HOW fitting that the Lion City has won the bid to host the 103^rd Lions Club International (LCI) Convention 2020, as announced by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) this week.

Held by the Lions Club Singapore in partnership with Singapore Exhibition & Conventions Bureau, which falls under STB, the event is expected to contribute S$58 million (US$43.6 million) in tourism receipts and 20,000 foreign arrivals.

“Singapore was selected over five other cities from around the world for her world-class hotels, restaurants, and convention facilities, as well as an excellent transportation network. Lions are looking forward to a successful convention and wonderful time in this beautiful city,” said Joseph Wroblewski, convention committee chairperson, past international president of LCI.

Various public agencies and MICE industry stakeholders including hotel partners and convention venues joined hands to put together the winning bid for the convention.

While in Singapore, convention delegates will also participate in the International Parade of Nations, which is a half-day walk around the city-state.

Lionel Yeo, chief executive, STB, said: “The LCI Convention 2020 is one of the most coveted events on the congress circuit and we are truly delighted to be able to host this iconic event. Come 2020, we will aim to deliver a spectacular welcome and experience for our LCI friends.”

ASIA’S first Nobu Hotel in the City of Dreams Manila is wooing MICE with the novelty of a celebrity-inspired lifestyle, an innovative dining concept and fun luxury experiences.

While the majority of Nobu Hotel Manila’s business comes from the integrated resort’s gaming operations, it is also partnering travel agencies and DMCs to bring in non-gaming business including MICE, said general manager Marlon Hirsh.

Owned by actor Robert de Niro, acclaimed chef Nobu Matsuhisa, and Hollywood producer Meir Teper, the hotel’s 321 rooms and 335-seat Nobu Restaurant are a novelty in a city that’s just starting to acquaint itself with luxury.

The piece de resistance is Nobu Restaurant, for chef Nobu’s fusion food as much as the theatrical and dramatic allure with which the food is served, not mentioning the lighting and interior design.

Hirsh said the restaurant’s indoor and outdoor cabanas can be subdivided for smaller breakout rooms, and since the restaurant does not serve lunch, it can also be made available for daytime MICE events.

“We have had some good (MICE) business and we have done events at the pool area,” added Hirsh.

Trevor Horwell, CEO of Nobu Hospitality, said that cornering MICE has always been part of the plan for the Manila hotel. “There are certain key hallmarks that we have in the restaurant: the cuisine of course, fun-crafted sense of theatre, and service, which is also very important.”

The fact that no two Nobu hotels and restaurant are alike, and its fun luxury concept, makes Nobu Hotel Manila “a destination in itself”, said Horwell.

COMMUNICATING, educating and awarding are the three central tenets of the Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) programme, launched this month to grow the state’s business events traffic.

Open to any organisation or industry player, local or foreign, that provides support services or promotes business events in Sarawak, the BESarawak programme provides partners with tools to promote Sarawak Convention Bureau’s events, products and services.

Muhammad Leo Michael Toyad Abdullah, chairman of Sarawak Convention Bureau, said in a release: “BESarawak offers its partners an advanced communications campaign that includes stakeholder engagement, media relations, social media and a (subscription for and a chance to be featured in) Business Events Sarawak magazine.”

The programme will also develop its partners’ global industry best practices through bespoke and targeted seminars.

BESarawak also encompasses the Anak Sarawak Award, which was established in 2007 to reward partners, media and future local hosts in the business events industry.

Those who qualify for the Anak Sarawak Award programme will receive development support worth between RM10,000 (US$2,769) and RM20,000.

JAPAN has launched a new MICE brand designed to underline the nation’s combination of modernity and tradition, experience and convenience.

Introduced in late April, the updated Japan MICE brand will be prominent at IMEX 2015 in Frankfurt from May 19, where the The Japan Stand will emphasise the new brand logo through handouts, activities and presentations.

Atsushi Nishida, director of the project development division at ADK International, engaged by Japan National Tourism Organization to advise the agency on promotion and provide strategic advice, spoke to TTGmice e-Weekly about the new logo.

“Until the launch of the new brand, Japan used the ‘MICE Japan’ logo for meetings and incentives,” he said. “However, there was no corresponding brand identity.

“The new brand was developed on the basis of detailed market research about the value that Japan offers to meeting and incentive planners and in what way Japan should further develop its meetings and incentives industry…The result of this is a clear brand identity and message.”

It aims to highlight Japan’s strengths in the MICE sector by pointing out Japan’s achievements in science and industry that come alongside its dearly held customs, culture and regional diversity.

In addition, Japan has a long track record of delivering high-quality conferences and events, while its cities are safe and clean. Venues and other infrastructure are among the best in the world.

“This means that meeting planners have a diverse selection of experienced domestic destinations to choose from and, regardless of the destination, they are guaranteed to experience the spirit of Japanese hospitality,” Nishida said.

THE Philippine Council for the Advancement of Association Executives (PCAAE) will next month launch a two-day certification programme to further professionalise the industry.

The programme includes a series of learning courses through which participants accumulate credits counting towards becoming a certified professional association executive.

A Philippine first, the first two interactive courses are open to PCAAE members and non-members and will be held from June 29-30 at Manila Marriott Hotel, where John Peacock, general manager of Association Forum from Australia, will be speaking.

The theme for the first day is The Right Foundation for Association Governance and Management, and the second, Designing Successful Association Membership and Services.

Explained PCAAE president and CEO, Octavio B Peralta: “The certification programme is one of the pillars of PCAAE in its aim to professionalise the management and governance of associations and membership organisations in the country.

“Association governance and management is as much a science as it is an art so the body of knowledge and its practice are there to be learned and shared among the association community.

“Those working in associations and those who will work for such organisations in the future need not reinvent the wheel and start from scratch,” Peralta added.

THE Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) will start conducting short training courses for junior executives and those keen on entering a career in the conference and exhibition industry from this November.

Held in conjunction with the ASEAN Economic Community + Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions Expo from November 11 to 13, the trainings will be conducted by MACEOS members who are industry professionals with at least 10 years of experience.

Participants will receive Certified Meeting Planner and Certified Exhibition Management credentials upon completion, which are both globally recognised.

Kenneth Fong, chairman, education & training committee, MACEOS, said: “Both introductory programmes offered by MACEOS are meant to enhance the knowledge and performance of meeting and exhibition professionals; promote professionalism and advance uniform standards of practice in the industry.”

The courses are a follow-up to the MoU signed on May 7 between MACEOS and SACEOS. Twelve MACEOS professionals received their ‘train-the-trainer’ certificates from SACEOS after attending a one-day programme.

MACEOS president, Vincent Tan, said he was confident the partnership with SACEOS will further improve the professional and competency levels of the human resources needed in Malaysia’s business events industry.

Last year, Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau, together with industry partners, secured 152 bid wins and a 15 per cent increase in delegate numbers compared with 2013.

MACEOS plans to hold two similar courses in 2016.

ALTHOUGH the Indonesian government has issued a clarification in late-March on its guidelines for the hosting of official events, which spelled out a need for greater accountability instead of an outright ban on events held in privately owned venues, hoteliers in the country are lamenting that the damage has been done to their business.

Hoteliers told TTGmice e-Weekly that government agencies had already cut their meeting and travel budgets for the year and it would take some time to apply for a revised budget.However some hoteliers are expecting to see a turnaround in government business by 3Q2015.

Meanwhile, hoteliers are devising ways to keep their meeting facilities filled.

JW Marriott Hotel Surabaya, for example, has come up with short-term offers for event and conference organisers who confirm a minimum of 10 guestrooms at Rp990,000 (US$75.60) per deluxe room.

Satriya Tanuwidjaja, the hotel’s director of sales, said such prices were unprecedented. “It is a challenging time. Apart from government regulations, the economic situation in general is also affecting corporate spending.”

Suprapti Suprobo, general manager of Dyandra Convention Center Surabaya, pointed out that the new regulation have hit companies involved in government projects, which also meant fewer meetings in commercial venues.

To ride out the poor situation, Linda Muhlis, board member of Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association Jakarta Chapter, suggested that hotels focus on drawing more domestic and regional business events that could be timed to coincide with Jakarta’s festivals such as the Jakarta Great Sale.

However, some trade experts are saying that Indonesia’s business events sector is not all gloom and doom.

Bank Danamon Indonesia’s senior vice president – card business head, Lukas Djoesianto, said: “Looking at our corporate card transaction, we have not seen any decline in corporate spending for the year. In fact, we are expecting a growth of 25 per cent in sales this year.”

Djoesianto added that Indonesia was still seen as an attractive business destination by international companies.

“Besides, companies usually have more meetings to strategise, plan and consolidate when the economy is slowing down,” he opined.

Fajri Roesman, director of sales at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali agreed, pointing out while spending by oil companies was down, bookings from pharmaceutical and insurance companies were still doing well.

THE world’s top five cities for meetings have held their ground in 2014’s ICCA ranking.

Paris remains champion with 214 meetings conducted in 2014. Vienna and Madrid traded places with a two-meeting difference between them – Vienna with 202 meetings and Madrid with 200. Likewise, Berlin came ahead of Barcelona this year with 193 meetings, while the latter scored 182 meetings.

Singapore was Asia’s highest-ranked city and came in seventh with 142 meetings, right behind London’s 166.

Beijing, Seoul and Hong Kong came in consecutively at 14, 15, and 16 for hosting 104 ,99 and 98 meetings respectively, while Taipei wrapped up the top 20 list with 92 events.

The same results were reflected in the international list where there was little change. The US (831 meetings), Germany (659) and Spain (578) remained top scorers in 2014, while the UK (543) and France (533) swapped into fourth and fifth place respectively.

From Asia-Pacific, Japan held seventh place for its 337 meetings and was followed by China with 332. South Korea hosted 222 meetings in 2014 and thus came in 17^th place.

According to an ICCA press release, the association relooked its historical data over the last one year to weed out all meetings that did not meet its three-country rotation criterion as well as single meetings that appeared to be multiple, separate meetings before.

While this dampened growth levels, ICCA said it believes growth remains robust.

However, CEO Martin Sirk, commented: “Most commentators are naturally focusing on the new 2014 rankings, but the nature of this business means that we always continue to identify many qualifying meetings long after each annual announcement. We can’t stress this point strongly enough: ICCA’s rankings are a snapshot of a moment in time of a database designed for sales and marketing purposes, for a very specific segment of the market, a segment moreover where decisions are made three to six years in advance.

“Any destination wishing to accurately present its true performance in the international meetings field needs to complement the ICCA statistics and rankings with its own robust measurement of all meetings business won for the future and hosted in the past year.”