ICCA and BestCities Global Alliance have co-launched the ICCA Incredible Impacts Programme, a programme that celebrates the “beyond tourism” value of international association meetings.

The new programme creates a platform to advocate the positive societal impact of international association meetings. Incredible Impacts grants are then awarded to associations to encourage communication of the true value of their meetings. This partnership is a direct result of ICCA’s five-year strategic plan which was launched at the end of 2015.

To apply for a grant, associations must demonstrate a track record in a “beyond tourism” or legacy programme or project related to their international meetings. The association must explain how they would use the grant to support, expand, extend or enhance their chosen programme or a future project.

Examples include:

– Knowledge and/or skills transfers to developing countries
– Public awareness of healthcare or environmental issues, or achievement of improved outcomes
– Positive impact on national and regional policies and practices
– Advancing future intellectual and/or societal leaders

An independent jury will determine which three associations will be awarded a grant of US$7,500 each. The winners of each year’s grants will be announced at the ICCA Congress in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

The programme will be judged looking for “great examples” rather than for “best example of”, to stimulate further projects, better measurement, and wider understanding of the range of impacts that international association meetings can generate.

Associations can nominate themselves or candidate associations can be nominated by any ICCA member. Nominations can be e-mailed to ICCA’s director of association relations, Ksenija Polla, at ksenija.p@iccaworld.org.

Global provider of cloud event management software and sourcing solutions, etouches, has finalised the integration of Loopd – acquired in late 2016 – technology with its end-to-end event management and sourcing platform.

The technology will help event planners manage every aspect of the event and meeting lifecycle, as well as provide visibility into real-time performance of live events.

Loopd offers three key components. First, the Loopd Badge – wearable, smart badges enable fast and easy contact exchange, content collection, and registration for attendees, while capturing attendee interactions, session attendance, and event flow traffic.

Second, the Loopd App which organisers can elevate the event experience for attendees, improve engagement, and increase post-event activity. Attendees can also use networking features to discover nearby attendees and manage meeting requests.

Lastly, the Loopd Engagement & Analytics which is an in-browser analytics engine allows event organisers to measure and optimise the value and impact of their events. Incorporating the data collected by the app and badge, the analytics engine helps organisers understand attendee activity, attendee journey at the event, engagement, and overall event performance.

As well, Loopd allows event planners to customise components and how they’re used based on the organiser’s budget and goals. Loopd Hubs are wireless sensors that can be placed at strategic points so organisers can see and measure attendance and traffic flow at a specific session or event.

Changi Airport Group, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Singapore Airlines have enhanced their Singapore MICE Advantage Programme (SMAP) with new partners luxury airport terminal JetQuay and ride-sharing giant Uber, as well as more benefits for event organisers.

With SMAP’s new and improved benefits, qualified events can enjoy features such as customised support through STB’s Business Events in Singapore (BEiS) Scheme and facilitation for event organisers; more value fares to Singapore offered by Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Scoot and Tigerair; arrival into JetQuay for VIP delegates; ride discounts on Uber services.

Singapore’s Clarke Quay area

The first edition of SMAP, launched in 2013 and concluded in December 2016, secured over 85 events, and brought in close to 140,000 visitor arrivals to Singapore.

One event that benefitted from the initial programme is the 2017 Pacific Rim International Conference on Lasers and Electro-optics (CLEO). The conference steering committee was won over by the SMAP offerings, which addressed some of the issues commonly faced by meeting attendees.

SMAP applies to qualified events which are considering Singapore as a host destination. Applications can be sent in from now till December 31, 2019 and all events should take place before December 31, 2025.

At the same time, STB has extended its In Singapore Incentives & Rewards (INSPIRE) Programme for Europe and North America for an additional year until December 31, 2018.

The enhanced SMAP and INSPIRE Programmes are expected to further augment Singapore’s standing as a leading meetings destination.

Melissa OW, deputy chief executive, STB, said in a media release: “Even as Singapore retains its top Asian city ICCA ranking (it took top spot in ICCA 2016 top convention city in Asia-Pacific of the 15^th consecutive year), we are constantly looking for ways to stay ahead of the curve by enhancing the Singapore MICE experience.

“We are pleased to be able to enhance the existing SMAP and INSPIRE Programmes with like-minded partners to meet the industry’s evolving needs and to make their business events experience in Singapore more seamless and memorable. We are confident that such efforts will help sharpen Singapore’s value proposition in today’s competitive tourism landscape.”

Despite the Abu Sayyaf incident in Bohol in April, and the recent kidnapping threat in Palawan, Philippine MICE specialists say most business events and incentive groups from South-east Asia are still choosing to proceed with their travel plans to the destination.

John Emsermann, director of Select Travel Services, told TTGmice: “We’ve got so many other destinations (in the Philippines) to choose from. If I have a client that is afraid of Palawan, I’ll send them to Cebu or one of the other destinations. For me, there has been no drop in my MICE business at all as groups merely tend to avoid the problem areas.”

Boracay

“We are an archipelago, it is not possible to terrorise the whole country at one go,” agreed Marjorie Aquino, senior sales & marketing manager, Blue Horizons Travel & Tours.

But for Aquino, she indicated that her company does receive cancellations because of travel advisories and warnings.

She said: “For example, we were supposed to have an educational group trip to Bohol in April, which was the same time as the Abu Sayyaf incident, but because of a travel warning, they decided to pull out. There were a few other Bohol-bound groups that cancelled as well.”

However, Aquino stressed that there was a difference between travel advisories and travel warnings.

“If you say warning, it means clients shouldn’t visit. If it is an advisory, clients still have options to push through with their tour. On our part as a DMC, we will update our partner agents on what’s happening in the Philippines as soon as we get the news,” Aquino pointed out.

Similar to Emsermann, Antonio Ang, general manager of Ang’s Tour, said that for his company, his clients are still choosing the Philippines, but they “just avoid the problem areas”.

When asked where they were going instead, Ang said: “We have Malaysian, Thai and Vietnamese incentive groups that are heading to Cebu, Boracay and Manila.”

On the ground in Palawan, Jennifer Resurreccion, sales manager – corporate of Sheridan Beach Resort & Spa in Puerto Princesa, said: “Business in Palawan is still the same, the kidnapping is just a rumour. We haven’t had any cancellations for our MICE groups. As well, the department of tourism has released a memo stating that it is safe to visit Palawan.”

In fact, business has been growing for the 95-room resort, where it expects 75 additional rooms to come online in August. Event spaces on the property include a convention hall good for 500 pax theatre-style, two meeting rooms for 25 pax each, as well as a beach front, garden, gazebo and poolside area.

Aquino concluded: “Security issues and numerous threats happen everywhere. It’s just a matter of people being vigilant, but the destination can also help (alleviate fears by) heightening their security.”

The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre’s (the Centre) director of sales & marketing, Angeline van den Broecke, has been appointed to the Professional Convention Management Association’s (PCMA) Asia-Pacific Advisory Board.

Van den Broecke commented: “The formation of the regional board provides the perfect platform for us to generate greater exposure and awareness of Asia-Pacific’s advancement as an important player in the global meetings industry and with this growth comes the need for access to education and professional development programmes that can strengthen the capacity of associations, bureaux, venues and more broadly, the business events industry supply chain. We see this advancement as an important part of conveying the value of the business events and this will in turn also benefit Malaysia and the Centre.”

Angeline van den Broecke

According to PCMA’s chief operating officer, Sherrif Karamat: “The establishment of our new European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Asia-Pacific, Regional Advisory Boards is a signal of our intent to become the predominant global association for the business events industry.”

He added: “We believe our advisory boards will help us refine our regional strategies and are very confident that the chosen members will guide us in our rollout of educational products and services that will benefit the business events industry.”

The Incentive, Conference & Event Society Asia Pacific (ICESAP) and AccorHotels have jointly launched the first ICESAP Agency Accreditation Scheme and the Certification in Incentive, Conference and Event Management, a distance-learning programme for the business events industry.

As the principal partner, AccorHotels will work with ICESAP on improving training standards, supporting education and advancing best practices throughout the sector.

Nigel Gaunt

“The partnership will help strengthen our commitment to professionalising the MICE industry in Asia-Pacific, giving our staff access to the best training in the market in addition to our own accredited Academie Accor,” said Kerry Healey, vice president of sales Asia-Pacific, AccorHotels.

Nigel Gaunt, president of ICESAP, said: “The accreditation from ICESAP provides the industry with a consistent set of standards to follow and a strong foundation for raising the quality and professionalism of organisations in the industry. It also enables end-users to more confidently navigate through the process of researching, appointing and managing event agencies.”

The ICESAP Agency Accreditation Scheme will allow corporate end-users the ability to confidently identify and contract event agencies that meet the stringent accreditation standards. The scheme will assess an agency’s policies, processes, management and staff competencies, as well as conduct a third-party probity and due diligence check on company directors.

Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary have identified business events from first-tier cities in China as their next target.

Daiqi Xing, marketing manager at the Polish National Tourist Office in Beijing, told TTGmice that since Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Poland last year, there had been more interest in investment opportunities in Poland especially in the manufacturing and textile sectors, which would give rise to business travel and meetings from China.

Prague’s Old Town Square

At ITB China, Xing had also noted keen interest from Chinese buyers in organising exhibitions, meetings and incentives in Poland.

Zsuzsa Vincze, senior foreign affairs advisor for Hungarian Tourism Agency, said Central Europe is promoted as one destination with Vienna as the international hub, as it makes the whole region more attractive for the Chinese longhaul visitor.

Vincze opined that Central Europe’s appeal lies in the UNESCO World Heritage sites, chateaus, castles, clean air, beautiful scenery and abundance of health spas surrounded by nature.

For small and medium-sized groups, access to historical sites as unique venues add to the destination appeal.

Easy border crossings for the four destinations via well connected roads and rails and the convenience of the Schengen visa are further advantages, according to Lucia Kasanicka, state counsellor, marketing and promotion section, directorate general of tourism, ministry of transport and construction of the Slovak Republic.

Kasanicka said Central Europe appeals to Chinese delegates who have already been to Western Europe and are looking for a fresh option.

Central Europe’s affordability compared with Western Europe also helps draw interest. According to Kasanicka, a room in a five-star hotel in any Central European capital cost half the price of a similar property in Western Europe.

She said: “You can get a five-star hotel for 120 to 150 euros in Central Europe, while the same in Vienna would cost around 300 euros.”

Kasanicka observed that spring and summer are the most popular seasons for Chinese incentive groups, due to the pleasant weather which is perfect for wine tours. Furthermore, festivals are in abundance during spring and summer, such as the Folk Festival in Slovakia (June/July) and the Sausage & Wine Festival in Budapest (July).

Vincze said Central Europe is ready to welcome groups of under 1,000 delegates and the region is targeting first-tier Chinese cities through its own B2B roadshows, the most recent one being held in October 2016. A fam trip for Chinese media and tour operators from Shanghai will be organised this July.

Central Europe’s destination promotion efforts are currently supported by a sales and marketing representative in Beijing.

Adelaide-based All Occasions Group (AOG) has been named the event manager for the World Fisheries Congress 2020 (WFC2020).

The congress will be led by Primary Industries and Regions SA, in partnership with AOG, on behalf of the Australian Society for Fish Biology and the broader Australian and New Zealand seafood industry.

Anne-Marie Quinn

As the conference organiser, AOG’s responsibilities include budget management, marketing and communications, venue management, event management, exhibition management, sponsorships, and travel requirements for delegates.

Anne-Marie Quinn, AOG’s CEO, said: “We will be working alongside the WFC2020 Steering Committee to bring an expected 1,500 national and international delegates to Adelaide to learn about and foster cooperation in fisheries science, conservation and management. We anticipate that similar to the 2014 World Aquaculture Conference, delegates will also visit South Australia’s regional fisheries and aquaculture sites.”

“Delegates will enjoy insightful presentations, information on the latest technological advances in fisheries and an inspiring forum for debate and discussion on critical developments needed to ensure the future sustainable development of the world’s oceans and rivers,” added Quinn.