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.

Having seen success in domestic Chinese business events, the Hainan government has now turned its attention to the international market, in particular those in Europe.

Fam trips for potential buyers and roadshows in Europe are part of Hainan Provincial Tourism Development Commission’s action plans, spokesperson Anastasia Yang told TTGmice in an interview. This is in addition to the Chinese province’s first ever participation in IMEX Frankfurt this month.

Ying Sun

Yang noted that it was Hainan’s first independent presence at a tradeshow for the business events industry, as the destination had previously only participated in similar exhibitions under the China country pavilion.

Ying Sun, director of Hainan Provincial Tourism Development Commission, and Fangxu Chen, president of Hainan Provincial Conference and Incentive Travel Industry Association, led the Hainan delegation at IMEX Frankfurt.

Some 20 tourism enterprises, attractions and business event service providers from Hainan were represented, such as Hainan Province MICE Association, Himice Conference Exhibition Co, Hainan Hongrui Exhibition Management Co, and Hainan Tourist Hotel Association.

According to a press statement, Hainan welcomed 60.2 million travellers in 2016, 30 per cent of which were from Europe.

When asked if there were specific segments of business events Hainan was most confident in attracting from Europe, Yang said the government has intentions to win over the full spectrum of events.

“We believe our resources are good for all (types of business events),” Yang said, pointing to Hainan’s range of high quality hotels and meeting facilities, good customer service standards, sunshine and beaches, natural rainforests, rich culture and enticing cuisine as being magnets for European planners and event attendees.

The province is currently connected to Europe via flights operated by 23 airline companies that offer frequent scheduled and chartered flights from cities such as Rome, Frankfurt and Moscow. While not all are direct services, Yang said access for Europeans is easy through other Chinese international airports, as there are frequent domestic flights onwards to the province.

Continued efforts to improve air access from Europe are being made. For instance, the Hainan government was in Germany recently to negotiate with Frankfurt–Hahn Airport for direct flights.

Hainan’s easy access through major Chinese city gateways like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu has also given rise to twin-city itinerary potentials, according to Yang.

She emphasised that combining different destinations with varying appeals could enhance business event programmes, and Hainan’s destination specialists are able to help planners customise something suitable.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority will be hosting its first Experience Aloha Business Exchange Meeting next month to lure more business events from China and Hong Kong.

The five-day programme will invite about 100 event planners and intermediaries from various source markets to view business event offers on its islands, as well as facilitate a one-day business exchange with 75 local industry partners.

Wailua Falls, Kauai

Hawaii Tourism Authority’s director of Hawaiian Cultural Affairs, Kalani Kaanaana, shared that the Hong Kong market thinks of Hawaii as a leisure destination and usually overlooks the destination for business events.

“In fact, we have 10 major markets and each one has a MICE representative,” said Kaanaana, adding that Hawaii offers vast ideas that can complement and enhance any business event experience, such as visiting private islands and volcanoes, or a helicopter ride.

From January to April 2017, Hawaii welcomed 7,000 Chinese delegates on business and incentive programmes, a year-on-year increase of 90 per cent. At press time, Hawaii is due to welcome another 30 groups this year, consuming a potential 11,000 room nights. The groups hail from industries such as finance, insurance, FMCG, direct sales networks, sports and education.

On November 30 and December 1, 2017, Melbourne will play host to the C2 Melbourne business conference, the first time the event has been held outside Montreal.

The two-day event will bring together commerce and creativity to explore trends, opportunities, disruptions and shifts on the horizon. It also seeks to help innovators find creative solutions to commercial and social challenges, in a surprising and imaginative environment.

Melbourne CBD

Six previous editions have been held in Montreal, and the event attracts over 6,000 executives worldwide, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

The initial proposal was put together by the Victorian State Government, MCI and Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB).

MCB’s CEO, Karen Bolinger, said: “With C2 Montreal named the number one innovative business conference for two consecutive years, we knew this was an event of our city’s calibre. Melbourne is a city that cultivates and throws its support towards creativity in innovation. This is what enabled us to be so determined in our pursuit of securing this event.”

“With a programme that incorporates immersive experiences such as brain dates, labs, workshops while suspended from structures, brainstorms while walking through indoor snowstorms and a festival village, C2 has hit the nail on the head in delivering an environment that meets the demands of today’s delegates,” Bolinger said.

President of C2, Richard St-Pierre, said Melbourne is the ideal testing ground to anchor the C2 brand in.

“As the team at C2 was imagining where we may go for the first ever large-scale C2 outside of Canada, we sought cities with a rich culture, an intoxicating energy and a readiness to work together to set the stage that will reset imagination and unleash new ideas for business leaders, innovators and creatives from around the world,” St-Pierre said.

Minister for small business, innovation and trade, Philip Dalidakis, said the state was excited to have secured the C2 event.

“The Victorian Government is investing heavily in innovation because we know it is the key to the business ideas that will drive our economy in the future. Victoria is proud to be hosting C2 which will be a great forum for new ideas and for showcasing our culture of innovation and vibrant start up ecosystem to the world,” Dalidakis said.

The location for the C2 Melbourne will be announced in July. Tickets are currently on sale and available from www.c2melbourne.com.

Tourism Australia has launched a brand new website, www.australia.com/businessevents, solely dedicated to business events.

The site now sports a brighter design, where images and videos are featured prominently. The website also offers direct access to Tourism Australia business events representatives and Australian business events products and destinations, allowing users to easily make contact with sources of information on holding a business event in Australia.

“Australia is leading the way when it comes to delivering business events that exceed expectations, and our new website was created to ensure we also set a benchmark in providing planners and decision makers with an innovative, informative, visually-stunning and easy-to-use website,” said John O’Sullivan, managing director Tourism Australia.

In creating the website, Tourism Australia undertook comprehensive research with international business events planners and decision makers, to ensure the new site delivers relevant up to the minute information on Australia in the most accessible and appealing ways.

“The feedback from planners and decision makers told us that being able to access personalised assistance is crucial when planning business events. That’s why we have fully recreated the site to ensure we can continue to meet the needs of planners and decision markers, by providing an exceptional user experience for those considering Australia as the destination for their next business event,” said O’Sullivan.

Beginning June 1, Malaysia’s Ministry of Tourism and Culture will introduce a new hotel classification and rating system, which trade players generally believe is fairer and more representative than the existing star-rating system.

The new classification houses categories of city hotels, highland hotels, island/beach/lake/river resorts, innovative hotels and boutique hotels. Further details of the new rating system are not available at press time.

Brinchang town, Cameron Highlands

Shaharuddin M Saaid, executive director, Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners, who was on the committee to review the classification criteria, said the old rating system – in basing its requirements on city hotels – put island and hill resorts at a disadvantage.

Citing examples, Shaharuddin said: “Based on the old system, a hotel needed an executive floor and lounge to be rated five stars. This was alright for a city hotel which received business travellers, but not necessarily for island and hill resorts where guests were holidaymakers.”

Hotels also needed to have a swimming pool to be rated four stars and up, although the criteria was not as important in beachfront hotels or hill resorts, he added.

The Frangipani Langkawi Resort & Spa’s managing director, Anthony Wong, said: “In the past, hotels must have two restaurants to be classified as a four-star property. We only had one and were classified as three-star under the local rating, although TripAdvisor and travel agents rated us as a four-star.

“We didn’t see a need to have more than one restaurant as there were many restaurants outside our hotel, giving visitors plenty of choices.”

Ganneesh Ramaa, manager at Luxury Tours Malaysia, similarly opined that the new classification will provide a more accurate picture to agents and partners.

“Based on the old system, Cameron Highlands only has two properties that fit the five-star category, when (in reality) there are many more hotels that provide the services of a five-star. The old system of one-shoe-fits-all simply cannot be applied.”

To build or not to build a mega venue is the question Singapore’s events industry is pondering about, in light of the biennial Food & Hotel Asia (FHA) expanding beyond a single event venue and requiring almost 150,000m² of space in 2018.

Although Lindy Wee, CEO, UBM SES, expressed her preference for a single large venue for a tradeshow and that FHA would need “between 20,000m² and 30,000m² of extra space every year”, she also opined that “it only makes sense (for Singapore) to invest in a new larger venue if it can be filled every month”.

Mark Cochrane

Edward Liu, group managing director, Conference & Exhibition Management Services, opined there should be sufficient capacity “for the foreseeable future” and an industry consultant noted if there is 70 per cent utilisation, then it is a “fair moment to start looking at infrastructure expansion”.

Singapore may not need a mega facility and and can continue to grow by aiming for niche B2B tradeshows combined with high-end conferences, according to Mark Cochrane, UFI The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry’s regional manager.

Cochrane pointed out: “FHA is by far the largest exhibition in Singapore. No other exhibitions in Singapore have grown as large. FHA’s organisers could consider ‘annualising’ the biennial event, running the food theme one year, and hospitality the next. This way, the shows can continue to expand as there will be sufficient space in existing venues, and the annual events will help fend off competition.”

UFI’s latest figures identified 72 trade fairs in Singapore in 2015, which occupied an estimated 343,750m² of net space sold. Singapore was ranked ninth in Asia and second in South-east Asia behind Thailand.

In addition, an industry veteran told TTGmice that there is no critical mass in any industry in Singapore to sustain events that are 100,000m² or larger.

“For Singapore to maintain its pole position in South-east Asia, there needs to be consolidation of four to five key players to form Singapore Inc. to build up the ecosystem to make Singapore an events hub, and convince Temasek Holdings (Singapore-based investment company) to acquire one or two global companies in the UK and US which own 10 to 20 global events, and in alternate years bring them to Singapore.

“There needs to be better understanding of the dynamics of the trade show business,” the veteran concluded.

Cvent, a cloud-based enterprise event management company, has opened two new offices, one each in Melbourne and Singapore.

The physical offices and local teams will help Cvent expand its global reach and service level. Both offices will employ sales and customer service professionals for both the event and hospitality sides of the business. This is part of the company’s strategy to offer end-to-end meetings, events, and travel software to organisations around the globe.

“Singapore is a top global business destination, so it is a logical spot for a new office. We’ve recently experienced incredible spikes in demand as the Asia-Pacific market embraces event management technology,” said Will Kataria, director of sales, Asia-Pacific.

In March, Cvent released its inaugural Top 50 Meetings Hotels in the Asia-Pacific, which helped to identify the strength of the meetings and events industry in the region. The data, compiled from Cvent’s Supplier Network, revealed seven of the Top 10 Meeting Hotels are in Singapore, while the remaining three are in Australia.