Dusit International has introduced Total Quality Management (TQM) systems across its entire portfolio of properties, making it one of the first Thai-owned hospitality companies to meet the criteria of the International Organization for Standardization’s ISO 9000 series and to commit to continuous improvement in all operational aspects.

TQM is a comprehensive and structured approach to organisational management that seeks to improve the quality of products and services through ongoing refinements.

Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket

Dusit International began implementing its TQM systems three years ago and on December 2016, was certified ISO 9001:2015 – an international standard for quality management systems within an organisation – for several of its properties in Bangkok, Hua Hin, Phuket, and Chiang Mai. This was achieved with generous funding from the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB).

With continued support from TCEB, Dusit International hopes to hone its operations this year and apply to be certified in several management systems including environmental (ISO 14001), food safety (ISO 22000), and event sustainability (ISO 20121) to position itself as a preferred choice for higher spending business and leisure travellers.

Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria in Ortigas has started working with PCOs to grow its foreign-sourced business events currently comprising just 10 per cent of the pie, with the remainder dominated by local ones.

Newly appointed general manager Gaurav Rai, is targeting to gradually increase the share of foreign business events to 15 per cent this year, 20 per cent in 2018 and to 35 per cent in 2020.

Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria’s Gaurav Rai

With Crowne Plaza’s foreign business events mainly sourced from the US and Australia – both with very strong business process outsourcing in Ortigas – Rai is expanding the net to include Hong Kong, China, Singapore, India and the Australia sub-continent which are active in the PCO segment.

He explained that these five markets are “very doable” with short flight distances to Manila, good airport connectivity, and many flights coming in from these countries. They also have a “good base of corporate clients that the hotel can grow (and) deliver the experiences that they are looking for”.

He emphasised the strategic location of Manila with extension options to Cebu, Clark and Boracay, compared to Thailand where many business events have been held repetitively, and Singapore and Hong Kong which can be very expensive.

Japan, while mainly leisure at the moment, is also a potential market. “With Japan’s prime minister coming here recently, I think it will have a strong corporate impact and if that happened, we want to be at the forefront,” said Rai who recently sent his director of sales and marketing on a Japan visit.

“We want to continue to stick to our brand which is a conference and meetings hotel,” stressed Rai, whose two hotels are undergoing extensive renovation “for better customer experience and better value for money”.

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore has appointed Renato De Oliveira as hotel manager, Nicolas Bailet as executive assistant manager for food and beverage, Alicia Lee as director of sales, and Sharul Madi as director of sales – MICE.

De Oliveira

De Oliveira has been with Ritz-Carlton for 12 years holding key appointments in five of its properties.

Bailet

Previously director of food and beverage in Bulgari Hotel London, Bailet will be overseeing The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore’s food and beverage operations and leading its promotional strategies.

Lee

In her new appointment, Lee will play an instrumental role in leading the hotel’s sales strategies for the business travel, business events and catering departments within the sales and marketing division.

Madi

Madi rejoins The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore as director of sales – MICE, where he will be responsible for leading the business events and groups sales strategies for the hotel.

Destination Asia has promoted Kaci McAllister to general manager of Destination Asia China, and Karen Cheng to deputy general manager of their Shanghai office.

McAllister will now lead all country operations and business developments in China while Cheng will head the Shanghai team in creating unique guest experiences.

McAllister

McAllister joined the Destination Asia team in early 2014 to lead the company’s product development throughout China. McAllister was previously in rural Guizhou, China, pursuing a career in tourism development and hospitality, after a year-long research stint in Germany. She also has a Bachelor’s degree in German and a minor in Mandarin from Vanderbilt University.

Cheng

Cheng joined the Shanghai team in 2011 and has 14 years of experience in the tourism industry. A Shanghai native, she has handled hundreds of events throughout her career, including the Beijing Olympic Games and the Shanghai Expo, and holds a degree in Tourism Marketing from Tongji University.

Penang hosted 1,251 events with an estimated economic impact of RM808 million (US$182 million) in its CVB’s first year of operations in 2016, according to an industry review released by the Penang Convention & Exhibition Bureau (PCEB).

Of these, PCEB supported 37 international and national business events in the state, totalling an estimated 29,030 participants and 91,616 in room nights.

The report further showed that the majority of international business events hosted in Penang last year originated from Singapore and South Asia.

For incentives, national groups formed the bulk at 82 per cent followed by groups from Singapore at 16 per cent.

As well, the average number of participants per congress and corporate event was 97.9, an indication of Penang’s suitability for small and medium-sized events.

Of the 257 events that make up national congresses, most were centred on sectors related to education, culture and ideas, medical sciences, government, social sciences and economics and industry, coinciding with Penang’s national status as a hub for these sectors.

Major cultural celebrations, festivals, and anniversaries of significant events, have significant bearing on business event patterns in Penang. February and June showed lower numbers of events, participants and room nights attributable to Chinese New Year and the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Also showing a correlation with a decrease in meeting numbers are anniversaries and memorials of unfortunate events such as the Malaysia Airlines double tragedies in March and July 2014, according to the report.

With many of Nay Pyi Taw’s hotels and conference centres standing almost empty, Myanmar’s Ministry of Hotels and Tourism has launched a series of initiatives to try and breathe life into them.

Previous complaints about high rates and inconvenient connectivity have been tackled by slashing hotel prices, while talks are underway to add to the current direct flights from Bangkok and China, as well as four daily domestic connections.

Hilton Nay Pyi Taw

Kyaw Min Htin, joint secretary general of Myanmar Tourism Federation, said: “We are ready. Nay Pyi Daw is like a resort. We’ve got two conference centres, the fastest Internet in Myanmar, more than 60 hotels with 5,000 rooms, and great roads for transport. Also, all the ministries are based there.”

He further indicated that the ministry is also working towards adding more international flights in the near future to make the destination more accessible.

Daw Khin Than Win, deputy director general of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, added that with Bagan and Mandalay sitting three hours away and Inle five hours, the capital would also be promoted as an ideal destination for business leisure travellers.

Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB) and its partners have landed 83 more business events in 2016 – 59 bids won and 24 bids supported – to be held between 2017 and 2020.

Along with attracting another 35,000 delegates in the years to come, 2016 marked a booming decade of business events in Sarawak with the hosting of the 55^th ICCA Congress.

Borneo Convention Centre Kuching

“Over the long term we can expect these 35,000 delegates to import to Sarawak vital research, knowledge exchange, technical expertise and trade partnerships, while in the short term they will spend RM56 million (US$12.6 million) in Sarawak in Direct Delegate Expenditure,” said Mike Cannon, group CEO and managing director for SCB and Sarawak Tourism.

Sarawak is also readying to host at least 27 major events in notable fields this year, including the 5^th Asia Pacific Conference on Public Health 2017, IEEE International Conference on Signal and Image Processing Applications 2017, and 29^th World Congress of the International Association for Suicide Prevention in conjunction with The 21^st Malaysian Conference of Psychological Medicine 2017.