FOLLOWING its recent rebranding from Best Western Premier Dua Sentral in January, the newly opened Ramada Plaza Dua Sentral in Kuala Lumpur is targeting small meeting groups of up to 120 pax from Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US.

General manager Ian Hurst told TTGmice e-Weekly that the hotel is working with overseas outbound tour operators and local DMCs to create more awareness for the destination and the property.

He said: “One of our challenges is many in the travel trade don’t know what Malaysia has to offer to the MICE market. This destination is overshadowed by Bangkok, Singapore and Vietnam.

“There is a lot going for Malaysia. English is widely spoken, people are mostly educated, charming and friendly, and the country boasts diverse cultures.”

The property has 10 meeting venues and four F&B outlets.

According to Hurst, the property’s generic meeting packages can be further customised, while restaurant menus are also available in foreign languages such as Mandarin, Korean, Japanese and Arabic.

BOHOL’S lack of bigger MICE facilities will ease up with the April opening of the province’s reportedly biggest hotel and first-ever convention centre.

Henann Resort Alona Beach will offer 400 keys, more than twice the size of any existing hotel in the province. It also houses a three-storey convention centre that can handle 1,000 seated pax and 1,500 pax for cocktails.

Sprawled on a 6.5ha beachfront in Panglao, the new luxury resort will also have 12 villas, three swimming pools, an open-air venue for weddings, corporate events and themed parties, a VIP lounge, Kai Spa, F&B outlets, and fitness and business centres.

Manual Sandagon, assistant director of sales, said the resort is “an alternative venue for large meetings and conventions in the region aside from being a new destination for leisure and recreation”.

Due to its limited number of hotels, with all of them having fewer than 200 rooms, Bohol is rarely seen as a standalone destination and thus, often twinned with Cebu, which is a short ferry ride away.

However, with the construction of Bohol international airport expected this year, more tourism investments are coming in, said Lucas Nunag, chair of Bohol Tourism Council and owner of Amarela Resort Panglao.

Nunag estimated an additional supply of 1,000 high-end rooms over the next two years, including Henann Resort Alona Beach; another 200-key resort in Panglao by Be Hotels; an additional 60 rooms at Amorita Resort; and South Palms Resort, which took over two-thirds of the 60ha Bohol Beach Club.

FAM trips for Asian buyers, in particular those from China, to New Zealand’s emerging region for international MICE – Hamilton & Waikato – are paying off.

Kiri Goulter, chief executive, Hamilton & Waikato Tourism, said: “Several groups of event organisers from China and South-east Asia have visited the Hamilton & Waikato region during the past two years and we expect to see business from these visits starting to come through in the next 12 months.”

There were 15 buyers from China in 2012/13, increasing to 18 in 2013/14. Ten buyers from Malaysia, nine from Indonesia and five from Thailand also participated in fam trips in 2012/13.

Apart from China buyers in 2013/14, four buyers from Thailand also visited the region.

For 2014/15 to-date, 10 buyers from Japan and seven from South and South-east Asia have participated in the fam trips.

Goulter noted the Hamilton & Waikato region is popular with Asian leisure and business travellers due to its central North Island location and proximity to Auckland and Rotorua.

Unique attractions in the region include the Hobbiton Movie Set and Waitomo Glowworm Caves and world-class conference and event venues like Claudelands Conference and Exhibition Centre and Mystery Creek Events Centre.

Goulter added: “We are seeing particular interest from incentive groups and association conferences. In the corporate sector, the Hamilton & Waikato region is a research hub and business centre for New Zealand’s agricultural, equine, technology and innovation, and aviation industries.

“The region hosts the annual NZ National Fieldays, the largest agricultural expo in the Southern Hemisphere, which attracts delegates from all over the world including Asia.”

According to Lynn Briggs, manager, Hamilton & Waikato Tourism Convention Bureau, the number of Asian delegates attending the event increased to 96 in 2014 from 29 in 2013.

Offering 10,000m² of indoor and outdoor exhibition space, Claudelands can accommodate more than 1,200 pax. In addition, the Arena auditorium can accommodate up to 6,000 pax and seat 1,400 pax for banquet events.

THE Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) unveiled its integrated Thailand CONNECT The World campaign at AIME 2015 last week to further strengthen visitor numbers from Australia and the broader Oceania region.

Nopparat Maythaveekulchai, president of TCEB, commented: “During our last financial year from October 2013 to September 2014, we welcomed over 900,000 business events travellers (from Australia and Oceania), a result which contributed more than A$2.7 billion (US$2.1 billion) to the country’s economy.
“Australia is our sixth-largest inbound market with the number of business events travellers growing by 137 per cent, and visitor numbers from the wider Oceania region also increasing by 81 per cent.

“We are confident that through the combination of the Thailand CONNECT The Worldcampaign, as well as other targeted initiatives, the Thai business events sector will continue to grow strongly in the coming years. This year’s prediction estimates over 1,000,000 business events visitors.”

THE MALAYSIAN Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) is keen to attract more PCOs and hoteliers to join the association, as it seeks to carve out a bigger voice for itself in the business events industry.

MACEOS intends to organise training programmes in 2H2015 and members will benefit through reduced fees, revealed CEO, Amos Wong.

The association has close to 80 members at present, comprising mostly exhibition organisers as well as conference organisers, service providers for exhibitions and conferences, and venue owners, according to president Vincent Lim.

The government has given MACEOS the mandate to conduct specific training courses under the Human Resources Development Fund, which caters to the exhibition and conference industries as well as event management companies and DMCs.

THE Sri Lanka MICE Travel Mart originally scheduled for February/March in Colombo has been pushed back due to unavoidable circumstances, said organisers, who are now considering holding the event between May and July.

Vipula Wanigasekera, general manager of Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB), said: “Owing to the change of government and fresh elections in the next few months, we are rescheduling the dates.”

The event is expected to gather hosted buyers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam for one-to-one meetings and new product showcases.

“Priority will be given to those who haven’t been to Sri Lanka before,” Wanigasekera added.

Sri Lanka held its presidential electons in January this year and fresh parliamentary polls will be conducted in June. Recent appointments to cabinet include Navin Dissanayake, the new tourism minister.

Wanigasekera said Dissanayake is keen on MICE tourism and wants more promotions in this area with a focus on value versus numbers, for more high-spending MICE travellers over leisure tourists.

The authorities are aiming to use government representatives attending conferences abroad to promote Sri Lanka as a conference destination. “We want these government officials – after proper training and advice on how to make a bid or letter of interest – to bid for these conferences to be held in Sri Lanka,” said Wanigasekera.

LE MÉRIDIEN Kuala Lumpur has recently unveiled its new meeting and function spaces on its eighth floor, encompassing the Gallery, and Pool Bar and Grill @ 8, after an extensive RM7.9 million (US$2.2 million) renovation.

With a seating capacity for up to 140 people, the Gallery can be configured for roundtable luncheons, a board meeting with conference setup, a classroom-style training session, a multimedia presentation, cocktail hour, etc, and can be divided into two smaller meeting rooms.

The Pool Bar & Grill @ 8 can seat up to 80 pax and the naturally lit space opens up into the poolside area, suitable for dinner parties, product launches or wedding ceremonies. Its specially fitted barbecue pit is a highlight.

Le Méridien Kuala Lumpur’s new meeting spaces come after its last renovation of Metropolis in 2012, the hotel’s pillarless ballroom and six meeting rooms, located on level six.

A NEW major exhibition and event centre will open in Sendai on March 14, providing one more venue for large-scale conventions in the city.

The Sendai International Center Exhibition Building incorporates a main hall of 3,000m² and has a capacity of 2,560 people and four 200m² meeting halls each with space for around 200 people.

Column-free and carpeted, the main hall has been designed to meet the needs of a range of events, while the adjoining Sendai International Center Conference Building has a 755m² main hall and 12 meeting rooms of various sizes.

The new exhibition centre will be put to use for the first time in March when it hosts the 3^rdWorld Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. More than 40,000 participants are expected to attend, including government ministers from a number of nations.

“There are relatively few facilities in and around Sendai that are able to hold comparatively large-scale conventions, which is what we are primarily targeting,” said Akira Takahashi, director of Sendai city’s Economic Affairs Bureau.

Sendai already has around 30 halls and exhibition facilities, as well as 25 large hotels with meeting rooms, but the operators of the new centre hope to take advantage of the proximity of Tohoku University, which is a five-minute walk away and is attracting an increasing number of conventions and events.

The centre also benefits from its location in the heart of the city, Takahashi said. A four-minute walk from the main Sendai Station, the city is just 90 minutes from Tokyo by bullet train and only 20 minutes from Sendai Airport aboard the Airport Access Train.

Delegates at events will also be able to take advantage of a number of famous hot springs, including the 1,400-year old Akiu Onsen, rated in the top three in all of Japan.