GainingEdge, the management company of BestCities Global Alliance, has appointed Lesley Williams as director, market development, effective July 1.

In her new role, she will help drive the alliance’s strategic goal of discovering new markets on behalf of its partners.

Gary Grimmer, CEO of GainingEdge added that Williams will work closely with the BestCities management team and partners to generate results from new markets, evaluate and advance the alliance’s conferences strategy, and develop a global ambassador programme.

Prior to joining GainingEdge, Williams was head of business tourism for marketing Edinburgh for seven years. In addition, Williams has served on a number of committees focused on raising the profile of Scotland as a world leading conference destination such as the deputy chair of Business Tourism for Scotland; and also as the chair of ICCA UK and Ireland chapter.

Sengan-en, a traditional Japanese garden and cultural complex in Kagoshima Prefecture, has begun a six-month renovation ahead of the 150^th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration in 2018.

Currently, most business event groups to the complex are on incentive packages that include a tour of the historic house, followed by a meal or a day of cultural activities, but Sengan-en spokesperson Alex Bradshaw believes the anniversary could create a greater appeal.

Alex Bradshaw

Sengan-en’s owner Shimadzu Limited concurs, and expects a boom in domestic business as the site had played a critical role in the creation of modern Japan.

According to Bradshaw, one restaurant is to lose 100-150 seats moving from cafeteria seating to mixed spaces that allow groups greater privacy.

Meanwhile, the kiriko glass factory will be refurbished to allow direct access to craftsmen while they work. As well, shops are being replaced to allow an emphasis on local brands, and English signage is being improved.

“Japan was the only country in Asia to modernise (150 years ago) and the key to that economic growth potential is in Kagoshima,” Bradshaw said, adding that Sengan-en’s museums and historic artefacts remain relevant to businesses today.

In the lead up the Rugby World Cup and Olympics, the renovated facilities will also be promoted to small international business groups seeking unique venues or to get off the beaten track.

Taiwan is on the rise as an incentive destination, with CSR and teambuilding activities at the top of companies’ bucket lists, said industry players at a networking event hosted by Meet Taiwan, the Bureau of Foreign Trade’s business events promotion agency.

Lucia Lan, manager of Taiwan Tour, said her agency incorporates local stories and experiences into teambuilding exercises, such as building and sailing a raft and staging an opera performance. Lan added that the country’s abundance of natural attractions and cultural experiences makes it fertile ground for creative teambuilding activities.

Other popular CSR activities include beach clean-ups and handicraft workshops that give back to local communities. For instance, Ably Conference and Exhibition organised a student charity event for a Shanghai delegation.

Even traditions like face threading – facial hair removal believed to bring luck to brides-to-be – can be integrated into teambuilding contests as a ‘penalty’, shared assistant supervisor of inbound agency Lion Travel Service, Jose Hsu.

Such experiential activities are sought after by companies. Corporate event management agency 8th Wave’s senior sales executive, Kristen Jade, told TTGmice: “We would like our clients to experience the local culture and food. Taiwan’s CSR and teambuilding activities are very interactive – that’s what I find attractive about Taiwan.”

Meanwhile, Meet Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy has prompted stronger promotional efforts in the 10 ASEAN countries, six South Asian countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

Among these, India is Taiwan’s fast-growing source market for business events, noted Taiwan Tourism Bureau Singapore Office’s director, Trust Lin.

“Indian groups look for more traditional, luxurious and ‘flashy’ experiences,” observed Lin.

The Flight Centre Travel Group has announced plans to merge its FCM and Corporate Traveller brands in Greater China, Malaysia and Singapore to support growing regional travel demand.

Previously operated alongside each other, the larger FCM business targeted national, regional and multi-national accounts while the Corporate Traveller brand targeted SMEs.

“This merger will simplify our structure in Asia and strengthen our brand presence in the corporate travel sector,” said FCM Asia’s general manager Bertrand Saillet.

He added: “With a renewed focus on a regional approach for the growing travel programmes of our national clients, this merger means we are more ready to quickly scale up any travel programme for our customers as their business expands.”

According to a Flight Centre statement, customers who were previously with Corporate Traveller can enjoy better integration of product roll-out and travel technology, account management and data consolidation as their travel programme regionalises.

The FCM Asia businesses will continue to operate alongside the Flight Centre brand offering, which also caters for small corporate accounts.

“KWG has a small inbound travel business in Guangzhou and hence looks for experienced hands like Swire Travel,” she added.

The company is eyeing penetration into China’s main and secondary cites where there exists “a lot of unstructured corporate travel management for SMEs or larger corporations,” she explained.

The strategy for 2017 remains focused on Swire’s corporate travel core. “We will leverage KWG’s network and local expertise to build up Great Bay Area (Hong Kong-Macau-Guangdong) business for us, strengthening corporate business as a whole.”

Adapting and diversifying, including in its leisure segment, will also be key. In response to a declining preference for standard packages, the company has started building more itineraries on private tour basis.

“We’ll also implement a B2C platform for our leisure clients who want point-to-point dynamic packages. It will soft launch this month.”

Slethaug said transition in the past five months has been smooth as all staff are retained. A Greater China MICE team was set up, headed by Eva Lai who also heads the Shanghai and Beijing branches.

From July 11-13, 2017, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will play host to the International Corporate Governance Network’s (ICGN) annual conference.

Milly Sheehan, ICGN’s communications manager, explained that the three-day conference will be “very valuable” as it offers ICGN’s members and interested non-members the opportunity to meet face to face, share knowledge, extend their professional networks, and learn from one another.

Sheehan added: “It aims to promote a meaningful dialogue between companies and investors with a series of engagement sessions, company site visits and plenary debates.”

The ICGN conference was last held in Malaysia in 2011, and this year’s edition is expected to attract about 500 capital market senior professionals. It is hosted by the Kuala Lumpur Retirement Fund and in partnership with The Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group Malaysia.

The event is important to Malaysia as it will shine a spotlight on the country’s initiatives taken in the areas of corporate governance and stewardship developments, many of which have been promoted through a mix of government-driven reforms. As a result, the annual conference will help to attract inward investment by helping to instil investor confidence.

Sarawak has withdrawn its sole representative from the Malaysia Tourism Board (MTB).

In a statement, Sarawak Chief Minister’s Office explained: “The state government deems that the participation of its representative in Tourism Malaysia is not necessary, as (it duplicates) the role and functions of the Sarawak Tourism Board.”

A source told TTG Asia that the board was not involved in policy making and having a representation was not “critically important”.

The decision was made by the chief minister of Sarawak Abang Johari Open and was not due to the recent spat with Malaysian tourism and culture minister Nazri Abdul Aziz over the tourism tax issue, according to Sarawak State tourism, arts, culture, youth and sports minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah in a report by the Borneo Post.

He was also quoted in the same report as saying that MTB has “not been doing much for Sarawak. We might as well help ourselves through the Sarawak Tourism Board.”

Abdul Karim felt that the federal government should have consulted with the state first before pushing the tourism tax on Sarawak.

Queensland’s treasurer Curtis Pitt has announced that A$176 million (US$134 million) will be put towards the upgrading and expansion of Cairns Convention Centre.

Aside from the refurbishment of the existing centre, new exhibition space and meeting rooms will also be added.

With this monetary injection, the government predicts that the expansion will bring with it an additional A$30 million of economic benefit for the regional economy each year, 20,000 extra visitors to Cairns every year, and job creation.

Ross Steele, Cairns Convention Centre’s general manager, said: “We welcome the announcement made in the recent budget. The continued commitment by the state government will allow the Cairns Convention Centre to grow in line with the aspirations of the city, with new hotels, new aquarium and continued strong investment in the city heart, it really is an exciting time in Cairns.

“We look forward to progressing our plans for construction which is expected to commence following the Commonwealth Games basketball preliminaries which will be held at the Centre in April 2018.”