After a four month refurbishment costing US$11 million, Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur has unveiled its Grand Ballroom and function rooms that are located across three floors of the hotel.

The pillarless Grand Ballroom now measures 1,509m², and features high ceilings, an elevated stage, flexible partitioning systems, large LED screens and complimentary Wi-Fi. It can seat up to 1,800 guests in a reception or theatre setting, 1,440 guests in a banquet setting, and 660 guests in a classroom setting.

Grand Ballroom

Moreover, there are 13 new function rooms, named after the different states in Malaysia. Room sizes range from 45m² to 905m², and can host an average of 100 to 200 guests. As well, a Junior Ballroom can be made up by combining four function rooms; it can seat 400 guests in a banquet setting and 300 guests in a theatre setting.

Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur also has a dedicated events management team.

Bumi Surabaya, a five-star city resort in East Java’s capital, has opened three new meeting rooms and is planning to add another four this year to better position itself against the competition.

The three meeting rooms with portable screens have a capacity of 50 people theatre-style and offers free Wi-Fi.

Endah Retnowati, the resort’s director of sales and marketing, told TTGmice that flexible rooms are important, as “there is a growing demand for corporate meetings in Surabaya and they usually require a number of breakout rooms”.

Currently, the hotel only has one ballroom – which could be divided into three spaces – and two breakout rooms. The ballroom can accommodate 500 pax and 1,000 in round-table or theatre style respectively, while the rooms could accommodate 50 people in theatre-style.

“New hotels are coming online and they (have) meeting facilities which answer the needs of today’s customers. Therefore, we need to add meeting rooms to put ourselves (on par) with the competition to win business,” she said.

Corporate events currently contribute 30 per cent of business and Endah expects the hotel’s additional meeting facilities to grow the contribution to 50 per cent.

When asked what else would set Bumi Surabaya apart from the new hotels, Endah said: “We are the only hotel in the city that has a resort concept with lush tropical garden. Our Pasar dining concept is also a signature.”

Pasar, which in Bahasa Indonesia means market, is an indoor and alfresco dining venue which serves an all-day buffet across several cuisines. Private dining events for no more than 30 guests can be arranged at this venue.

Global travel management company, Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), has broken the US$2 billion new business sales barrier.

Overall, the company reported strong results for 2016. In the financial year ending December 31, 2016, CWT recorded over 58.7 million transactions across the business. Its app CWT To Go saw an increase in users of almost 40 per cent. Hotel attachment also grew substantially, with the introduction of new content and capabilities.

The CWT Energy, Resources & Marine business was again adversely impacted by further reductions in travel spend as lower commodity prices and political changes continued to affect the sector, resulting in a total transaction volume decline of 23 per cent. Despite this, CWT closed 2016 with US$23 billion in total transaction volume.

Meanwhile, CWT Meetings & Events organised almost 35,000 meetings and events, up 27 per cent on 2015, while the company’s consulting arm, CWT Solutions Group achieved a 13 per cent revenue growth.

Tokyo has been selected as the host for the 11^th edition of the computer graphics and interactive techniques conference SIGGRAPH Asia next year.

The venue host is the Tokyo International Forum, and the event will be supported by Tokyo companies, associations and academic institutions such as Square Enix, Polygon Pictures, OLM, IBM, Digital Hollywood Univ., CESA, VFX-JAPAN and Design & Technology Association.

Tokyo’s Akihabara district

The bid committee, Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau worked together to help the Japanese capital win hosting rights.

Started in 2008, SIGGRAPH Asia has taken place in Yokohama and Kobe in 2009 and 2015 respectively.

SIGGRAPH Asia originates from SIGGRAPH, an event held in the US every year since 1974. SIGGRAPH is one of the world’s largest and most influential conference/exhibition in terms of computer graphics and interactive techniques, with tens of thousands of attendees.

The government of Seoul will be providing an additional 10 billion won (US$8.74 million) to assist the city’s development of its business events sector in 2017.

Officials from Seoul Tourism Organisation have confirmed that the city has drawn up a five-point plan and will be lending its support to the See You In Seoul special event, designed to make the city more attractive as a destination for business events.

Seoul’s Myeongdong shopping and entertainment district

Under the proposal, more conventions and exhibitions will become eligible for financial support, while a new range of promotion packages will be created. Other initiatives include the creation of new programmes designed to give participants a hands-on experience of Korean culture, arts and entertainment, while additional efforts will also be made to improve cooperation between the public and private sectors to raise the city’s competitiveness.

The injection of funds is timely – given the geo-political differences that have caused a rift between China and South Korea and are spilling over into the economic sphere, in particular the travel sector.

Unhappy at Seoul’s decision to deploy a defensive anti-missile system to deter North Korea, Beijing is pressuring its domestic travel agencies to curtail the number of Chinese travellers heading to South Korea.

The number of incentive travellers alone from China was up an impressive 33 per cent in 2016 to 123,410 arrivals, although that figure is likely to be drastically reduced this year.

In an effort to counteract the shortfall, city officials said more efforts are going into attracting business travellers and events from South-East Asia, India and Japan.

Kenes Group, a PCO and AMC, has announced four new offices in Asia-Pacific through partnership agreements with specialised agencies.

Representing Kenes in South Korea is Kim’s Travel with an office in Seoul; Destination China, who are representatives in Hong Kong and China with offices in Beijing and Shanghai; and Global Link MP in the Philippines with an office in Manila.

The partner companies will extend the services of the company locally, adding their expertise in the local languages and cultures.

“With the representative programme, we build ideal environments for our events, where our representatives ensure our operations onsite are impeccable. We make use of the purchasing power of Kenes Group complimented by the positioning of Kim’s Travel, Global Link MP, and Destination China in their respective destinations. Our clients are guaranteed the successful execution of every aspect of their event,” commented Jason Ng, managing director of Kenes Asia at Kenes Group.

Kenes Group has been operating in the region since 2008, through its offices in Bangkok and Singapore. In total, Kenes Group has 29 offices around the globe.

Mack Brooks Exhibitions Asia, organiser of inter airport South-east Asia, has reported that half the available space at 2019’s edition has been booked, barely two weeks since the conclusion of this year’s event.

Exhibition director Michael Wilton told TTGmice that inter airport South-east Asia 2019, scheduled for February 27 to March 1 in Singapore, will include an “exciting new outdoor area, which will enable displays of some of the larger pieces of equipment that airports require”.

Michael Wilton

The 2017 edition, held from February 15 to 17 in Singapore, had also boasted new features, such as increased opportunities for networking, pre-planned one-to-one meetings between professionals and additional educational content including new talks delivered by the Singapore Aviation Academy and Indonesia’s Angkasa Pura (Indonesia state enterprise that manages local airports).

Wilton said: “We have seen that the 2017 edition had further enhanced the opportunity for airport suppliers and the regional industry to build their relationships in order to develop world class airports for South-East Asia.”

He pointed out that the “2015 edition was billed as the return of inter airport to the ASEAN region after a 14-year hiatus”.

The international tradeshow, held once every two years, brings together leading airport equipment suppliers from over 27 different countries.

When asked how exhibitions like inter airport help with furthering the progress of the air travel industry, Wilton said: “For a buyer looking to enhance their airport, the ability to come and see demonstrations and examples of that product in a face-to-face environment enables them to make better decisions on the products they use.”

He added that “industry events in general, and especially tradeshows, play a vital role in the procurement and development of any industry”.

“The face-to-face nature of industry events not only allows better business discussions to take place but also enables greater understanding of the product and the industry. The quality of learning and the ability to achieve your goals are vastly improved by having a tangible experience,” he emphasised.