more than 360 destinations around the globe on more than 150 itineraries ranging in length from three to 114 days.

Surin’s last words on tourism

By Raini Hamdi

December 5, 2017

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Former secretary-general of ASEAN and former Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan died of an acute heart attack on November 30. He was 68.

Surin reportedly collapsed while preparing to speak at the Thailand Halal Assembly 2017 at BITEC in Bangkok. He was rushed to Ramkhamhaeng Hospital, and pronounced dead at 15.07.

Surin Pitsuwan, the former ASEAN secretary-general, was involved in the peace process as facilitator and negotiator in the region

Surin was secretary-general of ASEAN from 2008 to 2012. A statement issued by Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said he “contributed greatly to the advancement and interest of ASEAN, as well as the promotion of ASEAN on the international stage. His outstanding personality, knowledge and wisdom were truly recognised by global leaders”.

As a champion of ASEAN tourism, Surin had always exhorted the region’s tourism public and private sectors to be mindful of sustainable development. In one of his last speeches directly related to tourism, in June last year when he delivered a keynote at the Thailand Travel Mart Plus 2016, he called on the ASEAN tourism industry to pay equal attention to the socio-cultural pillar of ASEAN integration, not “over-focus” on its economic impact.

The “tapestry of contrasts” of ASEAN’s 10-member countries made it such an attractive destination and, because of this diversity, the regional travel and tourism industry should pay equal attention to the socio-cultural and political-security blueprints of ASEAN, “not just economic, economic, economic all the time”, Surin said.

While intra-ASEAN commerce was only about 27-28 per cent of the total trade volume, intra-ASEAN travel constituted about 47-48 per cent of the total and it was “within striking distance” that intra-ASEAN could hit the 50 per cent mark this year, the 50^th anniversary of ASEAN, he said. Thanks to low-cost airlines, transportation was no longer an issue in ASEAN connectivity. The challenge now, said Surin, was managing growth – how to improve services and enhance sustainability.

“If we are not careful, we will have problems of congestion and environmental impact, which will also impact the cultural resources that we value. It’s the software not the hardware. It’s the management, not the transportation systems anymore.

“Tourism is supposed to be one activity that creates opportunity for everyone. Let us make the ASEAN destination attractive, sustainable, accessible and playing the role of equalising that income.

“Tourism is a goose laying golden eggs. We can’t starve it, nor can we over-feed, nor ignore it, nor take too much advantage of it.”

At the same time, he called on the tourism industry to put pressure on the immigration and safety authorities to expedite a single visa to allow people to move more seamlessly through the region, but also for the industry to not just focus on doing business but be involved in the broader goals of creating a better world for future generations.

While tourists had the luxury of being on the move for leisure and pleasure, he urged the audience to think of the humanitarian suffering of the millions of people who were on the move to escape suffering and violence.

Norwegian makes move on Asia’s cost-conscious corporates

By Pamela Chow

December 5, 2017

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Low-cost carrier Norwegian made its move into the Asian market when they hosted a networking session to reach out to travel agents in Singapore last week.

A segment the airline hopes to reel in is corporate flyers who have a limited budget for their trips, said Lars Sande, the company’s senior vice president sales & distribution, Norge.

Sande addressing agents in Singapore in a bid to increase the airline’s visibility

The event is the first of Norwegian’s outreach efforts in Asia, where Sande remarked that there is little to no awareness of Norwegian as an international airline.

Only 25 to 30 per cent of the carrier’s routes serve Norway domestically, clarified Sande.

In October this year, the airline launched a direct connection between Singapore’s Changi Airport and London’s Gatwick Airport, making it the world’s longest low-cost flight.

He also shared that the carrier is hoping to expand its connections between Singapore and Scandinavia and European cities such as Barcelona and Rome, and may increase its four-times-weekly Singapore-London service to daily.

Sande asserted that Norwegian is not poaching business from frequent flyers of legacy airlines, but are instead focusing on travellers who are looking for quality at a more affordable price point.

The airline “controls” its costs by investing in channels such as selective crew distribution, limited branding and advertising, as well as newer and more fuel-efficient aircraft, explained Sande.

Its longhaul routes are served by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet and shorthaul flights by the 737 fleet, of which 90 to 95 per cent is fitted with complimentary Wi-Fi. The airline is looking to install Wi-Fi on the rest of its fleet in the coming months.

Norwegian’s entry has piqued corporate agent interest, but some told TTGmice that they are unsure about local interest and product specifics.

Yi-Leen von Rueden, sales manager of Global Travel, said: “We thought a Scandinavian airline would be expensive, and never expected it to be a low-cost carrier; so it’s a good option.”

However, von Rueden finds that although her company sells both full- and low-cost carriers, her corporate clients often choose to fly on commercial airlines especially when it’s on the company dime.

Voyager Travel’s general manager Jenny Ng agreed, commenting that Norwegian’s longhaul flights may be hard to sell when full-cost airlines such as British Airways, KLM and Finnair often roll out competitively priced fares for an all-inclusive service.

Ng concluded that more information and communication with Norwegian will be crucial in order to for agents to sell the airline.

Massive trade fairs scheduled for new MITEC

By S Puvaneswary

December 5, 2017

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MITEC_-_03 — MITEC pushes the green envelope; aims to reduce its environmental impact and drive sustainability

Malaysia’s newest venue for exhibitions and conferences, Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC), which opened in August this year, has revealed a 1H2018 event calendar that is packed with large-scale trade fairs.

Gunther Beissel, MITEC CEO, said the “high-profile events” include MITA Travel Fair 2018 in January which will attract an estimated 10,000 attendees; Malaysia International Furniture Fair in March with some 15,000 attendees; Malaysia International Halal Fair and Defense Service Asia, both in April, with some 20,000 attendees each.

The recently-opened MITEC further solidifies Malaysia’s position on the MICE map

MITEC, which boasts more than 45,000m² of gross exhibition space, is also said to be the country’s largest exhibition centre. When combined, the exhibition halls can accommodate up to 47,700 visitors in a theatre setting or 28,300 banquet guests.

Spanning over three massive double volume floors, MITEC offers 5.3 hectares of flexible function space including 11 exhibition halls (nine mega halls and two medium-sized halls), one multipurpose hall, 10 meeting rooms, VIP suites and lounge and media and press facilities.

The venue is a public-private partnership project with the Malaysian government, managed and operated by Prisma Galeri, an entity under Naza Corporation Holdings and owned by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation.

While 1H2018 will be a busy period of MITEC, Beissel has forecasted a challenging new year due to the “volatile global economic climate”.

“(Business) events have become a lot leaner and very much budget and ROI focused, and we need to be even more creative by providing innovative products and services,” he said.

“Fortunately for MITEC, Malaysia’s unique selling propositions such as value-for-money, direct air access from most major cities around the world, a safe and stable political climate, and established industry supply chain among others help boost our attractiveness for the regional and international marketplace,” he added.

Still, “strong growth” is expected in the coming years, largely from “high population markets in Asia due to their expanding middle classes”.

As well, Beissel anticipates a growing importance placed on sustainable and eco-friendly practices, special dietary requirements and healthy F&B options, and flexible function spaces.

Singapore to host Rotary International Convention 2024

Sexton steps down from PCMA; Karamat takes over

Tour East establishes leisure presence in North America

ITB Asia inks partnership with ACTE

Photo of the day: Seoul MICE Alliance looks ahead to 2018

Beyond Asia: Gösserhalle, Rotterdam Ahoy, and Anaheim Convention Center

[Sponsored Post] Princess Cruises offers Ship Open-House for MICE players in 2018

Unforgettable MICE Retreats at Sea

Surin’s last words on tourism

Norwegian makes move on Asia’s cost-conscious corporates

Massive trade fairs scheduled for new MITEC

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