Encouraged by rising Asian MICE footfalls, New York City is working even harder to capture more Asian business events, writes Xinyi Liang-Pholsena
Thanks to the pervasive influence of Hollywood movies and American pop culture, many Asians already look to New York City (NYC) as an aspirational destination and industry players are hence eager to leverage the Big Apple’s brand recognition for outbound travellers from Asia.
Makiko Matsuda Healy, vice president, tourism development for NYC & Company –NYC’s official marketing and tourism organisation – contends that the city’s energy, diversity and attractions are among its best assets in courting Asian MICE business.
“As the world’s number one draw for business and leisure, attendees have an additional incentive to come early, stay late, bring their spouses and get business done,” Healy said.
“NYC’s cultural diversity is an advantage to host Asian guests. From language capability, variety of authentic cuisine options and dietary requirements such as halal and vegetarian needs, many cultural-specific talent and items can be sourced locally because of our community’s diversity.”
The greater interest from Asia is also reflected in official statistics. According to figures from NYC & Company, the city welcomed 677,000 international MICE visitors in 2013, of which China and Japan were among the top source markets at eight per cent and seven per cent respectively.
“Although we do not have a specific figure, both China and Japan are key generators of the incentive travel segment as well. We have also been seeing more movement from India and South-east Asia such as Indonesia,” said Healy.
“We have been active in the MICE space across Asia, especially China, Japan, India, Australia and South Korea, through our international offices outreach, trade shows (like CITM and AIME), sales missions, seminars and fam trips, etc. We also started our outreach in South-east Asia last year through our first presence at ITB Asia.”
Likewise, significant growth has been recorded from China, South Korea and Japan in the past five years for New York Marriott Marquis, said director of sales & marketing, Leon Goldberg.
While Japan remains a “steady feeder market”, South Korea and China are two markets that “have been evolving for the past two years in all segments”, Goldberg observed.
“We also see business delegations (from Asia). For the pure incentives, we are seeing interest in affluence, and the aspirational trip to NYC as the “carrot” to this ultimate destination. We are also seeing an increase in direct sales organisations such as Amway, Herbalife, etc.,” he shared.
Like many Western hotels that in recent years have rolled out Asian-centric programmes, New York Marriott Marquis also gave a culture crash course to its staff on welcoming Chinese visitors in preparation for Amway China’s 1,500-pax visit in April 2014.
“We replaced all hot water carafes from the coffee makers in all guest rooms, as Chinese people in general prefer warm water over ice-cold faucet water. They also prefer tea to coffee, so this allowed them to heat water in the privacy of their rooms,” shared Goldberg. “We also engaged cultural expert Terri Morrison, author of Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands, to conduct cultural training on-property, with all the do’s and don’ts of interacting with Chinese guests.”
Other NYC hoteliers are positive in their outlook of the Asian market. Said Trump SoHo’s director of sales and marketing, Mary Mayes: “We are currently focusing on growing the Asian MICE market. Industry intelligence all points to the importance of courting this demographic.”
Elaborating on Trump SoHo’s multi-pronged promotion strategy for Asia, Mayes said: “On the marketing front, we have invested in a Chinese-language website, as well as efforts to target the online and offline media channels that are most influential. From a sales standpoint, the Trump Organization has a new development office in Shanghai to grow the brand’s footprint in the region. On the property level, we have multilingual staff to assist travellers, a dedicated arrival procedure for Chinese guests that keeps cultural customs top-of-mind, and several traditional Asian dishes on our in-room dining menu.”
And it’s no longer just hotels that have their sights trained on the Asian inbound market, meeting venues are also getting into the Asian bandwagon.
“Since Convene’s founding in 2009, we have seen many global companies – including Asian-based organisations – leverage our expanding network of off-site, professional meeting centres,” said Chris Kelly, president and co-founder of Convene, which operates conference centres in NYC and Washington. “Meetings from Asia are a very important prospective market for Convene.”
With the rise in flights linking Asia and the US, NYC & Company’s Healy recognises that visa regulations remain an obstacle in luring inbound visitors. “The US visa processing waiting times have been shortened tremendously, especially in China, India and Brazil because of the Obama administration’s commitment,” she said. “We need to continue to advocate for this even more and into other countries so that planners have no hesitation about selecting the US – and NYC in particular – as their next destination.”
Working the theme park magic
Orlando came up tops as the most visited destination in the US, surpassing arch-rival New York City to receive a record 59 million visitations in 2013, a three per cent increase from the previous milestone achieved the year before.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of AIBTM in June, Visit Orlando president and CEO, George Aguel, said: “We are one of the top three convention destinations in the US. Orlando is way up there because of its personal appeal…We have highly attractive leisure destinations and we enjoy the highest event attendance (among US cities).
“Some 50-60 per cent of delegates coming in for meetings will sneak in a day or two, or even a night, to enjoy Orlando’s offerings. We get extended platform – a majority of meeting delegates come back and find new things a few years later, motivating (them) to come back for vacations,” he added.
The undisputed theme park capital of the world is in the midst of “one of its most significant expansion periods”, Aguel emphasised, highlighting a US$5 billion investment earmarked for the rejuvenation of Orlando’s retail, dining and attraction scene.
SeaWorld Orlando recently unveiled its biggest expansion in the company’s history and Universal Orlando Resort in July debuted The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley, while the opening of Four Seasons Resort Orlando has bumped up the city’s luxury inventory. Anticipated debuts in coming years include the world’s tallest observation wheel, Orlando Eye (opening spring 2015), and the Avatar Land (opening 2017) in Walt Disney World.
Home to four theme parks, two nighttime entertainment districts, six convention resorts, another 10 resorts for overflow and more than 65,000m2 of flexible meeting space, Walt Disney World Resort’s position as “a complete destination rather than just a hotel or collection of hotels” is its greatest strength in vying for international MICE business, remarked director of resort sales, Amy Pfeiffer.
However, despite Orlando’s immense popularity in the American meetings market, industry players acknowledged that the destination’s outreach to Asian visitors is somewhat more limited.
Admitting that it’s “a long way to come to Orlando” from Asia, Michael Lyons, exhibition director – AIBTM, Meetings and Events Portfolio of Reed Travel Exhibitions, posits that the destination’s “great halls, phenomenal theme parks and world-class MICE facilities like Orange County Convention Center” make it “a special place to do MICE and leisure together”.
When asked how Visit Orlando can raise the appeal of the destination to the Asian MICE market when numerous theme parks have popped up in Asia in recent years, Aguel expressed confidence that “the Asian theme park effect” will work to Orlando’s advantage.
“We (Orlando) are the mother of all theme parks. Tokyo has seen the reverse trend – visitors also want to visit the flagships in the US/Southern California – same thing happened for Europe/Paris patrons too,” he said.
“We have not yet courted the Asian meeting market as we’re restricted by a lack of direct flights to Asia, but we’re gaining brand awareness in China and Japan; we have seen fantastic lift for Europe and South American markets with direct flights (so expect the same thing once there are flights from Asia).”
Aguel added that the NTO is working on expanding its airline lift to Asia.
Similarly, more Asian MICE groups are currently heading to the Disneyland Resort in California than Walt Disney World, a trend that probably mirrors the overall travel patterns of Asian groups, observed Pfeiffer. Walt Disney World is hence keen to step up destination awareness among Asian visitors.
She elaborated: “We have dedicated teams located in-market and States-side that focus specifically on the Asian MICE market. An example of how we’re growing marketing and sales efforts is that we have greatly increased our presence at AIME the last two years. We’re excited to see how this affects future business.” – Xinyi Liang-Pholsena
Need to know
Gripping Chicago on the edge
Just launched in spring 2014, Tilt is a glass-and-steel-enclosed moveable platform that extends 30 degrees outwards to generate downward-facing views of The Magnificent Mile and Chicago’s famed skyline – from 94 stories at 360 Chicago (formerly the John Hancock Observatory).
Accommodating eight guests at any one time, the Tilt experience can also be combined with private cocktail receptions or seated dinners at the observatory deck.
Visit www.360chicago.com or email groupsales@360chicago.com for more information and reservations.
More glitz on the Strip
Casting the recession blues behind, Las Vegas is again bustling with several mega developments and breathing new life into previously mothballed projects.
Malaysia’s Genting Group will develop a US$4 billion Resorts World Las Vegas project on a 35ha site on the Strip’s northern end. The project’s first phase will include 3,000 hotel rooms, a 16,000m2 casino, a 4,000-seat theatre, 30 F&B outlets and an elaborate garden attraction. Work has begun in 2H2014, with construction expected to take 24 to 36 months.
MGM Resorts International, along with Los Angeles-based AEG, have broken grounds on the US$375 million, 20,000-seat Las Vegas Arena, a centrepiece that will complement MGM’s US$100 million entertainment district between the New York-New York and Monte Carlo resorts as well as the Park dining complex. Both developments are scheduled to open in 2016.
Opened since March in the heart of the Vegas strip, the High Roller is the world’s tallest observation wheel at 168m tall. Conceived as the centrepiece of The Linq – Caesars Entertainment’s new US$500 million open-air shopping, dining and entertainment district – it boasts 28 passenger cabins that can accommodate 40 passengers each, and is illuminated with 2,000 LED lights nightly.
Convene with ease
A developer and operator of off-site meeting venues in the US, NYC-based Convene now operates at five locations (four in NYC and one in Washington).
The company offers all-inclusive, turnkey meeting packages, with proprietary in-house services including production support (programme design, logistics and content delivery), F&B (full commercial kitchens and on-site chefs), technology (in-room technology and on-site specialists), operations and staffing.
Convene’s facilities span a wide range of sizes and can accommodate two to 400 pax. Options include open community spaces and individual workspace areas at the centres.
Visit www.convene.com or contact info@convene.com for more information.
Motortainment for corporates
Richard Petty Driving Experience at Walt Disney World Resort Speedway, a mile-long, tri-oval track, has rolled out a brand-new line of adrenaline-charged Motortainment events.
Designed for groups of 150 or more, planners can select up to four programmes to incorporate into a private event. Programmes include the Exotic Driving Experience, which lets attendees get behind the wheel of exotic supercars by Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi and Porsche, and the Head-to-Head Challenge where thrill-seekers can race other participants in a timed competition.
More information at www.drivepetty.com.
