SINGAPORE: Park Royal on Pickering Is Biggest MICE Facility In Singapore And Biggest Ballroom In Southeast Asia

Park Royal on Pickering
Like Bangkok, Singapore is one APAC’s best locations for hosting meetings and events, boasting umpteen hotels and dedicated conference centres, all vying for your attention and business.

When it comes to unique selling points, Park Royal on Pickering really packs a wallop. Why? Because it’s a hotel inside a garden.

Along with the usual hotel experience, Park Royal can also casually throw in waterfalls and water features, planter terraces and 15,329 sq metres of gardens.

Being a pleasant backdrop to any event, also has the uncanny ability to reinvigorate and re-energise tired minds after a long day of meetings or conferencing.

The six different meeting rooms including two ballrooms can be customised for any event, from a small meeting or workshop to large diners or award ceremonies.

Supported by well-drilled event planners – who have seen it all and done it when it comes to MICE operation – it makes everything super easy.

All you need do is pick a venue and they will do the rest. Complimented by the latest in audio-visual displays and high speed wifi, the individual appeal of the Park Royal on Pickering has made it a MICE star in Lion City.

If there is one building or landmark that sums up modern Singapore, it is the three-legged, heaven scraping colossus Marina Bay Sands.

Packed to the rafters with a museum, two theatres, celebrity chef restaurants, art exhibits, and two floating Crystal Pavilions.

Not to mention the planet’s largest atrium casino home to 1,600 slot machines and 500 gaming tables, it also has a dedicated convention centre.

It’s the biggest MICE facility in Singapore and home to the biggest ballroom in Southeast Asia.

Bigging up the size of one’s ballrooms is standard MICE practice, but with the capacity to host 11,000 people, the Grand Ballroom’s claim for supremacy stands up to further scrutiny.

If that is not enough of a stat for you, the venue spans five floors of exhibition and convention space, with nearly 2,000 exhibition booths and 250 meeting rooms that can a hold a total 45,000 guests.

Planning is made easy with One-stop Event and Exhibition Solution Provider which takes care of any audio-visual equipment, stage set-up and logistical requirements, as well the expert advice needed to ensure stress-free planning.

Speaking of ballrooms, Resorts World Sentosa has one of Southeast Asia’s largest pillarless ballrooms; the 6,000 square metre, 11-metre tall Resorts World Ballroom easily accommodates 6,500 people seated guests.

The Resorts World Ballroom can be divided into three smaller ballrooms, or nine mega halls, as well as VIP and other holding rooms.

Coupled with numerous event spaces, conference areas and virtually endless permutations of their flexible seating system, means Resorts World Sentosa can handle 35,000 people at any one time.

All expertly corralled, helped and organised by the centre’s Event Specialists, who are available around the clock to make sure everything runs like clockwork.

The Shangri-La’s name is as synonymous with luxury living as it is with enlightenment and the natural world.

The Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore, with its 15 acres of cultivated gardens, artfully designed lawns encapsulated inside a ring of landscaped jungle flora, does its best to embody both concepts.

This makes it a stunning spot for any meeting or conference.

With a 1,357 square metre ballroom, the Shangri-La may not threaten the Sands for sheer size but when it comes to beauty and charm this MICE venue really stands out.

You will never fail to be impressed by how accomplished the events staff are.

Visitors will have such a good impression that with their high-speed internet connection, intelligent lighting of the Island Ballroom, satellite and teleconferencing facilities and high spec audio-visuals, the Shangri-La Hotel would be able to cope with almost anything asked of them with accuracy and precision.



Tourism Observer

RWANDA: Golden Tulip La Palisse Kigali

Rwanda’s vibrant hospitality industry and tourism sector has received a further boost by the introduction of new global hotel chain.

Golden Tulip Hotels, Suites & Resorts, which operates a global structure and having a strong expertise in Dynamic Sales, Marketing Distribution Systems, Finance and Human Resources, has signed a management agreement with the local hotel operator Club House La Palisse to manage their new hotel.

The agreement also includes providing global benchmarked design, procurement, training and technological support.

Known as the Golden Tulip La Palisse Kigali, the hotel is situated in Nyamata district about twenty kilometers from the Kigali City Center and is worth US $ 25 million of investment and will employ around 225 staff.

Positioned as a four star development, the hotel is touted to offer elegant and luxurious facilities, high personalized services, ultra-modern amenities and a deluxe level of comfort be it for business travel or leisure travelers who demand international standards but seek authentic hospitality and local flair.

It has 188 rooms, conference facilities and dining options. It also has sports facilities such as an Olympic swimming pool, 4 tennis courts, 2 basketball courts, 2 volleyball courts and a mini football field and a mini golf court.

Speaking during the signing ceremony held at the new hotel, the Managing Director of La Palisse Management Mr. Augustin Mukenzangabo said that the company was delighted to partner with Golden Tulip Hotels, Suites and Resorts due to its strong track record of successfully running hospitality establishments globally.

Mr. Mukenzangabo explained that Rwanda’s positioning as an attractive tourist destination had risen dramatically in recent years and the quest for the country to meet the desired accommodation that matches global standards had also picked up.

Opening of the new hotel is the company’s response to this need, which he says, will serve to raise Kigali’s level of accommodation facilities available for both the business and leisure traveler.

The arrival of Golden Tulip follows a trend in which hotel investors choose to let experienced managers and globally acclaimed brand names run the properties for which they are paid a management fee.

Addressing guests at the signing ceremony on behalf of the Rwanda Development Board, Chief Tourism Officer Ambassador Yamina Karitanyi said that the Government is grateful at this milestone as this is job creation and also a vote of confidence in Rwanda’s tourism sector.

The opening of the hotel is timely as Rwanda is focusing on developing MICE tourism which requires high quality facilities and services.

The Government is currently making huge investments in MICE Infrastructures such as the convention center and the expansion of the airport in addition to private sector investment in hotels and other tourism services to meet the apparent demand.

Over the last two years a number of properties have opened up and we expect more to come in the next two years, she said adding that in total Kigali alone now has more than 2,500 rooms.

The management agreement with Golden Tulip will give the hotel a stronger foothold in securing a high market of visitors from its global network.

Rwanda’s tourism sector continued to grow in the past one year cementing its position as one of the key sources of foreign exchange for the country.

For the financial year 2013 to 2014, the sector registered a three per cent increase in the number of visitors to Rwanda.

These numbers grew from 1.14million visitors to 1.2 million visitors also accounting for an increase in revenue from $293.4m in 2013to $303m in 2014.




Tourism Observer

MALAYSIA: Tourism Tax With Effect From July 1st

The Tourism Tax, which is set to see rates of between RM2.50 and RM20 charged for a night's stay, will be enforced as scheduled on July 1, said Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.

He rejected a report from a news portal which claimed the implementation of the tax would be postponed.

The gazette on Tourism Tax is automatic, in accordance with the country's procedures, when it is approved by the Parliament, the gazette is automatic.

If we want to say it has not been gazetted, that's right, but it cannot prevent the will of our MPs who have unanimously approved to implement this tax, and it will be implemented. So our target is July 1, he told reporters Thursday.

The Padang Rengas MP said the tax would be applied at registered hotels and inns.

During the last session of Parliament, the Tourism Tax Bill 2017 tabled by Nazri was approved by majority vote.

When winding up debate on the bill, Nazri said the tax would be able to bring in an income of about RM654.62mil if there was a 60 per cent occupancy rate at over 11 million hotel rooms in the country.

Addressing some 3,500 Perfect China delegates from China earlier, Nazri said that convening the event in Malaysia was in line with the government's aspiration under the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) to position the country as a preferred Business Event (BE) or Meeting, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) hub.

Indeed, all Perfect China delegates are now Malaysia's tourism ambassadors.

We hope that you will make the most of your visit here and experience the many wonders of Malaysia and take home very fond and pleasant memories of your stay in our country, the minister said.

He noted that throughout its 23 years of establishment, Perfect China had hosted more than 80 incentive trips overseas, and since 2011, had hosted such trips to Malaysia.

SOUTH KOREA: Seoul Third Most Popular For MICE

Seoul is the third most popular city for international meetings in 2016, according to the Union of International Associations (UIA), Monday.

According to the UIA's annual International Meetings Statistics Report, Seoul came in third for the second consecutive year in the number of international meetings held. The UIA is a nonprofit research institute based in Belgium.

According to the report, Seoul hosted 526 meetings last year, behind only Brussels which hosted 906 meetings and Singapore with 888.

On the national level, Korea ranked first by holding 997 international meetings followed by Belgium and Singapore. Fifty-three percent of these meetings were located in Seoul, followed by Busan and Jeju Island.

The city government welcomed the results.

Despite the relative disadvantages of Seoul's infrastructure compared to other cities, the city government was able to see such successful results by collaborating with partners and also continuing to develop its MICE industry, the city said in a statement.

MICE stands for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events.

The city government has endeavored to strengthen Seoul's international position and thereby its tourism, most notably by rolling out a master plan for MICE in 2013.

Under the plan, the city government has been developing existing infrastructure as well as new venues that can hold large conferences.

The International Meetings Statistics Report, first published in 1960, is an annual report that presents statistics about international meetings.

The report includes a selective list of meetings, organized or sponsored by international organizations that appear in the Yearbook of International Organizations and on the International Congress Calendar.

MACAU: Visitor Spending Goes Down Despite Chinese Lunar New Year

Total visitor spending (excluding gaming expenses) amounted to MOP13.46 billion during the first quarter of 2017, according to information published by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

This represented an increase of 16.6 percent year-on-year and a decline of 9 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2016.

The Chinese Lunar New Year, one of the busiest periods for tourism in Macau, falls during the first quarter of each year, while Golden Week falls during the fourth.

Analyzed by type of tourist, total spending of overnight visitors (MOP10.6 billion) and same-day visitors (MOP2.86 billion) increased by 19.6 percent and 6.7 percent year-on-year, respectively, during the first quarter of 2017.

During the first quarter, per-capita spending of visitors was MOP1,709, up by 10.5 percent year-on-year but down by 6.6 percent quarter-to-quarter.

DSEC said in a statement that the per-capita spending of visitors from mainland China rose by 13.6 percent year-
on-year to MOP2,002, with those from Guangdong Province and Fujian Province spending on average MOP1,630 and MOP1,291.

Per-capita spending of visitors from Singapore (MOP1,825), Malaysia (MOP1,625) and Taiwan (MOP1,607) grew by 11.6 percent, 0.4 percent and 1.8 percent year-on-year, respectively.

On the other hand, per-capita spending of visitors from Australia (MOP1,373), the United States (MOP1,211) and the United Kingdom (MOP1,118) declined.

Visitors spent mainly on shopping (43.7 percent), accommodation (26.9 percent) and food and beverage (21.3 percent).

Per-capita shopping spending increased by 10.4 percent year-on-year to MOP747, of which spending on local food products (MOP233) and cosmetics and fragrances (MOP201) rose by 4.5 percent and 36.9 percent respectively.

Analyzed by purpose of visit, those coming to Macau for MICE events had the highest per-capita spending at MOP3,286, up by 4.9 percent year-on-year, followed by shopping (MOP2,468), up by 19 percent.

The former category accounted for 0.5 percent of total visitors, while the latter constituted 10.8 percent.

Separately, the results of the Visitors’ Comments Survey showed a decrease in visitor satisfaction with all aspects of services and facilities in Macau during the first quarter of 2017.

Most notably, the proportion of visitors who were satisfied with public transport services dropped 1 percentage point quarter-to-quarter to 68.2 percent. DB

CHINA: ITB China Conference

Over 10,000 pre-scheduled appointments between exhibitors and hosted Chinese buyers secured prior to the show Partner destination Europe travel leaders to share latest ideas at ITB China Conference.

The ITB brand has finally arrived in China: Around 600 companies, destinations, organizations and travel service provider from nearly 70 countries and territories will be represented in China’s new three-day business to business travel trade show.

ITB China will take place annually on the grounds of the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Conference Centre in a partnership with TravelDaily China, China’s leading online news portal and event organizer for the travel industry.

The 12,000 qm area of exhibition space has been sold several months ahead of the event.

ITB China is the Chinese off-shoot of annual ITB Berlin, the World′s Largest Travel Trade Show, and its sister show, ITB Asia, in Singapore.

The inaugural event has attracted around 600 exhibitors among which 28% are offering MICE products, 34% leisure, 31% Corporate and 7% travel technology solutions.

More than one third of the exhibitors made their way from all over Asia and China to the first ITB China. Around 40% coming from European countries, 10% from the Middle East and some 10% from the Americas.

Dr. Christian Göke, CEO, Messe Berlin, said: This is an opportune timing for the tourism industry to seize the prospects offered by China’s vibrant economic growth.

ITB China has come at the right time.

Our new marketplace for China’s travel industry creates an international platform with a strong focus on Chinese buyers and sellers and covers everything the industry has to offer – MICE, NTOs, business travel, tour operators, OTA’s and travel tech companies.

Today Dr. Martin Buck, Senior Vice President, Messe Berlin; Eduardo Santander, Executive Director, European Travel Commission; Rungang Zhang, Secretary General & Vice President of China Tourism Association and Jane Sun, CEO, Ctrip.com officially opened the first edition of ITB China during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Top-quality buyers to be present

ITB China’s exhibitors will engage with 600 top-quality buyers from China. They are coming from all over the country to visit ITB China in Shanghai and represent more than 180 different Chinese companies eager to discover the product range of the show’s exhibitors.

The list of confirmed buyers companies contains some of China’s biggest travel industry players, such as Ctrip, Caissa, Utour, Alitrip and many more. More than 10,000 buyer-seller appointments have been pre-scheduled before the event.

In addition, ITB China expects some 100 international trade buyers adding the event’s buyers numbers up to around 700.

Europe is ITB China’s partner destination and sets the focus on showcasing the variety of the continent’s touristic products.

A dedicated Europe Pavilion will feature a multitude of national presences paired with strong individual attendances of major European destinations.

Eduardo Santander, Executive Director, European Travel Commission said: European destinations acknowledge the need to remain competitive in China.

Only through deeper cooperation with Chinese authorities and an increased commitment of the European tourism sector supporting targeted joint public-private marketing initiatives like the partnership with ITB China, Europe will succeed in fostering more travelers from China.

China Eastern Airlines, being one of China’s top three airlines, is ITB China’s official partner Airline and will be granting exclusive airfares to ITB China’s attendees.

The strong partner line-up is rounded up with the Jin Jiang International Hotels, one of the world’s biggest hotel chains, being ITB China’s official partner hotel will have its brands presented on the ITB China show floor.

Powerful conference program

Attendees of ITB China 2017 can look forward to an exciting conference program. The ITB China Conference is the platform where newest trends and innovation of Chinese and the global travel industry are presented. It runs parallel and will be jointly organized with TravelDaily China.

One of the highlights is the speech of Mr. Rungang Zhang, Vice-Chairman and Secretary General of CTA- China Tourism Association, China’s biggest travel industry association.

The impressive keynote line-up on the opening day of the conference will be furthermore enriched by a keynote held by Mr. Friedrich Joussen, the CEO of TUI Group.

An exclusive CEO interview of Ms. Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip, will be held by the founder of Phocuswright Inc., Mr. Philip Wolf providing in-depth insights on China’s biggest online travel agency.

KENYA: Conferencing Tourism

There is no disputing that the soft white sandy beaches lining Kenya’s 536km long Indian Ocean coastline, and our national parks, reserves, conservancies and sanctuaries abundant with flora and fauna, are the main tourism attractions in our country.

Nevertheless, the growth in conference tourism in Kenya indicates the huge potential this segment has in its overall contribution to our tourism sector. The Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (Mice) sector is on a major growth path globally and no doubt Kenya has begun to enjoy the benefits from this market to our economy and in enhancing the country’s brand equity.

The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), headquartered in The Netherlands, carries out an annual ranking of the performance of Mice tourism globally. In carrying out the ranking, the ICCA considers factors such as the number of conferences organised in destinations, the size of the conferences in terms of the number of delegates participating, duration of the conference, the frequency of the conference and the subject and profile of the conference.

The country and city rankings play a major role in influencing the Mice organisers on which destinations to hold their annual events.

Nairobi, voted Africa’s Leading Meetings and Conference Destination at the 2016 World Travel Awards, has played host to numerous high profile conferences in the last one year that has seen delegates from across the globe flock into the city.

This is a clear indication of the high potential that the meetings and conference market has in contributing toward the growth in our tourism arrivals and revenues.

Most notable of the major meetings and conferences held in Nairobi were the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in July 2015, the World Trade Organisation 10th Ministerial Conference in December 2015, and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in July 2016.

Nairobi will host the 6th Tokyo Investment Conference on Africa Development on August 26 to 28. The largest East Africa tourism fair dubbed Magical Kenya Travel Expo 2016 is scheduled to take place in Nairobi from October 12 to 14. The fair organised by the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) brings together tourism professionals from 35 countries that represent Kenya’s key tourism source markets.

KTB is optimistic that this positive momentum in the conference tourism market will be maintained throughout the year, as our overall tourism figures continue to record an upward trajectory.