DMCs based in Morocco have now shifted their focus to the meetings and incentives segment from China, encouraged by the removal of visa requirements for Chinese travellers in June 2016.

Lesley Sanchez, managing director of Agadir-based Complete Tours, said: “Without (the need for) visas, it is the right time to double our efforts in China. The removal of visa requirements saw our leisure business from China triple in 2H2016. Getting a visa in the past used to take between two weeks to a month, and tourists had to disclose their bank statements as well as produce a letter from their employers in order to get a visa.”

Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou

Complete Tours aims to tap first-tier Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai through its sales offices there. Sanchez explained that with Emirates’ move to deploy A380s – instead of the A330s – on its Beijing and Shanghai routes to Casablanca, group sizes could potentially double.

Equally enthusiastic, Sidi Mohamed Cherif Alami, manager at Atlas Voyages, said: “Morocco is a new destination – and complements (visits to) Turkey and Egypt – for Chinese groups looking for a cultural destination rich in Arabic and Muslim history.

“We also offer very good value. A room in a five-star local brand in Marrakesh costs between US$100 to US$150 a night, while an international five-star property can cost between US$150 to US$200 a night.”

Sidi added that there were unique experiences that Morocco could offer Chinese groups such as camel rides, zip-lining in the Atlas Mountains, hot air ballooning, and historical and museum visits.

Headquartered in Casablanca, Atlas Voyages has 17 branch offices in main tourist cities such as Marrakesh, Agadir, Tangier, Casablanca and Fez. It opened three sales offices in China last year, in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Also eyeing China’s meetings and incentives market is Menara Tours, headquartered in Marrakesh.

Its FIT & groups director, Mounir Samir, said: “We plan to open a sales and marketing office in Beijing next year, and participate in B2B events in China. The incentive market is a lucrative one with delegates spending three to four times more than their leisure counterparts.”

The Moroccan National Tourist Office is doing its part to attract Chinese event groups, such as through regular fam trips for Chinese agents and relevant media.

In addition, a source told TTGmice that a Chinese film crew was slated to visit Morocco end-May to produce a reality show for a Chinese channel, which would “give the destination better brand awareness and create more interest among Chinese travellers”.

Following a recent refurbishment, The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, has added a new overwater pool cover that brings about more than 1,300m² of outdoor events space.

Made of Plexiglas, also known as acrylic glass, the transparent Plexiglas table-tops are durable and engineered to support weights of up to 800kg per cube. When placed into the water, the standing Plexiglas-top cubes can be custom-built to take on various shapes, from a rectangle to a square or even a T-shape to accommodate the entire length and or width of the pool, or just a portion depending on the event.

Pool platform 

There is also the possibility of video projection mapping, LED lighting in the trees and foliage, as well as underwater lighting to supplement the pool’s floodlights.

Possible events include product launches, pool parties, outdoor concerts with a dance floor, and fashion shows. The platform can accommodate between 150 to 200 people for a sit-down buffet dinner, or between 150 to 450 people for a cocktail reception.

Aside from the pool cover, the new outdoor swimming pool now features a three-tiered timber pool deck flanked by sun loungers, private cabanas, a pool bar and an outdoor grill.

Prices start from S$80 (US$58) for a cocktail reception for at least 50 guests. A minimum F&B spend of S$18,000 is required to close the pool for exclusive use, with an additional S$12,000 for the custom set-up of the preferred pool cover configuration.

The biennial Food & Hotel Asia (FHA) has expanded beyond the space available at its usual home ground, Singapore EXPO (SingEx), that the 2018 edition will occupy all available exhibition space at Suntec Singapore as well.

Billed as two venues, one mega show, FHA 2018 will occupy the 100,000m² SingEx, the 12,000m² MAX Atria @ Singapore EXPO and 37,000m² at level three, four and six at Suntec, according to UBM SES CEO Lindy Wee.

FHA 2016. Photo courtesy www.foodnhotelasia.com

Wee added FHA, which has been growing at 15 per cent for each edition over the last four years, would be split with Suntec housing the non-food, non-edible, and equipment exhibitors under Hotel Asia.

It is not the first time UBM SES has had to separate one of its events. In 2011, Broadcast Asia was located at Suntec and ComunicAsia at Marina Bay Sands. FHA was also split before SingEx opened in the late-1990s and it was housed at the former World Trade Centre and Suntec.

Apart from FHA 2018’s different location themes, the organisers are stepping up logistics planning to shuttle visitors between the city centre and Changi efficiently and also use technology to “live stream” highlights at the two venues to ensure visitors are “not missing anything”.

Wee opined: “There is nothing much we can do, the exhibitors are accepting it, inconvenience is expected and we are minimising the inconvenience.”

In 2016, FHA featured 3,500 exhibiting companies and 80,300 attendees, comprising exhibitors, visitors of which 52 were from overseas, conference delegates and media.

Kempinski has recently relaunched the largest property it manages in China –Yanqi Island.

Located 60km north of Beijing’s city centre along the Yanqi Lake, the complex offers 594 guestrooms and suites – 306 at the Sunrise Kempinski Hotel, Beijing; 110 at the Yanqi Hotel; and 178 across 12 boutique hotels.

Leisure facilities include 11 restaurants and bars, two Kempinski The Spa centres, a private marina, and Kids Club. There are even a nine-storey Yanqi Pagoda and a 40,00m² Summer Garden.

For business events, Yanqi Island offers 14,069m² of meeting space, comprising the 8,277m² Beijing Yanqi Lake International Conference Centre, and four ballrooms and 23 meeting rooms within the various hotels.

ICCA is taking steps to raise the importance of its members in the associations industry and to play a stronger role as a knowledge provider for its members, as part of its strategic plans to advance the association for specialists in the management of international association meetings sector.

Speaking to TTGmice in an interview, Martin Sirk, CEO of ICCA, noted that these two directions are significant elements in ICCA’s plans for the future.

Martin Sirk

“ICCA is taking a new approach to make our members partners of associations. We want them to become strategic advisors to associations and not just service providers. In the longer term, that will stimulate better meetings and establish closer and deeper relationships within the community,” said Sirk.

ICCA is also reducing the importance placed on its role as an associations meetings data manager, to a greater focus on its new role as a knowledge provider. It intends to stimulate knowledge exchange among members and be the sole “dashboard” from where members can get all of the information they require.

Sirk pointed out that the need for professional accreditation among conference organisers is rising along with greater expectations of PCO standards, a trend that is particularly strong in China where events are thriving, driven by individual and corporates’ desire to do business in the country.

The trend, he added, will also push associations and PCOs in China to “create their own world-class events rather than bid for international ones”, perhaps by way of internationalising their domestic events.

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.”