FCM Travel Solutions strengthened its reach in Asia-Pacific with a recent partnership forged with Yangon-based Oway Travels and Tours, Myanmar.

Oway Travels is a venture-capital backed, IATA approved company with over 250 employees.

“This new partnership for FCM will increase our already-established presence in Asia and is a valuable addition to our growing global network. A presence in Myanmar strengthens FCM’s service offering for current clients and prospects operating in the region – we are implementing several new clients at present with the Oway Travels team,” said Caroline Kerr, general manager for FCM’s Asia Pacific Partner Network.

Nay Aung, CEO and founder of Oway Travels and Tours, said in a statement: “Our dynamic market is seeing more travel demand as investments pour in and it is a great opportunity for us to partner a global company like FCM.”

Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau’s (TCEB) newest president, Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, is keen to use the business events industry to play a larger part in developing Thailand.

“It is expected that in the 2017 budget year, there will be a total of 27.1 million MICE travellers in Thailand, generating revenue of 155 billion baht (US$4.6 billion), separated into 1.1 million international MICE visitors, generating a revenue of 101 billion baht, and 26 million domestic MICE travellers, generating 54 billion baht in revenue,” Chiruit pointed out.

Chiruit added: “To build MICE into a key sector in developing the country requires the use of four directions for enhancing the MICE industry to create more stability.”

The four steps he indicated are:

1. Growing in parallel with the development of the country, which focuses on keeping the current market and finding new markets by placing business events in parallel with the development of the country’s economy, pulling the industry into other target industries, such as those covered by Thailand 4.0, as well as into special economic areas
2. Growing in a high potential market, focusing on the regions with high growth and strong connection with the development of Thailand’s economy, such as South-east Asia, Greater Mekong Subregion, East Asia/South Asia and Australia/New Zealand
3. Growing with equality, by increasing the opportunities for business events industry growth in provinces with potential, such as Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Pattaya/Chonburi and Songkhla
4. Growing strongly, which involves the development of an internal system to meet the needs of the market, developing the organisation and regulations to better support the industry in the future

Five strategies will be undertaken to achieve the four directions. They include developing and enhancing the capabilities of local business event operators through certification; integrating public and private sectors to attract more world-class events into Thailand; distributing economic development to other regions through the business events industry; driving the use of innovations and building business events Intelligence to support and enhance competitive capabilities; and improving TCEB as an organisation with good governance.

Meanwhile, Chiruit also shared that Thailand will play host to a number of international conferences this year, such as the 2017 PCMA Global Professional Conference – Asia Pacific, UIA’s Associations Roundtable Asia-Pacific 2017, IT&CM Asia & CTW Asia Pacific, and SIGGRAPH Asia. In 2019, the country will also play host to UFI The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry and SITE Global Conference 2019.

The Asia-Pacific Federation of Association Organizers (APFAO) and the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) have signed an MoU on June 29 which will see the implementation of programmes and activities based on mutual interests.

For example, the two organisations will support NTOs in setting up national associations for associations executives, and enhance the engagement of association executives at ICCA and APFAO events.

Octavio B Peralta, APFAO pro-tem head of secretariat and founder of the Philippine Council for Associations and Association Executives, has also indicated that the two organisations are thinking about organising joint events.

Peralta pointed out that ICCA has supported APFAO since its inception, and works with associations to build their capacities and grow their network with ICCA members.

“They helped us ‘tell the story’ to their members – convention and visitors bureaus, tourism boards, meeting planners, etc. – to relate with associations in their respective countries, and to encourage the formation of national association of associations like APFAO,” he said.

Peralta added: “On its part, APFAO is supporting ICCA’s Association Meetings Programme which brings associations and meeting professionals to one forum.”

Earlier in April, APFAO also signed a memorandum of cooperation with the American Society of Association Executives, which Peralta said includes jointly organising conferences and forums on association governance and management, credentialing programmes, networking and strategic alliances among members.

Destination NSW has appointed Celine Dong as the new business development manager for Shanghai.

Prior to joining Destination NSW, Dong was with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) where she held the position of manager, Eastern China.

In addition, Christine Tang has been appointed the first business development manager for the newly-opened Guangzhou office in Southern China.

Prior to joining Destination NSW, Tang was manager, Southern China, also with STB.

Both Dong and Tang will be responsible for building relationships with key travel trade partners, wholesalers, retailers, airlines and online agents to increase the awareness and sales of NSW tourism destinations and products in Eastern China and Southern China respectively, Sandra Chipchase, Destination NSW’s CEO, said.

China is the number one inbound visitor market for Destination NSW. In the year that ended March 2017, New South Wales welcomed more than 700,000 visitors from China who spent close to A$3 billion (US$2.4 billion).

SingEx Holdings has acquired a majority stake in Worldex, a reputable event organiser and event business solutions provider in Guangzhou, China from one of the world’s largest trade fair organisers, Fiera Milano.

The new subsidiary, Worldex-SingEx (Guangzhou), is in line with SingEx’s ongoing plans for regional expansion into the major markets of South-east Asia, India and China.

SingEx will harness its international networks and partnerships to grow the Worldex-SingEx portfolio of imported food tradeshows in China, under the Food Hospitality World China (FHW) trade event brand, in collaboration with food importers association, trade councils, logistics and ecommerce companies. FHW is a leading B2B marketplace designed to educate players on food variety, quality and safety demands of the Chinese market and facilitate business tie-ups between buyers from China and sellers from around the world.

At the same time, Worldex-SingEx has begun efforts to advance the Belt-Road Initiative (BRI) through working closely with China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and selected provincial governments on multi-sector and themed tradeshows that focus on China’s exportable products and services. These events will be held in key Asian markets identified under the BRI, such as India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Worldex-SingEx will also develop China-based editions of SingEx’s core portfolio of new-to-market events such as IoT Asia, Last Mile Fulfilment Asia as well as innovate new marquee event concepts relevant to China’s market.

Read more about Singex Holdings’ forward plans following this acquisition in the next issue of TTGmice.