Marking the latest milestone for the construction of Adelaide Convention Centre’s new East Building is the installation of the venue’s rotating seating platform – said to be the largest in the world.
The two 18m revolving drums can be rotated 180 degrees within minutes, allowing the building to be quickly reconfigured for events, conferences and concerts.
(From left) Transport and infrastructure minister Stephen Mullighan, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, and tourism minister Leon Bignell on the world’s largest rotating seating platform in the Adelaide Convention Centre’s new East Building. Photo: Adelaide Convention Centre
The East Building will also feature hinged seating stored in the roof, which can be lowered to convert the room from an exhibition area to a theatre-style space.
The East Building will also feature hinged seating stored in the roof, which can be lowered to convert the room from an exhibition area to a theatre-style space.
The two rotating drums can each accommodate up to 320 people, with the East Building having a total capacity of up to 3500 seats.
At the height of construction there have been more than 400 workers on and off-site involved in construction and when complete the redevelopment is expected to support more than 1,200 South Australian jobs a year.
The East Building forms Stage Two of the redevelopment and is scheduled to be officially opened in August.
The Indonesian Ministry of Transportation has launched the Jabodetabek Airport Connexion (JAConnexion), a bus service connecting 15 hotels and seven malls in Jabodetabek (Jakarta-Bogor-Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi) to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
Initiated by the Jabodetabek Transportation Management Board, the service is operated by four major bus operators deploying a total of 91 buses.
Officials at the launch of JAConnexion. Photo credit: kabartangsel.com
Indonesia’s minister of transportation Budi Karya said: “Soekarno-Hatta (sees) traffic of 150,000 (people) a day and 25,000 (more) work at the airport. Such a transportation service has become mandatory, but 91 buses are not enough. I expect by the end of the year, we will have 400 buses.”
JAConnexion will give travellers an alternative mode of airport transport on top of the Jakarta Lite Rapid Transit train service, which will start operating soon.
Among the hotels and malls enjoying the shuttle connections are Alila Jakarta, Hotel Borobudur Jakarta, Sari Pan Pacific, Grand Indonesia, Taman Anggrek and Plaza Senayan.
The service costs 50,000 rupiah (US$3.75) from hotels and half the price from malls.
New Zealand is an attractive destination not just because of its scenery and activities but because it is a safer choice than Europe, opined agents attending last week’s MEETINGS 2017 in Auckland.
“My customers are avoiding Europe now,” said Astrid Soeseno, president director of Rotama Tour in Indonesia.
Astrid Soeseno
“Europe has often been the more popular choice because of the perceived value for money. But recently, a lot of things have happened (there) and there’s been a lot of bombings, so people are more likely to consider New Zealand or Australia,” Soeseno explained.
Soeseno was one of 29 international hosted buyers who experienced New Zealand’s offerings in a fam trip organised by Tourism New Zealand in conjunction with MEETINGS 2017. Programmes included sailing on an America’s Cup yacht, visiting picturesque vineyards, skydiving and bungy jumping.
“I think New Zealand definitely has a lot to offer,” said Jessie Heng, managing director of events company Crystal Edge Singapore. “The only thing is visitors won’t have enough time to cover so much goodness. But it’s a good problem to have.”
For Chinese delegates however, there are a few things that would hold back an enthusiastic endorsement of the country for business events.
“New Zealand is good for meetings,” said Linda Tsai, vice general manager of MICE for Apple Tour in Shanghai and Taiwan. “But we need more airline capacity from China, large convention centres as well as restaurant food for Asian diets.”
Tane Picken has returned to Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa as general manager, replacing Ben Bousnina who has retired. Picken was resident manager of the resort in 2014 and 2015, before moving to Penang to take on roles of hotel manager at Golden Sands Resort, Penang by Shangri-La and then general manager at Hotel Jen Penang.
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has served a notice to revoke the travel agent licence of MISA Travel for “(ceasing) to carry on the business of a travel agent and being unable to fulfil its obligations towards customers”.In a statement, STB advised affected consumers to contact MISA Travel regarding the status of their booking or seek a refund. In the event that the agency cannot be reached or fails to provide the relevant service or refund, consumers with applicable travel insurance should approach their insurance providers.
Those not covered by travel insurance can approach the Consumers Association of Singapore or the Small Claims Tribunal, STB said.
STB also stressed that consumers should take precautionary measures such as purchasing travel insurance that covers unforeseen events such as travel agent insolvency and making instalment payments.
Barely a month after Thomas Cook India announced its purchase of Kuoni Global Travel Services’ DMC network in Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas, JTB Corporation today announced its acquisition of all shares of Kuoni Global Travel Services for an undisclosed price.
The Kuoni Global Travel Services acquisition is a move to bolster JTB Corporation’s ambitions to become a top global DMC, as the partnership is expected to strengthen the inbound business services and increase the market share in Europe.
It will also support the expansion and strengthening of the global MICE services in Europe and the US markets, which is complementary to existing JTB MICE business, the company said in a statement.
Thomas Cook’s acquisition does not include Kuoni Destination Management Europe and Kuoni Destination Management US, which remain in the portfolio of Kuoni Global Travel Services.
Reto Wilhelm, CEO of Kuoni Global Travel Services, said: “JTB is one of the biggest and most respected market players in our industry. Joining JTB provides our company with the best positioned owner, which will help us realise the full potential of Kuoni Global Travel Services.”
Eijiro Yamakita, president & CEO of the European regional headquarters of JTB, said: “Kuoni Global Travel Services is one of the world’s leading travel companies with an important presence especially in Asian leisure and corporate groups visiting Europe. The acquisition offers an excellent opportunity to be a unique operator by gathering the network and knowledge. It enables the provision of detailed services to meet each customer’s needs with high added-value and the expansion of the inbound business.”
In the past few years, JTB has been expanding the inbound travel business to Europe, a major destination for travellers. By 2020, it is forecasted that foreign visitors to Europe will reach approximately 620 million (a 150 million increase from 2010), driven especially by China and Asian markets.
In addition to the Japan market, JTB has enhanced the outbound travel business from growing markets. In February, JTB also bought a 40 per cent share of Panorama Tours Indonesia to grow its Indonesian outbound business and inbound business into Japan.
The acquisition is subject to approval by the relevant competition a1uthorities and compliance with any other local legal requirements.
Kuoni Global Travel Services in a statement says it will continue efforts to be a neutral land operator to work with many companies other than JTB, paying full attention on the protection of any sensitive information.
New Zealand has set its sights on South-east Asia as one of its key growth markets for the country’s business events industry.
“Conferencing until now has been predominantly focused on Australia but we’ve been exploring opportunities for South-east Asia, with new infrastructure coming onstream in Auckland in 2019 and Christchurch in 2020”, said René de Monchy, director trade, PR and major events for Tourism New Zealand, in an interview with TTGmice at CINZ MEETINGS 2017 which started yesterday.
René de Monchy
New Zealand is celebrating NZ$311 million (US$219.8 million) in economic impact from wins in conference and incentive bids over the past four years, a handsome return on investment from the New Zealand government’s NZD$23 million made in 2013 to attract business events to the country.
Convention arrivals are also on the rise for New Zealand, hitting 66,000 at year ending March 2017, a four per cent increase from the year before.
“Success breeds more success. Next year’s KPIs will be higher than last year’s. It is important that when we go with the industry and bid for conferences (and) attain a high win rate which we have so far. We’re at a win rate of about 75 per cent,” said de Monchy.
Amway China, which is bringing 10,000 delegates to Queenstown next year in waves of 600 people at a time, will generate NZ$50 million worth of economic impact for the destination. The event is by far the biggest incentive business New Zealand has ever won and it helps New Zealand’s position as an incentive and business conference destination.
The architectural designs for the upcoming Christchurch Convention Centre on New Zealand’s South Island have been revealed today at CINZ MEETINGS 2017.
General manager Rob McIntyre said in a press release: “We have studied the best practice worldwide and designed purpose-built boutique facilities around the way our clients work, creating seamless transitions between spaces and sessions. The venue will be responsive to a wide range of event requirements for up to 2,000 delegates, all within easy walking distance of city hotels.”
A rendering of the Christchurch Convention Centre
Features of the riverfront convention centre will include a 1,400-delegate auditorium that can be scaled to allow up to three events to run concurrently; numerous meeting rooms from boardroom scale to large flat floor plenary sessions; purpose-built banqueting area; and a public circulation space. Support infrastructure will include dedicated offices for PCOs, a hospitality lounge, boardroom, crew room and speaker preparation rooms.
New Zealand’s second largest city is home to world-class universities, Crown research facilities, start-up accelerators, and specialist innovation and health precincts.
“Here we can bring together people from all over the world with interests in Christchurch’s specialist areas of expertise, including earth sciences, health sciences, agriculture, food science, international education, building and environmental technology,” McIntyre pointed out.
Designed by international firm Woods Bagot, construction of the Christchurch Convention Centre is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019.
IJM Perennial Development, the developer of the Penang Waterfront Convention & Exhibition Centre (PWCC), is looking for an international venue operator to undertake sales, marketing, operations, catering and facilities management.
The PWCC is a flexible and multi-purpose integrated venue located on the eastern coastline of Penang, Malaysia. Its facilities include a 7,000m2 exhibition hall; plenary seating options of 700, 1,200 and 4,500; banquet capacity of up to 4,000 persons; a grand ballroom accommodating 800 people; and 15 meeting rooms of various sizes.
The Light City
The PWCC is part of a mixed development project, The Light City, which includes retail and dining, and is connected to two on-site international standard hotels that offer a total of 745 rooms.
The deadline to submit proposals is 16.00 on July 10, 2017, Kuala Lumpur time. For more information, please contact Richa Kansal at richa@gainingedge.com.
The ultimate question we are likely to face as mothers is how to find that delicate balance between family, children and a career. It’s a challenging decision but if you love what you do, you’ll find a way and make it work.
As any mother who has found herself in this position will tell you, leaving a child to recommit to a demanding career is a difficult choice, and a battle which I myself have had to face. Confronted by the decision of wanting to have children and start a family but not wanting to lose momentum in a career has at times left me torn.
Finding that balance between family and career, especially in the events industry
But why should we have to choose? Surely mothers should be able to spend quality with their children and have an active role bringing them up, but at the same time have a career, acting as a role model by showing them that following their career path and passion is also an option.
With 82 per cent of the events industry made up of women, I know I am not alone in my fight. Working in this industry is tough – yes, our hours are long and our schedules can be exhausting – but ultimately, we love what we do and so the key is finding what works for you.
As mothers we need to be smart with time management and know the difference between what meetings we need to attend and those we don’t. In this modern era with technology so readily available, we are more connected than ever, opening up endless possibilities, including the ability to work remotely and adding that all important element of flexibility to our lives.
I have been lucky to have an incredible company behind me which has supported me in my journey through motherhood and beyond. While it is possible to juggle both motherhood and a career without the full support of a business – and I know that many have to – there are many ways businesses can provide support.
Cievents has a fantastic culture, actively encouraging employees to remain flexible within their working lives. A range of initiatives ensure that work life balance is achievable for everyone. This includes; ci-flex, flexible work hours allowing for personal endeavours, whether that be a yoga class, a run on the beach, coffee with a friend, childcare, school drop-offs or pickups; ci-summer, allowing staff to work summer hours, shorter days or less days during the week and; ci-me, giving all staff members a day off for their birthday, to celebrate and spend time with family and friends.
With such great incentives, allowing all employees to plan their work lives around their personal lives, it is unsurprising that cievents has such a high retention rate at 85.05 per cent currently. Businesses that want to retain staff should really consider how they can provide this important support to ensure a healthy work-life balance.
Now my children are older, you would think that I have more freedom. Unfortunately that is not the case. The truth is, family time never stops – just because I’m no longer changing nappies doesn’t mean that we don’t need to spend that quality time together.
I think sometimes businesses can forget this, and while I don’t mean that businesses should expect less from their employees, I think there needs to be an understanding of what is needed to support their personal lives. Hopefully, these conversations will become more and more common.
Fiona Batten is the general manager Australia, CiEvents, an award winning strategic event management agency for the corporate market with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, London, Birmingham, New York, New Jersey, San Francisco, Toronto, Hong Kong, Auckland and Mexico City.
Behind the imposing, Brutalist concrete that defines Zurich’s Oerlikon district lies a surprising secret. While its exterior honours the neighbourhood’s industrial roots, stepping inside Mama Shelter reveals a vibrant, neon-soaked world that is a far cry from its rigid shell
A polished urban retreat designed for business travellers, Hyatt Regency Kuala Lumpur at KL Midtown combines thoughtful design, seamless service, and exceptional facilities.
In a statement, STB advised affected consumers to contact MISA Travel regarding the status of their booking or seek a refund. In the event that the agency cannot be reached or fails to provide the relevant service or refund, consumers with applicable travel insurance should approach their insurance providers.
The Light City
