IT&CMA Bangkok. By Viviane Vogels

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Joshua Dickerson
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1 IT&CMA Bangkok By Viviane Vogels What to say about a city that rarely sleeps, where the latest high rise buildings compete with ancient temples, where thriving markets get as many visitors as the most luxurious shopping malls (if not more), where people are friendly but by now have learned the value of the dollar or the euro? It has been said again and again, Bangkok is an exciting city, if you have never visited Asia, it lessens the cultural shock as you feel you have arrived in Gotham City when you catch your first view on your way in from the airport. It s when you spend your first minutes in the warm, humid air and smell the exhaust fumes, the river, the canals, the food stalls on the streets, then you realize you are on another continent, in a different world. But early October Bangkok was first and foremost the home city for the 18 th edition of the IT&CMA trade show. This show is widely recognized as the premier international MICE show in the Asia-Pacific region. It has the largest collection of Asia-Pacific MICE product suppliers and provides an excellent platform for MICE sellers and buyers worldwide to gather and interact in the one strategic location. Parallel to this show there is also the Corporate Travel World Asia-Pacific, the first and leading ROI event on Travel and Entertainment management attended by hundreds of corporate travel managers and suppliers. They meet here to discuss the impact of global and regional issues on the development of business travel in and out of the region. First, a word about the venue, the Bangkok Convention Centre (BCC) at CentralWorld. You will remember the images of last year of the riots in Bangkok and the shopping centre that burned down. Well, that was the shopping mall that is part of the CentralWorld complex and let s just congratulate them on an excellent rebuilding job in very short time as the whole complex is operational again and the shopping mall opened 10 days before we got there. IT&CMA Show Statistics - Show registration for Buyers, Corporate travel managers and Media exceeded 900 applications. - of these application, 483 Buyers and Corporate Travel Managers from 54 different countries were selected, - there were 780 exhibitors from 304 companies across 38 countries in an exhibition area exceeding m² delegates pre-registered for this event.

2 What are the markets doing? With thanks to TTG Asia for their excellent reports in the dailies, a short review of some of the main Asian destinations. Thailand The Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau is luring event planners and delegates with extra perks on top of its existing Thailand Maximize s hefty subsidies. Under the campaign, the Max Value for meetings and incentives adds subsidies from baht (USD 1.200) up to baht for a group of 101 up to 800 delegates on top of a free excursion and reception. In the first half of the year Thailand lost MICE arrivals due to the political unrest, however they are confident that with the help of the perks they will maintain the 2009 level of MICE visitors. Malaysia The Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau has set its sights on growing incentives and association meetings to be held in the destination particularly from China, Japan, Korea, India and Indonesia. MICE is on the rebound in Malaysia although group sizes are generally smaller than in 2008 and lead times are getting shorter. India The India Convention Promotion Bureau is making efforts to boost MICE business and has started organizing annual Conventions India Conclave which last year took place in Bangalore and hosted 150 domestic and 50 international buyers from Europe, China and South-East Asia. Although there are no separate MICE figures known, India ranks today 33 rd on the ICCA list of top meeting cities for hosting 91 international meetings in MICE rates have decreased over the last year probably due to the increased number of MICE venues in the country. Singapore The Singapore Tourism Board shed its Uniquely Singapore branding in March in favor of one with a younger vibe and stronger digital disposition. YourSingapore is now is the new face and name attached to a new interactive website that is supported by a metasearch function. The website has now also a business travel angle to give a boost to local MICE suppliers to reach corporate event planners and there is also a Smartphone application. Singapore s visitor numbers have registered an upward climb since the beginning of the year: visitors in the first half of the year mean an increase of 22.6% over the same period last year. In July alone visitors came to Singapore or a 24.1% increase over July last year. The opening of Marina Bay Sands has sharpened Singapore s MICE venue offering with several unique venues for event planners.

3 Macau The Macao Government Tourist Office is investing in presences at several trade shows to increase the visibility. Total visitor arrivals reached 14.4 million in the first seven months of this year, an increase of 18.7% year-on-year. The majority of the visitors were from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. A major new attraction is The House of Dancing Water, the world s largest waterbased extravaganza directed by the much acclaimed Franco Dragone of Cirque du Soleil fame. Created at the cost of USD 250 million is housed in a purpose-built theatre. Japan Buoyed by their success in changing general perception that Japan is expensive and hard to get around because of language issues, the Japanese government is now setting its sights on luring the international MICE market to its shores. The annual promotion budget has been increased from 370 to 450 million yen. Asian markets, especially China are bringing more incentive groups to Japan and with its increased popularity as a tourism destination the tourist board is confident that MICE groups will follow shortly. After Tokyo and Yokohama, Fukuoka city is Japan s third most popular destination for international conventions. It is currently in the middle of a hotel boom especially in view of the opening of the renovated Hakata train station next March. China The World Expo in Shanghai has of course put a spotlight in China and has resulted in many foreign MICE agents being interested in promoting more Chinese cities: a tale of many cities! There is however still a lot of awareness still to be created about other cities than the key commercial cities in China. China is planning large-scale expansion in air traffic: airports are expected to process 700 million passengers per year by 2020 by which time 97 (!) new airports will be operational. International hotel chains continue to invest in the country: Dubai-based Jumeirah Group has chosen to plant its first VENU brand flag in Shanghai. Hotel groups like Shangri-La and Accor are eyeing Chinese destinations for new properties away from key commercial cities. Expect a great number of new destinations in China to become available for MICE groups in the near future! IT&CMA thoughts Every trade show has its good and lesser points, same goes for IT&CMA. The show itself was well laid out, the appointments schedules simple and well followed by the hosted buyers, all in all a very professional set up, with an excellent selection of suppliers and destinations. At the press debriefing a remark was heard that had the support of hosted

4 buyers and suppliers: to avoid barely filled rooms at the morning session seminars, start them at least ½ hr later than the ungodly hour of 8 am. I was courageous and attended together with 15 others the seminar given by Anthony Wong and our own Hugo Slimbrouck on the topic: Buy Green, Sell Green. Especially on the morning after the official Thailand Party of the night before, it was amazing that many people attended this and the other seminars, not for want of good topics though! Which brings me to entertainment in Bangkok other than the fleshpot delights everybody seems to associate with the city. The first official evening was an opportunity for the host country to showcase its many entertainment opportunities and the Plaza Athénée Hotel s Crystal Hall was the great setting for excellent food and great entertainment. From there it was only a short walk to the Conrad Hotel for a late-night function hosted by TTG Asia and the Conrad Bangkok at the Club 87 Plus. Drinks flowed, music pounded and a good time was had by all! The second evening we were invited by Korea & Seoul to a Korean evening. The long legs of the singer/presenter enchanted the gentlemen, the hiphop dancers were outstanding and the junior version of Vanessa Mae violinist was first class but with all due respect that we have in Europe as well and I can imagine that first time visitors, be it for a conference or incentive group, would prefer to see some authentic = more traditional entertainment that reflects more the culture of the country. Does not mean the evening was lost, certainly the excellent food helped all to forget the long day of appointments at the trade fair. After dinner we were all ferried to the Shangri-La Hotel that has recently been renovated and were we were treated to a Sex in the City Themed evening. Most of us sat out by the river enjoying the lights on and across the river, a romantic setting but also a great place to sit and chat and enjoy the drinks those Cosmo s were great, but lethal as some will maybe- recall! Impressions from Bangkok After an absence of over 15 years I returned to Bangkok only to find that even with their new metro...above ground & called the sky train, and larger boulevards, the traffic has only gotten worse and as our guide put it 'we have a continuous rush hours with peaks..' So, get used to sitting for a long time in busses or taxis. I tried the sky train and it s clean and efficient with airco, so very painless. For the more adventurous there is the tuktuk but they also get stuck in traffic. Then I discovered the latest invention for people in a hurry: the share a motor. Motorbike riders with orange vests with a number at the back can be picked up anywhere, you pay an agreed sum and he will navigate through all the traffic jams and get you to your destination in no time... if you do not mind clinging on for dear life and 'eating' all the exhaust fumes... Friendly people the Thais, but on the whole still a limited knowledge of English even in International hotels which makes getting around very interesting. You get used to

5 greeting people in that elegant Sawasdee gesture, you learn the basic words for thank you and how much... and of you go, just feel, breathe, drink, eat and enjoy Bangkok. I started my first day with some shopping in one of the many malls and good thing I had chosen for indoor shopping as the heavens opened and it poured until 4 in the afternoon!! At 1pm all delegates gathered for the different tours we were booked on and so I set off to the Chao Praya River for a longboat trip on the river which turned out to be a quite choppy experience, we even had to put on safety vests! A bit unnecessary maybe, but it added to the adventure. By then I had abandoned the idea of using my umbrella so I got a first soaking clambering on board these rather fragile boats. Afterwards we visited the flower market; double soaking hopping over all the puddles and avoiding people pushing carts around with fresh produce. Then the fun part: a fleet of tuktuks, all decked out with bunting and flags and escorted by police on motorbikes, drove us to one of the many Royal Temples where we were privileged to partake in a 'giving ' ceremony and all present received a blessing from the head monk. During the ceremony we could also get rid of all bad feelings, bad experiences of our past...very interesting. The head monk (we met 7 of them) also answered questions on Buddhism and life in the temples and at the end of the visit we all got the little cords tied around our arm for good luck, so now I walk around like on of these hippies you still see here 'in search of themselves' and wearing a lot of these things in different colors. On my last day in Bangkok I had my last massage a must in this country and then set off, totally relaxed to the famed Oriental Hotel for the Afternoon High Tea experience. This hotel is in a class of its own and I can only recommend this experience for those who love class, first rate service, old fashioned habits and just general pampering. On my way out I ran into one of the Royal Princesses who came to attend a meeting. Quite a performance when a royal arrives! That evening I left Bangkok with a satisfied feeling of having reconnected with a country and a people who know how to make you feel welcome and I settled, totally relaxed, into my economy seat on Thai and slept all the way back to Frankfurt. Thank god for the excellent breakfast on Thai as on the Lufthansa flight back to Brussels, I could not even get a cup of coffee as the staff did not have time to serve everybody. Pity, a bit of a downer after an interesting week of networking and discovering.

Celebrating 20 years of IT&CM Asia and 15 years of CTW

City Tourism Celebrating 20 years of IT&CM Asia and 15 years of CTW Motaz Othman Bangkok Hosted Buyers who attended for the first time, confirmed that now they know MICE in Asia much better TTG Asia, TCEB