ANDREAS Gruchow of Deutsche Messe was appointed president of UFI for 2017 at a meeting of the UFI board of directors in Istanbul this week.

His appointment is effective after the 82^nd UFI Annual Congress in Milan, which runs from November 4-7.

As a member of the UFI executive committee since 2011, Gruchow has been actively involved in driving the association’s overall strategy and in his new role will work closely with the UFI president and outgoing president as part of the presidential trio.

With Gruchow’s appointment, the presidential for this year is made up of: Sergey Alexeev (ExpoForum-International, Russia), president 2015-2016; Andreas Gruchow, (Deutsche Messe AG), incoming president; and Andrés Lopez-Valderrama (Corferias, Colombia), outgoing president.

Andrés Lopez-Valderrama, current UFI president, who welcomed the election of Gruchow, said in a statement: “Andreas represents one of the world’s leading trade fair organisations and has played a very full and energetic role in his position as a member of UFI’s Executive Committee.

“We are all convinced that he will carry over this enthusiasm into his future presidency of UFI in 2017 and, in the meantime, will provide great support to Sergey Alexeev during his presidency next year. I look forward to working with both of them.”

IN A NEW A$2.7 million (US$2.1 million) marketing agreement this week, Tourism Australia and Singapore Airlines (SIA) will collaborate on promoting business events travel to Australia.

Under the three-year MoU, each side will fork out A$1.4 million for marketing campaigns and promotional activities to be held in Greater China.

The promotions are aimed at both travel consultants and corporate buyers alike.

The deal effectively seals SIA’s position as Tourism Australia’s exclusive business events airline partner for the region.

Andrew Hogg, regional general manager Greater China at Tourism Australia, said: “SIA is one of our longest standing airline partners and has been helping to promote travel to Australia for years. The signing of this new MoU dedicated to business events is further evidence of our desire and ability to work effectively with key airline partners on commercially focused marketing activities. Tourism Australia is committed to working with SIA to achieve strong business events visitor growth for Australia.”

China is a key market for the Australian business events industry and contributes over A$5 billion annually as the fourth largest spending market for business event visitors in the year ending 2014.

Australia is set to host a number of mega incentives from China, including the NuSkin China Incentive 2016 and Amway China Incentive 2017.

BRINGING its corporate travel expertise to Sri Lanka is BCD Travel, which this week announced a strategic partnership with local partner Travelpass.

Corporate travel management company Travelpass is one of the country’s largest outfits with branches in Colombo, Kandy, Jaffna, Batticaloa and Trincomalee, and is a subsidiary of Sharmila Travels.

Travelpass brings to the table its strong affiliations with SriLankan Airlines, Mihin Lanka and SriLankan Holidays.

“By partnering with BCD Travel, we gain exposure to its leading technology tools and corporate travel management solutions. We look forward to introducing these BCD Travel-developed tools and best practices to Sri Lankan corporations to help them align their travel policy with strategic goals and help them reduce travel spend,” said Pradeep Kumar, managing director of Travelpass.

STARWOOD Hotels & Resorts has teamed up with CrowdCompass by Cvent and PSAV to offer a mobile app for planners who are holding meetings and events at its properties.

Through a newly forged referral partnership between Starwood, event management platform Cvent and technology service provider PSAV, planners can tailor an app specifically to the needs of their event attendees whether it is looking up information or networking.

Jonathan Kaplan, Starwood’s director of sales, new business and digital programming, explained: “With the option of having a customisable app with CrowdCompass by Cvent, attendees can go paperless and view real-time content like event agendas, speaker bios, presentations and property information right from their mobile device.

“Meeting attendees also may be able to use the app to create personalised schedules, share contact information with other attendees, connect with others via social media and receive push message communications instantly from onsite meeting planners.”

This follows Starwood’s introduction of the ProMeetings app, which allows meetings planners who are SPG or SPG Pro members to submit on-property requests directly to associates who can fulfill requests in real time.

The app, which is expected to fully roll out in 2016, is currently in pilot at several Starwood hotels around the world, including W Singapore – Sentosa Cove, The Westin Singapore, Sheraton Atlanta Airport, W Atlanta Midtown, and The Westin Charlotte.

IN COOPERATION with Safehotels Alliance, ICCA has released a new white paper designed for association executives and meetings management companies to tackle any crisis situation.

CEO of ICCA Martin Sirk said: “Planning, foresight, great contingency preparation, understanding how to communicate internally and externally, and perhaps most critically, teamwork, are all covered in this new ICCA document, which we hope will enable international association meetings to safely navigate an ever more complex and challenging global environment.”

Two complementary forms of crisis management – operational and communications – are covered in the document.

Provided by Safehotels, the operational guidelines contain the main components of a crisis management and emergency plan, roles and responsibilities of a crisis management team, an appendix with practical guideline templates and links to useful resources and information.

For the crisis communications guidelines, they comprise Managing the media by regular ICCA congress speaker, Tina Altieri of Media Australasia Xchange, as well as an article by ICCA’s communication strategist, Mathijs Vleeming. Called Reactive or proactive? Seven factors for effective crisis communication for international meetings, it also includes a crisis communication checklist to prepare before an event.

The appendices include two ICCA case studies on how the organisation dealt with potential crises involving an outbreak of dengue fever before the 2012 ICCA Congress in Puerto Rico, and geopolitical challenges related to ISIS and Ebola at the 2014 ICCA Congress in Turkey, as well as an article on dealing with the media spotlight in times of crisis.

The crisis management guidelines are part of a series of ICCA publications designed to help associations run more efficient meetings.

Associations can download the document by registering on www.associations.iccaworld.com.

BUSINESS event specialists in Singapore and Hong Kong are reporting suspension and postponement of meetings and incentives as the number of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) cases grows in South Korea, hitting 122 today according to the latest update from the South Korean health ministry.

Hong Kong’s Security Bureau has issued a red alert for South Korea, and most outbound agencies have responded by cancelling tours to South Korea that are planned for departures between June 9 and 30, with the exception of cruise programmes.

Jetour Travel Hong Kong’s general manager for events & travel management, Arthur Choy, told TTGmice e-Weekly that four corporate groups with about 80 pax have suspended travels to South Korea.

Choy added that the MERS outbreak also has clients worried about travelling to the Middle East. “We’ve got a deluxe group planning to visit Dubai this December but the client is worried and hasn’t decided yet,” he said.

Although Singapore-based The Meeting Lab has no planned activities in South Korea currently, its general manager, Felicia Teng, said: “It will take at least three to six months (after) the situation clears for corporates to regain confidence in holding events (there) again.”

“I can expect any corporate event to be put on hold in light of this situation, especially for incentives as we are talking about (moving) top producers, the cream of the crop of the company, and I am sure no one will want to take the risk,” Teng added.

Daniel Chua, managing director of Aonia Singapore, however, is taking an optimistic view of the situation.

“It could be a good time to offer deals to customers since hotels (in South Korea) are all going to be empty. (MERS) is not at the pandemic level yet. Business wise, we can continue to promote South Korea and not get scared because of what we see in the news,” he commented.

Besides South Korea-bound events being impacted by MERS cases, Hong Kong’s HS Travel International has also reported “some cancellations” by South Korean clients who were planning to head to Hong Kong.

Additional reporting from Prudence Lui

AFTER a successful debut in Asia with the International Music Summit (IMS) Asia-Pacific in Singapore last December, organisers are bringing the show to China.

IMS China will be staged in Shanghai on October 2, 2015 as a curtain to China’s largest electronic music fest, the Budweiser Storm Electronic Music Festival 2015.

The event will feature a series of panels, keynote interviews, keynote speeches, workshops and tutorials, connecting Chinese leaders from the worlds of finance, technology, music and media with European/American leaders in the same fields, with a roster of satellite parties throughout Shanghai for delegates to attend.

Ben Turner, IMS’ co-founder, said in a release: “It’s just one aspect of our push and support of the Asia-Pacific region. IMS Asia-Pacific is our overview of the entire region, and IMS China will shine a spotlight on one country with a gigantic opportunity for growth.”

IMS China is the fourth IMS summit after Ibiza, Los Angeles and Singapore. A venue will be announced in due course.

REED Sinopharm is going full steam ahead to tap into China’s burgeoning healthcare industry, which is expected to triple in market size to US$1.2 trillion by 2020, according to a state-issued whitepaper in 2013.

A joint venture between Sinopharm, China’s largest state-owned pharmaceutical group, and global events specialist Reed Exhibitions, the company recently concluded the mega Health Industry Summit (tHIS) in May, a new tradeshow that saw 210,000 visitors from 150 countries in attendance.

Described as an event that will transform the Chinese healthcare industry sector, tHIS is a combination of China’s three top medical equipment and pharmaceutical exhibitions – CMEF, PHARMCHINA and API China. It occupied 290,000m² of space at the new National Convention & Exhibition Center in Shanghai, with healthcare equipment giants GE, SIEMENS, Philips, Mindray, and United Imaging being among the 6,800 exhibitors.

Commenting on the event, Rachel Duan, president and CEO of GE China, said: “Medical and healthcare equipment manufacturers highly value this platform, all bringing with them the latest and best technology to showcase. All the leading companies in the industry are here, all of the top industry talents are here; there lies the explosive popularity of the event.”

Reed Sinopharm will make tHIS an annual event in Shanghai, with the next edition planned for April 15 to 18, 2016.

The company is further building up its portfolio with shows focusing on specific healthcare segments such as Fibo China in Shanghai, a sister event to Reed’s leading event Fibo in Germany, and the China Dental Show, the most academically recognised event in China.

A spokesperson of Reed Sinopharm told TTGmice e-Weekly: “As the focus and size of the health market grow even further, we are in the best position to serve the widening scope of the industry. From food to pharmaceuticals, exercise equipment to medical equipment, birth to retirement, prevention to rehabilitation, Reed Sinopharm intends to cover the entire value chain, and we want to build a platform to cover the health sector when it becomes one of the driving forces for the Chinese economy.”

By Luke Williams

FUN and entertaining meetings are no illusion, thanks to a partnership between Amari Watergate Bangkok and Beyond Magic.

The two-magician unit is up for hire to dazzle up coffee breaks, cocktail receptions and or gala dinners.

Beyond Magic’s one-hour show comprises two 30-minute sets and is priced at 12,000 baht (US$356).

Meeting packages at Amari Watergate Bangkok are 1,450 baht for a half-day meeting and 1,650 baht for a full day.

ANGSANA Laguna Phuket is promoting its “friendship meetings” to meeting planners, a collection of fun activities that are meant to generate team spirit, and offering nett-priced room rates to go along with it.

Meeting planners who book their next event at the resort can secure room rates of 3,200 baht (US$95) nett, with those chalking up bookings worth 500,000 baht to receive a free iPad.

Also on offer is the resort’s range of friendship meetings, activities that will add a dash of fun to the daily schedule.

For instance, the half-day Cast Away session takes delegates back in time. Participants travel to Rang Yai island where they are unable to use smartphones, Wi-Fi or any other form of modern technology, and must work together in teams to overcome the challenges presented.

Educational experiences can also be arranged, whether in the form of a massage workshop, cooking classes, or cocktail-making sessions.

Angsana Laguna Phuket features a range of event spaces including the XANA beach club for after parties and function rooms for up to 400 guests, while a dedicated events team will ensure that each meeting proceeds without hiccup.

For more information, email mice-lagunaphuket[at]angsana.com.