A CURRENT lack of public awareness of the extent of rentable event facilities under Melbourne and Olympic Parks has led the company to redevelop and rebrand its MICE offering, with a view towards a February 2016 launch.

Speaking exclusively to TTGmice e-Weekly at the Pacific Area Incentives & Conferences Expo in Auckland last week, sales manager of business events Lara Harley, noted that while the Melbourne Park, part of Melbourne and Olympic Parks, is synonymous with the Australian Open every January, it is not so well known that it is open year round for business events.

Other venues that Melbourne and Olympic Parks manages in addition to the Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park include the Hisense Arena, Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne Park Function Centre and AAMI Park, located just across the road and purpose-built for rugby and soccer matches.

“People don’t know who we are so we’re trying to increase the awareness of what we can offer at Melbourne and Olympic Parks outside of the tennis centre,” Harley said.

She added: “So we stripped it all the way back to understand who our clients were, what we have to offer Melbourne and the world, and how we can bring that all together.”

The rebrand effort will include premium experiences that Melbourne and Olympic Parks will develop with its tenants at AAMI Park and with Tennis Australia outside of the Australian Open “to create some really exciting teambuilding activities”.

There are also plans to do more promotional trips in Asia once there is stronger recognition.

THE Adelaide Convention Bureau is making moves to lure major health and medical association conferences to the city’s Riverbank Precinct which is being redeveloped with several new medical infrastructure on site.

The Royal Adelaide Hospital, the University of Adelaide Clinical Health School and the University of South Australia Health Innovation Building (home to the Centre for Cancer Biology) are all set to open in 2016. These are in addition to the A$350 million (US$252 million) upgrade of the Adelaide Convention Centre, due for completion in 2017.

These developments will accompany the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), which opened in 2013, to make up what Adelaide Convention Bureau’s CEO, Damien Kitto, is touting as the “Southern Hemisphere’s largest health and biomedical precinct”.

Kitto said the Bureau is already working with SAHMRI to successfully identify opportunities to bring health, science and medical conventions to the city.

He said: “The material and research emanating from SAHMRI is being noted globally so that certainly assists our efforts to bring events to Adelaide. We’re working with key personnel at the top level of their respective fields to identify the opportunities.”

International conferences secured for Adelaide include the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer/International Society of Oral Oncology International Symposium on Supportive Care in Cancer in June 2016 for 1,500 delegates, and the 9th Asia-Oceania Conference on Obesity in October 2017 for 800 delegates.

FOLLOWING the unveiling of the Qatar Destination Brand on November 2, Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has launched a sub-brand titled Qatar Business Events to consolidate the image and promotional efforts of MICE stakeholders in highlighting the destination’s world-class facilities and attractions.

QTA’s chief marketing and promotions officer, Rashed AlQurese, said: “QTA has articulated a destination brand in line with the country’s persona, vision and actions. By unifying the voices of the business events sector, this sub-brand will contribute to consolidating all promotional efforts, and convey innovative impetus to a sector crucial to the growth of tourism in Qatar.”

For a country heavily reliant on its hydrocarbon wealth, tourism provides a shield from oil price fluctuations and helps to diversify the nation’s economy.

QTA hopes to triple the number of business events tourists by 2030, contributing at least half the country’s revenue from tourism spending. There has been a significant increase in the business events sector between 2013 and 2015, where growth in exhibitions in particular averaged 35 per cent. It is expected to grow by a further five per cent next year, with already 58 events scheduled.

Hamad Al-Abdan, director of exhibitions at QTA, said: “We believe our business events tourism sector is set for success, (thanks to) world-class venues such as Qatar National Convention Centre and the recently opened Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre, an expanded transport network, as well as exceptional accessibility via Qatar Airways’ reach to 150 destinations worldwide.”

REED Travel Exhibitions has announced a global agreement designating oneworld as its exclusive airline alliance partner for 19 events in 2016, including the Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo (AIME) in Melbourne next February.

AIME visitors will be able to make flight reservations via www.oneworld.com/events from next month on, for travel to and from Melbourne, and enjoy discounted fares for themselves and a companion. The offer is available on any oneworld member airline, including 15 of the world’s leading carriers, serving more than 1,000 destinations in over 150 countries.

Members of any oneworld member airline frequent flyer programme will be able to take advantage of their usual privileges and benefits along the way.

Booking codes for AIME via oneworld will be available via www.aime.com.au.

Ian Wainwright, event director – AIME, Reed Travel Exhibitions, said the partnership will bring significant benefits for visitors to AIME and the company’s other shows.

“This alliance will deliver a host of benefits for visitors to any of Reed Travel Exhibitions’ 19 shows across the globe and will offer unprecedented opportunities for visitors from around the world to attend AIME 2016,” said Wainwright.

“Through this initiative, we are enabling a greater audience access to AIME, the largest event of its kind in Australia.”

AIME, hosted by the Melbourne Convention Bureau, will take place from February 23 – 24, 2016 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.

Meanwhile, visitor registration for AIME has opened on November 10. Tickets on the door are A$25 (US$18) while access to the AIME 2016 Welcome Event on Monday 22 February costs A$150 per pax.

Register to attend AIME at www.infosalons.com.au/AIME16M/start.asp.

THE Recognising Award Winning Results (rAWr) Awards, in its second edition this year, has fuelled competitiveness among local business event players and resulted in improved MICE standards, observed Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) chief, Zulkefli Hj Sharif.

“I’ve seen how the Awards has encouraged local players to raise the standards of their operations and events so as to win. Those who did not win the first round (in 2013 when rAWr was inaugurated) strove hard to make an impact this year,” Zulkefli remarked.

The Awards drew close to 60 submissions this year, and the presentation ceremony and gala dinner was held last Thurday evening at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. It recognised several business events and specialists including Food and Hotel Malaysia by Malaysian Exhibition Services for Best Trade Exhibition (15,000m² and below); ARCHIDEX by C.I.S Network for Best Trade Exhibition (15,001m² and above); Winning Together Sales Kick-off Meeting by Pacific World for Best Incentive Programme; and Pearl Holiday (M) Travel & Tours for Destination Management Company Award For Excellence.

Anthony Wong, group managing director of AOS Convention & Events, was bestowed the Minister’s Award For Business Events Industry, an award that recognises an individual’s invaluable contribution to the Malaysian MICE industry through successful event bids and training for students and peers.

The rAWr Awards is jointly organised by MyCEB and the Malaysia Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS).

MACEOS president, Vincent Tan, said the Awards functions well as a membership driver for the association, as it is only open to MACEOS members.

CENDYN, which owns hospitality and event industry technology leaders Cendyn/ONE and Cendyn Arcaneo, is growing its global operations and has appointed London-based John Seaton to lead the charge as international managing director.

The company has opened a new office in Singapore to further establish the company’s strong presence in the Asia-Pacific region, and has expressed intentions to add eight more worldwide in 2016.

The Singapore office joins Cendyn’s current ones in Boca Raton, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia in the US, Toronto, Canada, and London, England.

“Launched over 19 years ago, Cendyn continues to experience exciting and elevated levels of growth, as our innovative, cloud-based SaaS platforms become critical to the success of the travel and hospitality and event planning industries around the world,” commented Cendyn CEO Charles Deyo in a press statement.

“The appointment of John Seaton, as well as the opening of our additional international offices in 2016, represent our much-demanded, growing presence in the global market.”

Seaton, who oversees the growth of Cendyn’s business within Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, has more than 20 years of experience in the global technology arena.

He most recently served as vice president of sales & strategic account management EMEA & Asia Pacific for eRevMax. He was also principal consultant with Rickyard Solutions, co-founder of Business Meetings International which was acquired by Cendyn, and vice president of Enterprise Connectivity – Global with eRevMax.

He had also held executive positions with Global Hotel Alliance, Hotel Booking Solutions and Pegasus Solutions.

A WORKSHOP aimed at showcasing Naypyidaw as an ideal MICE destination and educating tourism players on ways to develop the destination’s full potential was conducted by the Myanmar Ministry of Hotels and Tourism last week.

Speaking at the Raising Awareness on MICE Development in Nay Pyi Taw Workshop at The Thingaha Hotel, Htay Aung, minister of hotels and tourism, remarked that the capital city has sufficient facilities and infrastructure to support business events.

Htay Aung pointed out that the ministry has been investing in the development of the local tourism industry and its efforts are supported by the public and private sectors.

The workshop featured a two-day/one-night trip that took “hundreds of participants from travel agencies, hotels, airline companies, tourism development firms and the media” to see local and foreign hotels as well as the Union Parliament building which is marketed as a new product in the city.

Describing the workshop as the ministry’s “first step” towards achieving its MICE ambitions, Htay Aung added that a website is being developed to provide event planners with a directory, available in 20 languages. Users will be able to send enquiries directly to the city’s hotels and conference centres.

According to the ministry, Naypyidaw has about 53 hotels with 5,100 rooms, and most of these properties have facilities and amenities of international standards.

However, Hasitha Manthriratne, hotel operations manager of ParkRoyal Nay Pyi Taw, opined that for Naypyidaw to truly draw international MICE interest, it needed to develop “the liveliness of a city” and improve transportation services.