Ramada Encore Jeju Seogwipo and Days Hotel Jeju Seogwipo
Ocean have opened in the second-largest city on Jeju Island.

The former offers 172 rooms including 15 suites, a buffet restaurant, a business centre, a 30m² meeting room that can accommodate 100 banquet guests, fitness rooms, as well as a sauna and spa.

Sister property Days Hotel Jeju Seogwipo Ocean boasts 281 rooms and suites, some of which offer views of the sea and the nearby Halla Mountain. Amenities include international and local cuisine establishment Haru Restaurant, a bakery and café, a business centre, three meeting rooms which can be arranged to accommodate 180 conference or banquet guests, and a 24-hour convenience store.

International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) has unveiled its latest outdoor venue, Event Deck. With 5,000m² of open air space, Event Deck can cater to cocktail-style events of up to 5,000 people.

The expansive Event Deck provides additional flexibility to the venue, and can be used in a variety of ways, including the assembly of large-scale marquees accommodating up to 1,800 pax banquet-style or 3,750 pax cocktail style.

Two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan have joined Kyoto’s Nijo Castle in welcoming private events in a bid to offer MICE planners a greater variety of unique spaces.

Kagoshima’s Sengan-en traditional gardens, which are attached to a former Shimazu clan residence, set up a MICE office in April 2016 to reach out to MICE buyers. On its grounds are a traditional teahouse that can accommodate 100 guests for a tea ceremony and a 400-seat restaurant specialising in dishes using locally-sourced ingredients.

Sengan-en also lends itself to demonstrations of Japanese culture, ranging from traditional dance and martial arts to music recitals. It once hosted a Louis Vuitton event, with a runway laid down for a fashion show.

Okinawa’s 13^th-century Katsuren Castle (pictured above) has been made available as a MICE venue through Uruma City Tourism and Products Association. By coordinating the use of the site as a MICE venue, the local association aims to offer experiences tailored to each group’s needs, while protecting the site’s historical and cultural assets.

Groups of up to 200 people can enjoy dining and entertainment in the third enclosure, the inner part of the castle. Performances on offer include the Eisa, Lion and Ryukyu dances, to symbolically honour ancestors, drive away evil spirits and express love respectively.

Another option for event planners is the musical, Kimutaka no Amawari, which is performed by local junior and high school students as part of a project to support youth, promote cross-generational work and revitalise the area.

Meanwhile, Nijo Castle which began welcoming MICE groups in 2014, is looking to make more of its spaces, such as Ninomaru Palace, available to event planners.

An advisory panel to the Kyoto city government has recommended that more effective use be made of the castle, particularly given the expense of protecting the castle and conducting restoration work.

The city has committed 10 billion yen (US$93.7 million) over the next 24 years to restoration works but needs to find new revenue sources to cover those costs.

Nijo Castle’s Ninomaru Palace was used in mid-October to host an exhibition related to the World Forum on Sport and Culture. Masahiro Hirade, who is with the MICE division of the Kyoto City Culture and Citizens Affairs Bureau, hopes the history and design of the palace would attract MICE buyers as soon as the proposal is approved.

It is likely that rooms in the palace can be used for concerts and demonstrations of traditional Japanese culture, as well as banquets or parties, Hirade opined.

InterContinental Hotels Group has opened its first Holiday Inn in Osaka, located a 40-minute
train or car ride away from Kansai International Airport. The hotel, boasting 314 rooms, is located near Dontonbori street – famous for its wide range of local restaurants, nightlife and entertainment activities – and the Shinsaibashi shopping area.

Guests get to enjoy free Wi-Fi as well as facilities such as an on-site restaurant and a convenience store.

This marks the fifth Holiday Inn in Japan following properties in Sapporo, Sendai, Kanazawa and Miyazaki.

Sydney Harbour Bridge’s BridgeClimb has created a summer activity package that allows participants to climb to the top of the iconic landmark for a karaoke experience like no other.

Groups of no more than 14 people can take up this challenge, and pick a pop song from a set list for a solo or group performance. The performance will be captured in an eight-second video which will make a memorable keepsake.

The Karaoke Climb lasts two hours and 25 minutes, and is available only from January 21, 2017 to March 6, 2017. Each ticket to the top includes a Climb group photograph, a BridgeClimb cap, a certificate of achievement and a free pass to The Pylon Lookout.

Wyndham Hotel Group’s 100^th hotel in South-east Asia and the Pacific Rim has opened in eastern Bali.

The 222-room Wyndham Tamansari Jivva Resort Bali, positioned as Wyndham’s newest flagship hotel in Indonesia, is located on the beachfront in Klungkung where rice paddies are abound.

Away from the city’s hotspots and close to the heart of nature, the resort offers guests an environment that is designed with natural elements made of wood, stone and water that blend cohesively into its surroundings.

Besides rooms and private pool villas, Wyndham Tamansari Jivva Resort Bali also welcomes corporate groups with four meeting rooms – one with capacity for 20 delegates, and the other three can be combined to accommodate up to 30 delegates.

Other facilities at the hotel includes unique dining destinations such as Bumbu Restaurant by the beach and which offers gourmet lunchboxes for guests looking to venture out to sea or the nearby villages; and Tirta Spa which utilises ancient Balinese traditions in its treatments, delivered in eight beachside garden huts.

The hotel is a 10-minute drive to world-class surf break, Keramas.

Meanwhile, Wyndham Hotel Group is furthering its expansion in the region with a pipeline of more than 30 properties, the majority of which are new-builts, due to open by 2020. These new hotels will add a further 8,776 rooms to the Wyndham portfolio in the region, bringing the total number of rooms to 24,030.

Chocoholic Tours’ new Chocolate, Queen Victoria Market, Doughnut and Coffee Tour offers a 2.5-hour tasting experience in Melbourne.

Operated on Sundays, the tour begins at The Block Arcade which houses chocolate boutiques lined with sweet treats, and continues on a tram ride to one of Melbourne’s most hidden cafes for a coffee brew, and onward to Queen Victoria Market for a taste of a famous hot jam donut.

Eight chocolate tastings are included and guests are given a bag to fill up along the way.

The tour is ideal for groups of up to 12 people.