the industry is all about face to face€¦ · a matter of real urgency, courtesy of the global...

1 • Destination MICE • February 2015

Distancing Meetings from Leisure Travel Should be a Priority for Everyone

The Industry is all About Face to Face


4 24


contentsINDUSTRY DESK...........................................................................4Distancing Meetings from Leisure Travel Should be a Priority for Everyone

ASSOCIATION DESK......................................................................6Industry Issues : AIPC

VENUE DESK.................................................................................8The Industry is all About Face to Face: IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Centre, Bangkok

ORGANISOR SPEAK..................................................................... 10ITB Asia: Trade Show for Asian Industry Market

ORGANISOR SPEAK.....................................................................12dmg Events: Truly International Affairs Showcasing the Local and Regional Markets in their Respective Topics

TECh KNOwLOGY ...................................................................... 14Novo Cinemas: we Promise Patrons a Great Time Out

UPDATES• NTO updaTeS .............................................................................16-17

• iNduSTry updaTeS ...................................................................18-23

• HOSpiTaLiTy updaTeS ...............................................................24-27

• aViaTiON updaTeS .....................................................................28-33

• TeCHNOLOGy updaTeS ..............................................................34-35

• appOiNTMeNT updaTeS ................................................................. 36

• CiNeMa deSTiNaTiON ...................................................................... 37

DESTINATION MICE MAGAZINE * FEBRUARY 2015


area attending meetings to pursue personal enjoyment rather than to engage in business or professional development can be sufficient rea-son to question attendance and / or remove financial support for them entirely. At the same time, many governments have implemented re-strictions or outright bans on meet-ings-related travel as a first line of cost-saving measures, illustrating clearly that concerns in this regard are anything but theoretical.

We in the industry haven’t done much to encourage such a dis-tinction and, even worse, actually

blurred the lines by continuing to promote meetings destinations and even attendance on the basis of lei-sure qualities like beaches, golf courses and nightlife - a practice that perpetuates the notion that business trav-el is in fact a thinly disguised excuse for a holiday paid for by someone else. When that “someone” is a share-holder or taxpayer it becomes almost impossible to rationalize participation, which accounts for the kinds of challenges we’ve seen recently like ongoing calls for reductions in meetings participation by governments and corporations in various parts of the world.

Something that has haunted the meetings industry for many years has now become

a matter of real urgency, courtesy of the global recession and its fall-out. That “something” is our collec-tive failure to more clearly distin-guish between travel for personal and leisure oriented reasons and that which is undertaken for busi-ness purposes.

The reason this is so important is that those who make decisions about the organization and financing of meetings, conventions, exhibitions and conferences, as well as those who decide who should attend them, are now highly sen-sitive to the appearance of such events as simply vehicles for personal enjoyment at public or corporate expense. In fact, just the word “tourism” in association with such events suggests that their real purpose is something other than their actual role as a primary tool for economic and professional development.

This is no small issue. In fact, there are now very specific professional codes and even legislation aimed at exactly this point, with the result that any suggestion of event attendees from certain sectors like the medical

Distancing Meetings from Leisure Travel Should be a Priority for Everyone

Joint Meetings Industry Council Executive Director Rod Cameron argues that our failure to emphasize the distinction between leisure and meetings-related travel hurts us all in the long run.

special featureindustry desk


Over the long term this failure to distinguish these two elements of the overall travel equation - and re-flect that in our promotional activities - will ultimately reduce the aggregate amount of global travel, and im-pact not only the revenues associated with meetings and conventions themselves but also the associated travel and even incremental investment in hospital-ity infrastructure and services that this sector sup-ports. The losers will be both those providing travel products and services as well as the broader economy that depends on business event-related interactions to advance their economic, professional and academic objectives.

That tourism is a beneficiary of the meetings indus-try is both inevitable and beyond dispute, but so is the fact that both we and they are damaged by the asso-ciation when it results in less support for participation in business events. In other words, we risk shooting ourselves in both feet at the same time.

Why, then, are we not addressing the problem? A few possibilities suggest themselves;

First, there is a large part of our industry and that of our sometimes partners in the tourism sector that simply don’t seem to see it as a problem. For those that have always regarded leisure-related qualities as the best possible way to promote a destination there appears to be a real difficulty in understanding that a very different audience requires a very differ-ent message.

Secondly, we have fallen into the trap of measuring industry value primarily on the basis of spending, and particularly spending related to hospitality revenues. Again, this creates the strong impression that it’s the hotel stays and restaurant meals that really count rather than the values inherent in holding the meet-ings in the first place. This approach not only vastly undervalues what this industry really achieves but also has the unfortunate effect of antagonizing our cli-ents who would much prefer to have the value of their events seen as the professional and business outcomes

rather than the money left behind by their members in somebody else’s destination.

Third, the primary sources of funding for destina-tion promotion are in many areas controlled for his-toric reasons by those with more of a tourism than business events orientation – and it has been a tough sell to make the case that ours is a business rather than a tourism sell, if only because the relative size of the tourism lobby in many countries or communities is usually much more heavily weighted toward the leisure side. To the extent that we have what are essentially third parties marketing on our behalf – and potentially putting the emphasis in the wrong place – we will con-tinue to suffer the consequences.

But if the name of the game is extracting the optimal benefit out of the investments made in the meetings sector – as it surely must be if anyone is really paying attention – we need to get beyond turf discussions and into a recognition of the fundamentally different ways in which the markets associated with these two very different sectors must be addressed.

In short, by failing to make a clear distinction be-tween leisure and meetings-related travel, we are trivializing our real role in global economic and pro-fessional development, threatening our individual competitiveness in the market and offending some of our most important clients, and that just doesn’t make sense for any destination that wants to achieve the diverse benefits associated with success in the meetings sector. The sooner we put some distance between these two areas the better all around, but that will only happen when we as an industry take some action toward re-aligning ourselves with the sectors that really count in today’s economy and achieving a better understanding with our tourism partners that clarifying the difference between our respective audiences and their travel motivations will benefit everyone in the end.

Given what’s at stake, that objective should be get-ting a lot more attention.


>>> What are the biggest issues facing convention centres today?

The biggest challenges centres are fac-ing world-wide are competition, adapta-tion and relevance. While these are all linked in many respects they each need to be addressed with very specific strategies, and that’s a big part of what centre man-agers are doing these days.

>>> What’s the competition issue all about?

There has been tremendous growth in the centre product in recent years, through both new entries into the market and the renovation and expansion of existing fa-cilities. The result is that clients have a lot more choice and centres have to compete harder for their business. Ironically, this growth continued right through the recent economic recession, largely because of projects that were already underway along with the fact that many governments saw convention facilities as a way of accessing the many benefits the industry offers.

>>> What’s been the effect of this competition?

Today we have what is essentially a buyer’s market, which means that orga-nizers and those acting on their behalf can and do negotiate hard and in many parts of the world look for incentives and dis-counts beyond anything we’ve seen in the past. That means everyone needs to work a little harder and find new ways to distin-guish themselves from their competitors. It also means that centres that can’t de-liver a high quality product are finding it tougher to attract business because there are so many good alternatives.

>>> What about adaptation?Events today are constantly evolving in

>>> Geoff Donaghypresident, international association of Convention Centres (aipC)

Industry Issues: AIPC

expert speak

terms of formats, technology and delegate expectations and centres need to be able to respond to this, often within the con-straints of a fixed set of spaces. The key to success is increasingly an ability to create flexibility in both facilities and services that can respond to new demands.

At the same time, business practices are also changing rapidly in ways that create different sets of relationships and approaches to booking and deliver-ing events. For example, time frames in the booking cycle have shortened dra-matically in some cases and traditional methods of booking accommodation have shifted in the face of online alter-natives. All these factors impact things like business projections and market strategies and place new demands on centre staff who again need to adapt in order to compete successfully.

>>> What do you mean by relevance?

80% of centres today are owned by some level of government – and govern-ments have been under significant pres-sures arising from the financial crisis and the economic recession of recent years. That has put downward pressure on cen-tre revenues at the same time that many governments are challenged in their own finances – which means that the “pure” economic rationale based on incremental visitor spending often isn’t enough to jus-tify ongoing investment.

The answer of course is that cen-tres aren’t just about generating visitor spending – they’re more about what events can do for a destination, from creating broad economic impacts to facilitating knowledge transfer and at-tracting new investment. This means centres need to do a much better job of underlining their broader role in sup-

association desk

While discussing the current trends and issues of the industry Geoff Donaghy, President, International Association of Convention

Centres (AIPC) elaborates on industry trends.

The biggest challenges centres are facing world-wide are competition, adaptation and relevance. While these are all linked in many respects they each need to be addressed with very specific strategies, and that’s a big part of what centre managers are doing these days.

“

“


porting community development poli-cies and demonstrating how they are helping respond to today’s most urgent government priorities, and many are do-ing just that.

>>> How do clients select a destination today?

Location decisions are the result of a range of factors including both venue and destination matters. If any one of these is not acceptable it can result in a loss of business, as planners need the full “pack-age” of features in order for their event to be a success. In terms of the venue, key issues are the size, configuration and flex-ibility of space, available services, cost and management reputation.

For the destination, issues such as the quantity and quality of available accom-modation, safety and security, ease of ac-cess, overall cost structure and attractive-ness to delegates are most important. Two rapidly emerging factors for centres in re-cent years have been technology and con-nectivity (to respond to growing delegate communications expectations) and the quality of the experience offered in both the centre itself and the immediately sur-rounding area, as many delegates spend the bulk of their time in and around the facility. Centres that can respond to these factors have a better shot at the available business.

>>> How does AIPC support its member centres in the face of these kinds of challenges?

AIPC supports its centre members in a variety of ways that relate specifically to the key factors indicated above;

• It provides research and analysis around industry conditions and client ex-pectations that help them better plan mar-keting and management strategies;

• It offers a range of education pro-grams that help centres develop more knowledgeable and effective managers in key areas such as sales/ marketing, opera-tions and facility management;

• It provides globally recognized quality standard guidelines that centres can use to benchmark their performance against industry competitor and address any ar-eas of weakness;

• It maintains award programs that en-able centres to distinguish themselves as centers of excellence;

• It maintains strong interactions with other global industry associations in order to access reliable information on market demands and planner expectations, and

• It creates events and systems that enable centre staff to network with their global counterparts and access a wide range of experience and expertise.

Recent new initiatives have included the development of a standardized eco-nomic impact calculator for performance reporting; a revised award program that provides all participants with an in-depth analysis of how clients evaluate their facilities and services and an up-dated management education program – the AIPC Academy – that enables centre participants from around the world to learn about, analyze and develop strate-gies around key industry issues.

>>> Where do you see the meetings business heading from here, and how should we respond?

No one knows exactly what the future will bring, but there are a number of things we can expect just on the basis of where trends are leading now. First, our business clearly tracks the state of the economy, so as the lat-ter improves, so will our own business activ-ity. However, there will be a lot of variability around the world depending on the differ-ences in rates of economic development, which are very pronounced these days.

Secondly, as with most other sectors, our business in the future will not be the same as in the past. Content, formats and technology will be very different, as will what exactly delegates expect to get out of their experience, and we will have to learn how to adapt and respond to these in or-

der to continue to be seen as a preferred means for interaction.

Third, competition will remain intense. That means everyone needs to work a little harder and find new ways to distinguish themselves from their competitors. It also means that centres that can’t deliver a high quality product will find it tougher to attract business because there are so many good alternatives.

Finally, we need to respond to the fact that we may be facing any number of unknowns, and be ready for that. This means not just creating more flexible facilities and services but also adopting a now kind of attitude toward change as something that is to be expected rather than avoided.

As the industry continues to evolve, so will the needs that centres have for pro-grams and tools that help them respond effectively. AIPC will continue to monitor changing conditions and expectations and develop new ways that members can not only access useful resources but also in-teract more effectively with one another to benefit of the world of experience amongst our membership.

Geoff Donaghy is AIPC President, CEO of International Convention Centre Sydney and Director Convention Centres AEG Ogden.

AIPC represents a global network of over 170 leading centres in 54 countries with the active involvement of more than 1000 management-level professionals worldwide. It is committed to encouraging and rec-ognizing excellence in convention center management, based on the diverse experience and expertise of its international representation, and maintains a variety of educational, research, networking and standards programs to achieve this. AIPC also celebrates and promotes the essen-tial role of the international meetings industry in supporting economic, academic and professional devel-opment and enhancing global rela-tions amongst highly diverse busi-ness and cultural interests.


>>> What motivated you to be a part of the Industry?

This industry is all about face to face. It’s about meeting new people, learning new things, exchanging ideas, experienc-ing new places and cultures. These are my motivations to be part of the industry.

>>> How long have you been in the Industry and what changes have you seen in the MICE industry during the years of your experience? What according to you are the growth plans of IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Centre, Bangkok, Thailand.

I have been in the industry for over 20 years. The industry has evolved rapidly in terms of sophistication and innovations to meet the ever changing behaviors and needs of customers through the applica-tion of technology, creativeness, contents and sustainability.

IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Centre is one of the biggest venues in Asia with an indoor space of 140,000 sq me-ters. We have recently become one of the first venues in Thailand to be listed as a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) in the Thailand stock exchange. We will con-tinue to strive to achieve our objectives to be the most desired and admired exhi-bition and convention facility in Thailand, and one of Asia’s top 5 venues.

>>> In terms of the new shows to be launched? How do you think that IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Centre has influenced the MICE industry?

Apart from being a venue, we are also an active exhibition organiser. Over the last 6 years, we have built up an impres-sive portfolio of over 15 exhibitions that we organise with both local and interna-

>>> Loy Joon HowGeneral Manager ,iMpaCT exhibition and Convention Centre Bangkok, Thailand

IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Centre, Bangkok

The Industry is all About Face to Face

tional partners. We also provide our customers with

one-stop solutions and value-added ser-vices, ranging from event management, logistics, operation, to even helping our customers in sales and marketing.

>>> What are the expansion plans of IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Centre?

We are investing in the constant im-provements of our facilities and technolo-gies so as to provide a world class facility that offers the ultimate choice for our cus-tomer success. One major project is the construction of our second hotel which will be a 500 room 3-star hotel located within our venue premise, augmenting our current 360 room 4-star hotel.

>>> How do you think that the MICE sector is affecting the world economy?

The MICE sector is one of the fastest growing segments within the tourisim industry, generating millions of revenues for cities and countries. It has long been recognized that business travelers spent anywhere from twice to four times that of leisure travelers.

>>> Where in the world do you think, the government support for MICE sector is most welcoming for the organisers?

While Europe and United States remain the major markets worldwide in terms of numbers of MICE events, the MICE mar-ket has seen tremendous growth in Asia, expanding by 133% over the last 6 years in comparison to global market growth rate of 19.9%. As such, there has been increased competitions amongst Asia countries in this lucrative sector and many Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea,

An interview with Loy Joon How, General Manager, Impact Exhibition and Convention Centre, Bangkok, Thailand

expert speakvenue desk


Taiwan, to name a few, have established ex-hibition and convention bureaus to attract more MICE events to their countries. These bureaus offer various government supports to organisers.

>>> What all expected changes you see in the industry five years from now?

As the market continues to grow, there will be more intense competition, espe-cially in Asia. As the industry try to reach out to a younger generation of MICE customers, the application of interactive technology will be accelerated. Continued globalization and shift towards a knowl-edge based economy will spur demands for global enterprise, R&D and knowledge which in turn will drive the continued growth of the MICE industry.

>>> What message would you like to share with the industry?

There is a general lack of MICE profes-sionals in our industry. MICE players need to focus more on attracting, developing and retaining good human capital to meet the growth demand and challenges ahead.


>>> Katrine Leungexecutive director, iTB asia

ITB Asia: Trade Show forAsian Industry Market

expert speak

>>> Please tell us a about your organisation? Organised by Messe Berlin, ITB Asia is ‘the Trade Show

for the Asian Travel Market’ and connects visitors to hun-dreds of exhibitors from all segments of the travel industry over three days.

>>> How was the year 2014 for your business?

The seventh instalment of ITB Asia in 2014 was a huge suc-cess, with the event’s conference programme hosting a record 4,080 minutes of high powered content and its exhibition at-tracting almost 9,650 attendees from 108 countries, a 6% in-crease over last year.

>>> What growth did the industry see in the past year?

Over the past decade, Asia Pacific has become the largest business travel region in the world. This region was expected to account for 40% of global business travel spend in 2014 and this growth has led to many opportunities, including the growing prominence of the MICE sector at ITB Asia.

>>> What would be the growth marketing and business development strategy for 2015?

Continuing ITB Asia’s industry-driven approach, we aim to listen to and engage industry professionals from around the world, collating key topics of interest that will help to shapeour conference programme, providing valuable in-sights to all attendees.

>>> Which all will be the potential destinations that will bring in valuable returns to your business as well as economy of the country?

Asia is the driving force of many sectors in the travel in-dustry. China and India especially are key markets with huge potential for both the MICE and leisure sectors in the coming years.

>>> How do you see Expo 2020 as a growth prospect for your business?

Trade shows such as Expo2020 and ITB Asia are valuable platforms as they provide attendeesthe opportunity to network with key industry players from all around the world, identify new opportunities for growth and generate business leads.

organiser speak

Katrine Leung, Executive Director, ITB Asia share her views with Destination Mice Magazine about ITB Asia organised by Messe Berlin.


>>> Please give us a brief introduction of your organisation?

dmg events is an international events organiser located in Dubai and respon-sible for hosting major trade events across the MENA region, India, South East Asia, and the Americas.

Founded in 1989, it has operated in the Middle East since 1995. It is the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust PLC, an international port-folio of digital information, media and events businesses.

Our portfolio of events includes The Big 5 in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, India and Indonesia, The Hotel Show in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, ADIPEC, and the IN-DEX Exhibition. We also publish several publications including Pipeline for the Energy sector and The Big 5 Hub Quar-terly for the Construction sector.

>>> Who makes up the bulk of your MICE guests at DMG Events?

The majority of our exhibitions are truly international affairs showcasing the local and regional markets in their respective top-ics. They therefore attract a hugely diverse audience from across the world. The Big 5 Dubai for instance attracts over 2,500 ex-hibiting companies, almost 70% of these are international and many participate in one of the 32 national pavilions the show attracts. On the visitors’ side, this is more skewed towards the domestic visitors, but again with a show like Big 5 the visitors reach is truly international, with the majority of the 70,000 participants coming from the GCC, but the rest of MENA features strongly and there is a good representation from Europe and the Americas. ADIPEC our global oil and gas event in Abu Dhabi boasts an even more international draw as it is truly the regional global showcase for the oil and gas industry.

>>> Matt DentosSenior Vice president, dmg events

dmg events:Truly international affairs Showcasing the Local and regional Markets in their respective Topics

some regulation here would be beneficial – but it is not an issue with the majority of events, just the blockbusters.

>>> From your perspective, how is the MICE industry evolving in the years to come? Any specific change in the Industry trends as recognised by you.

Our industry, the exhibitions one, is thriving at the moment, but like most me-dia is constantly evolving and content is king. It is no longer enough for events to showcase products and services; increas-ingly we need to provide content and edu-cation. As you look across the exhibition industry you see more and more seminars and masterclasses, technical session and conferences. Traditionally a by-product of the main event they are now integral in at-tracting the audience and delivering a full-featured experience.

>>> What do you think are the major challenges faced by the industry by technology centric webinars making the world smaller and easily reachable?

We don’t see technology as a challenge but rather an opportunity. In our view technology is an extension of live events allowing us to engage with our custom-ers 365 days a year. Traditionally annual events provided a single opportunity in the year to maintain contact with customers, however digital technology has allowed us keep our customers up to date on the lat-est trends, results from industry surveys, share opinion and such like. Nothing can replace the value that face-to-face inter-action provides and so we don’t perceive digital technology to be anything but a value-add for our customers.

Technology is not just helping us pre-show though, it is proving a great tool on-

Interview with Matt Dentos, Senior Vice President, dmg events. The organiser hosting major trade events across the MENA region, India, South East Asia, and the Americas.

expert speakorganiser speak

>>> What change would you like to implement to the MICE sector?

From our perspective the industry is working very well, we see fabulous support from industry, media and government part-ners to support events. Many of our events are located in the UAE and the Emirates’ support of the MICE industry is well docu-mented. That said simple supply and de-mand can sometimes work against us and when we have a major international event in town, hotel prices can be pushed up in turn making participation less cost effective and putting more pressure on ROI. Perhaps


site. With smart phones in the hands of the majority of visitors our apps can tailor content for them, letting them know where and when they should navigate the show. Imagine trying to find your way around the 20 halls and over 2,500 exhibitors at the Big 5, or select from the 40+ technical seminars. Technology and apps make this possible and allow visitors to better plan their day and focus their valuable time. Add in technologies like ‘near field com-munication’ and ‘gps tagging’ and the fu-ture looks great.

Specifically looking at webinars – these are a great promotional tool for events – giving potential visitors insight into a subject they can explore more fully and in person at an exhibition or conference.


According to recent statistics, the GCC’s USD 1.3 billion Meetings, Incentives, Con-ferences and Exhibitions (MICE) industry is set for continuous growth and expansion.

The UAE boasts nearly 50 per cent of the USD 1 trillion construction projects currently underway in the GCC, enabling it to emerge as the top MICE destination in the region. With its successful bid to host World Expo 2020, the UAE will con-tinue its lead through its well-established business events industry. Dubai, host to almost 27 per cent of all events staged in the region, is set to welcome more than 25 million visitors over a period of six months during the Expo. Abu Dhabi, on the other hand, generates USD 700 million from its MICE sector and is forecasted to grow at an annual rate of 7 per cent to reach USD 1.4 billion by 2020.


For us, we have a unique problem, many of our events are wall-bound and we have little physical space to grow. Whilst we are working with the venues to create more space in the future, in the short term it forces us to look deeper at our events and target more vertical markets with more tightly focused exhi-bitions. A dedicated Stone and Marble show has recently been borne from The Big 5 Dubai for instance. In addition to this we look further afield and will continue to successfully geo-clone, or export, our branded events around the region. The Big 5 is now held in Jeddah, Kuwait City, Mumbai and Jakarta. The Hotel Show has a strong edition in Jed-

dah also. So a two prong approach to grow both domestically and internationally.

>>> Which will be the potential destinations that will bring in valuable returns to your business as well as economy of the country?

As I mentioned before our exhibitions and predominantly international, so as in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, they attract a large following of international exhibitors and visitors that they bring to a host city, sup-porting the MICE industry and benefiting the economy of the country. Where next? We are looking with interest to ASEAN and have made our first tentative steps. We also see a great opportunity in Africa, both North and Sub-Saharan, as their in-dustries mature and open up.

>>> What kind of support do the regulatory authorities provide to the International Exhibition and Convention organisers? Are there any special features added by the authorities to attract these organisers to choose UAE as a destination?

This varies from country to country and is hard to define. Many countries see the value of the MICE industry in their development and work hard to bring an-nual or peripatetic events to their ven-ues. Emerging countries may subsidise new events to attract them or assist in the marketing of the shows. Other more mature exhibition markets will still see

close support to ensure events stay at the top of their field and if international continue to put that country of the map. The UAE very much positions itself as a leading global MICE destination and that benefits all organisers’ that operate here, we sell Dubai the destination in the same breath as the event.

>>> What are the major developments that you anticipate, may shape the future of Business in UAE both in the short term and the long term?

Venue developments, the booming con-struction market, Expo2020. The list is long, but the anticipation, planning for and execution of Expo2020 is probably single largest development on the horizon.

>>> How do you see Expo 2020 as a growth prospect for your business?

Dubai’s successful bid to host World Expo2020 will significantly impact various economic segments of not just the UAE but the entire GCC. The high-level global event has particularly injected new energy into the construction, real estate, tourism, hospital-ity and transport industries, with significant fresh opportunities steadily emerging. More state-of-the-art infrastructures and hotels are being constructed and hospitality jobs being created to support the expected influx of 25 million people attending the six-month world fair – 71 per cent of whom will come from abroad.

As with many such events it is the legacy that is equally important and Dubai Expo 2020 will create some fantastic facilities for the city, facilities that will carry for-ward the exhibition industry in the com-ing decades.

>>> What message would you like to share with the industry?

As we finally shake off the last remnants of global economic crisis the UAE’s events are going from strength to strength and the UAE has confirmed itself as the MICE hub not just for the GCC, for the entire region. These are exciting times as our events reach further and further to draw exhibitors and visitors. With the added content and offerings that successful ex-hibitions now need to offer we’ll increas-ingly reach outside of the exhibition halls and we look forward to working with ho-tels, venues and other MICE professionals to deliver value-packed events around our exhibitions that enhance the visitor expe-rience and showcase our cities.


Novo CinemasWe promise patrons a great time out. In an interview with Destination Mice Magazine

informed Debbie Stanford-Kristiansen, CEO, Novo Cinemas.

tech knowlogy

>>> Please tell us a little about your organisation?

Novo Cinemas is the largest chain of theatres in the Middle East, with 115 screens and 14 state-of-the-art en-tertainment hubs across the UAE, Qa-tar and Jordan. At Novo Cinemas, we promise patrons A Great Time Out.

>>> How was the year 2014 for your business?

We saw a lot of interest from event planners looking for a more creative space for their corporate events, prod-uct launches and small conferences. We were also leading the charge in evolving the cinema business into an all-round entertainment experience.

>>> Debbie Stanford-KristiansenCeO, Novo Cinemas

Debbie Stanford-Kristiansen joined Novo Cinemas as CEO in July 2013. An accomplished leader, Mrs. Kris-tiansen brings with her the vast expe-rience gained at such companies as Regent Exhibitions - IMEX Frankfurt, where she served as VP for Global Salesfrom 2001 until 2005. In 2005, Debbie joined Bahrain Exhibition & Convention Authority, and by 2009 had achieved the post of Chief Ex-ecutive. In 2009, she became CEO of events@Bahrain, a company owned by Bahrain Mumtalakat holdings company, where she had achieved exemplary business growth despite the economic climate.Among the highlights of her career, Debbie had the unique pleasure of hosting international movie star Liam Neeson exclusively at Novo Cin-emas for the region’s very first Fan Premiere, an event that threw the spotlight on the thriving cinema busi-ness in the UAE, in collaboration with Emirates Airline. Hailing from England, Debbie now lives in Dubai with her husband and two children.


Our cinemas as out-of-the-box event venues saw a huge increase in activity, especially with the telecoms, aviation and banking sectors.


Our strategy is to throw the spotlight on our cinemas as excellent event ven-ues – creative and innovative alterna-tives to traditional spaces, but with all the required amenities, including cater-ing, marketing and technical support.

>>> Which all will be the potential destinations that will bring in valuable returns to your business as well as economy of the country?

Our reach is regional – across the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

>>> How do you see Expo 2020 as a growth prospect for your busi-ness?

Expo2020 will certainly bring in a large number of tourists looking for A Great Time Out, as well as both local andvisiting businesses looking for an in-novative space to host their events.


NTO update

Innovation Norway, the Norwegian government’s primary instrument for empowering Norwegian enterprises and industry, has selected Simpleview as its Visit Norway travel and tourism devel-opment partner following an extensive international bidding process.

Simpleview will create a new design for VisitNorway.com, which current-ly provides information and tools to more than 20 million website visitors annually. The site will be powered by Simpleview CMS and integrated with Simpleview CRM for travel and tourism sales, marketing, forecasting, reporting and other core destination marketing functions.

“We’re excited to be working with one of the world ‘s leading providers of on-line and mobile solutions for DMOs,” said Hans Petter Aalmo, Web Manager at Visit Norway. “Beyond initial design and launch, we look forward to using Sim-pleview’s CMS and CRM systems to shift

Innovation Norway Selects Simpleview for New VisitNorway.com, CMS & CR

Adaleta Avdic recounts, “the Simplev-iew team is eager and ready to expand this partnership and work hand in hand to inspire visitors to travel to its destination.”

“Norway is recognized internationally as one of the world’s most progressive countries in many ways,” said Simpleview President Rich Reasons, “from the highest levels of government to everyday design. Given that reputation, we’re especially proud to have been selected for this proj-ect and for the opportunity to extend our services in the European market working alongside such an innovative partner.”

resources from technical development and operations to focus more on content and activities that will inspire people to experience our unique destination.”

Simpleview’s contracted services for Innovation Norway include:• Creative development and design for

the new VisitNorway.com• Implementation of Simpleview CMS,

including a number of custom fea-tures to meet needs outlined by Visit Norway

• Content in seven languages developed through a mix of automated and pro-fessional translation services

• Implementation of Simpleview CRMA team of six Simpleview employ-

ees spent a week with the staff of Visit Norway in Oslo early in December to finalize production planning and be-gin drawing inspiration for the new site design. “After experiencing Inno-vation Norway’s passion for driving tourism firsthand,” Account Manager,

Sustainable Business Travel Initiatives on the Rise in EuropeThe majority (57 percent) of European-

based companies have sustainability initia-tives written into their company’s travel policy, according to a new study on sus-tainability in travel programs by the GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA).

This marks a significant increase from 39 percent in 2012, and is largely attributable to the financial benefits, and safety and se-curity enhancements delivered by the pro-grams. The study also found that more U.S. companies are incorporating sustainability programs into contracts (from 11 percent in 2011 to 19 percent), but they continue to lag behind European counterparts.

“Overall, sustainability initiatives appear to be more integrated in Europe-based or-ganizations, with opportunity for improve-ment among US-based organizations,” said Joseph Bates, GBTA Foundation’s vice president of research. “We found that Euro-pean companies are focused on efforts that result in both financial and environmental benefits, while American companies have a strong focus on the human relations aspect of sustainability.”

The GBTA study – “Sustainability in

programs as well as similarities and differ-ences by regions and across time.

Moving beyond the initiatives themselves, the survey also examined the impact of sus-tainability initiatives, finding that among companies that measure their environmen-tal footprint, nearly all measure air travel ac-tivity (96 percent in Europe and 92 percent in the U.S.).

“It does not surprise me to see sustain-ability issues rising up the agenda for Travel Managers,” said Jim Burrell, Senior Vice President for Enterprise Holdings in Europe. “Sustainability within the travel supply chain has been a core component of contrac-tual discussions for a number of years. How-ever, there is a definite shift to this becoming more about measurement and impact than just a ‘nice to have’.”

Burrell also noted that Enterprise has been working with organizations to help them understand the long-term impact of corpo-rate travel, not only in terms of cost, but also environmental considerations, employee safety and efficiency. “This goes beyond the provision of vehicles,” he said. “We also are noticing a much stronger emphasis on ques-tions about how we manage our own supply chain in relation to sustainability.”

Travel Programs” – was sponsored by En-terprise Holdings, which owns and operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands. The annual revenues of Enterprise Holdings, the world’s largest car rental company, rank near the top of the travel industry, ahead of many airlines and most cruise lines, hotels, tour operators and online travel agencies.

Nearly 300 U.S. and European-based Trav-el Managers were surveyed to better un-derstand how they currently view sustain-ability initiatives and the role sustainability plays with ground transportation. In addi-tion, the study focused on future intentions regarding incorporating sustainability into


2015 is going to be a year with a very high demand for immigration to Canada due to a large number of attractive migration pro-grams that exist in Canada, and especially because of the new Express Entry application management system that the government of Canada designed and inaugurated earlier this year in order to help more foreigners with skills get to Canada much faster.

The program that will lead the immigra-tion to Canada in 2015 will be the Federal Skilled Worker’s Program through the ad-ministration of the new Express Entry ap-plication management system, but, it will not be the only government program that will enable foreigners with different skill sets or backgrounds to migrate success-fully to Canada in 2015.

In direct response to Canada’s growing immigration opportunities in 2015, Cana-dian Visa Expert has expanded its immi-gration services and activities in order to help more people and families realize their immigration goals to Canada.

Additional immigration programs in Canada, like regional enrollments by Prov-inces such as Manitoba, Quebec, Nova Sco-tia, Alberta, etc. will also enable and facili-tate new immigration by the thousands.

For those who want to immigrate, today

Canada Expands Immigration in 2015 - Canadian Visa Expert Reports

Canada offers a variety of opportunities that are equally suitable for academics and professions with high-tech or low-tech skills, such as welders, carpenters, fisher-men, automotive mechanics, engineers, managers, among other skills which the government of Canada has published.

Canadian Visa Expert specializes in im-migration opportunities to Canada and provides comprehensive immigration ser-vices to customers from all over the world on a variety of Canada’s viable 2015 im-migration programs. After a professional assessment, Canadian Visa Expert matches its customers with the best immigration track they may qualify for based upon details they entered, including education, age, language skills and other relevant cri-teria and leading indicators.

NTO update

Tour operators from Spain this week were invited to meet with the Seychelles Minister re-sponsible for Tourism and Culture, alain St.ange, and to hear about the new developments on the islands. The informal gathering that took place over a dinner was also attended by Sherin Nai-ken, the CeO of the island’s Tourism Board, and Bernadette Willemin, the Tourism Board’s direc-tor for europe. present also were local represen-tatives for a number of international hotel chains as well as Mason’s Travel.

Monica Gonzalez Llinas, the Seychelles Tourism Board’s Manager for Spain, was the first to address the evening function in the presence of both the island’s Consul based in Barcelona and also the one from Madrid. She was followed by Bernadette Willemin, the Seychelles Tourism Board’s director for eu-rope, who thanked the Spanish operators for

their continued support for Seychelles. Sherin Naiken, the CeO of the Seychelles Tourism Board, said when she took the floor that Spain remained a potential market for Seychelles. “This is why the Tourism Board and par tners who want a share of the Spanish tourism mar-ket were present at FiTur,” Ms. Naiken said before detailing the latest developments that had taken place in Seychelles.

Minister alain St.ange, the Seychelles Min-ister holding the tourism por tfolio, on his par t said when he addressed the dinner function that he was thankful that Seychelles had true friends in Spain as they have in every major tourism source market. The Minister thanked the Spanish tour operators for remaining faith-ful to the islands and for making time even dur-ing the busy trade fair time to come out to hear what Seychelles had to say.

Spain Tourism Operators Spend Time with Seychelles Tourism Officials

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Concludes ‘Visit Japan Trade Seminar’ in New delhi and Mumbai

Japan National Tourism Organization along with a strong delegation from Japan com-prising of participating partners successfully concluded ‘Visit Japan Trade Seminar’ in delhi and Mumbai. The ‘Visit Japan Trade Seminar’ was organized in New delhi and in Mumbai recently.

The trade seminars had participation of delegates from trade members comprising airlines, hotels, and popular attractions, such as Home of Mt. Fuji-Shizuoka, Nagano prefec-ture, Tour Quality Japan, Fujikyu Group, Hok-kaido Tourism Organisation, Osaka Govern-ment Tourism Bureau, Hyatt regency Osaka, air india Osaka Office, ayabex inc, Japan air-lines and all Nippon airways.

The delegation held business sessions with the indian trade partners in addition to interacting with the media thereby creating a strong platform of information exchange. The delegation met more than 200 trade partners during the course of the seminars in the two cities. The objective was to update the travel trade community and the media organisations about the latest devel-opments and product offering in Japan.

‘Visit Japan Trade Seminar’ also had presen-tations by Mr. Hideki Manabe, executive direc-tor, Japan National Tourism Organization and Mr.Toshi hiko yamahoshi, Councillor, embassy of Japan and from partners like, Mr. Michikoo Nakamori of Hokkaido Tourism Organisation; Mr. Hiroyuki ashizawa of Home of Mt. Fuji-Shizuoka; Mr. Hideki Kasahara of Tour Quality Japan and Mr. Harunobu Ota of Clair Singapore who show-cased their destinations and services to the in-dian partners and the media. JNTO also invited Ms. anoothi Vishal, renowned food and travel writer to talk about her experiences when she travelled to Japan.

Last year Japan welcomed 11,009,000 tourists, a growth of about 27% compared to the corresponding period in the previous year. during this period 73,600 indians visited Ja-pan – a growth of more than 15% over the last year.


Organised by Barcelona Convention Bureau, the meeting brought together the main European association’s con-gress organisers. The mayor of Barce-lona, Xavier Trias, and deputy mayor, SòniaRecasens,and the Healthcare del-egate at City Hall, Cristina Iniesta, also attended the event.

Barcelona hosts annual AC Forum meeting, coinciding with 15 anniversary

which coincided with the 15th anniver-sary of the AC Forum, gathered a record 80-or-so participants from across the con-tinent. The objective of the yearly meeting is to share information and experiences about the destinations where they hold their events, amongst other points.

Strategic sector for the city“The meetings sector is one of the city’s

strong points. It is a strategic sector for our economy and Turisme de Barcelona is working hard in this area,”says Turisme de Barcelona’s Managing Director, Jordi William Carnes.

Participants attending the meeting this year praised the professionalism of the city of Barcelona and its tourism industry, and this, according to Carnes, “points to an increase in the number of new con-gresses and meetings in Barcelona in the future.” The city receives 600,000 meet-ings delegates a year.

The AC Forum was held at Fira de Bar-celona Gran Via, Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB) and Pullman Barcelona Skipper.

Barcelona, January 30, 2015. Last Janu-ary 22-24, Barcelona Convention Bureau, a Turisme de Barcelona programme, or-ganised the Annual Meeting of the AC Forum (www.acforum.net), which brings together the main European associations that organise conferences, the majority of these in the medical sector. The event,

industry updates

The Association of Corporate Travel Execu-tives (ACTE) will again support ITE & MICE which will next be held from June 11 to 14, 2015, and host there an Executive Forum on Corporate Travel for ACTE members etc. To facilitate further contacts and interactions of corporate travel managers with related exhibi-tors of the Travel Expo, ACTE will hold a VIP tour and a reception.

As ITE & MICE supporter, ACTE will also send complimentary invitations to members in Hong Kong and Guangdong to visit dur-ing trade days the Travel Expo, which will be held at Halls 1A to 1E of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Founded in 1988, ACTE is a leading non-profit organization that serves and advances the global business travel industry in 102 dif-ferent countries. The education ACTE pro-vides infiltrates to more than 12 million busi-ness travelers worldwide.

“Our members would welcome an Ex-ecutive Forum and additional activities in an international travel fair like ITE & MICE, as that makes their visits more efficient and cost effective”, said Benson Tang, ACTE Re-gional Director, Asia which strives to make business travel more productive, cost-effec-

ACTE, the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, Stages Trade Seminar etc in ITE & MICE 2015

Macau Government Tourist Office, trade asso-ciations of travel agents and event industries from Hong Kong and in the region. Presti-gious chambers of commerce and professional bodies also help distributing invitations to their members.

Of the total 12308 buyers and trade visi-tors of ITE & MICE 2014, 2588 are from MICE or corporations and 6522 from travel agents; and its 650 international exhibitors came from 47 countries and regions from all over the world.

For more details of the Expo or trade visitor registration, please visit trade website of www.itehk.com. For exhibiting or general enquiry, please email to [email protected] or contact the Organizer, TKS by phone: (852) 31550600.

tive and straightforward. “We welcome continuation of co-operation

with prestigious international organization like ACTE, and the top quality education it brings into our travel expo”, said KS Tong, Managing Director of TKS Exhibition Services Ltd which organizes ITE & MICE.

The organizer has designated June 12, 2015 as MICE / Corporate Travel Day, as there will be several related trade seminars, activities such as Business Matching and presentations by exhibitors.

ITE & MICE 2015, which is a co-location of the 29th ITE and the 10th ITE MICE for syn-ergy, is also supported by China National Tourism Administration, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong,

The Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, pictured with some of the AC Forum participants.


industry updates

The Palace of Culture and Science, War-saw’s most visible landmark, will be the proud host of the opening night of the 5th annual edition of the MCE CEE.

The event is expected to kick off in style with the official Welcome Gala Dinner taking place on Sunday evening. Orga-nized by the Warsaw Convention Bureau, and hosted in Poland’s tallest building, the Palace of Culture and Science, the evening will be the perfect opportunity to introduce attendees to Warsaw and each other.

Guests will be picked up from the hotel and enjoy a short bus tour of the city (orga-nized by Haxel DMC), before arriving at the palace. Once there, they will be provided with the opportunity to tour the amazing venue, before assembling into the Palace’s restaurant, where they will be wined and dined like VIPs. With a line-up of wonder-ful entertainment and a marvelous dinner offered by Belvedere catering, the first eve-ning is certainly expected to set the scene for the remainder of the two days, allowing for plenty of opportunities to relax, network and get to know each other.

A busy two days awaits participants on Monday and Tuesday, when the event goes into full swing. An array of educational ses-sions, one-to-one meetings and plenty of net-

MCE Central & Eastern Europe: Program Specs

Eventex Congress 2015 is Just a Few Time AwaySofia Will Welcome Global event professionals for

2 days of education and Networking in Februaryeventex Congress is a unique professional

event for the european market. it ‘s not an expo, nor it is a trade show; it’s a blend be-tween a conference and networking event with boutique exhibition and a lot of enter tainment. 2 days of shared knowledge, 15 esteemed ex-per t speakers and a lot of inspiration is the es-sence of eventex Congress 2015. Here’s what to expect during the congress:

On February 25, 2015 eventex Congress 2015 starts with event Technology Conference, held by 5 extraordinary speakers, each covering a differ-ent subject. Trends, Best practices and insider Tips are shared by some of the most influential event professionals in europe.

a simultaneous half-day master class is held on Venue Sales by rob davidson, one of the 50 most influential people in uK Business event industry.

On the evening of February 25, eventex awards Gala will honor the nominees in 10 categories for

working is on the agenda, as we commence the day with some introductions and wel-come words.

Offering exclusive and business pro-gressive insight into the CEE Region, Jonathan Bradshaw and Daniel Tschudy, along with the participating Central and Eastern Europe Convention Bureaus will take the stage to introduce and highlight exactly why the CEE region is becoming an increasingly ideal destination for MICE activities. Mr Bradshaw and Mr Tschudy, experts in their respective fields, will re-main for the duration of the event, with Mr Bradshaw taking the stage once again on Monday afternoon to discuss “The Secret Science behind Connecting with Others”, while Mr Tschudy gives his key-note ses-sion on how “Cross-Cultural Competence can help approaching new markets in the right way”, on Tuesday morning.

All-in-all the 5th edition of the MCE CEE is promising to be the best one yet, bringing in even more buyers, provid-ers, meetings, networking and education than ever before. We can’t wait to see you all in Poland!

For more information and participation visit the Europe Congress:

http://www.europecongress.com/events/mce-cee-2015-warsaw

events and 4 event tech categories. a night, full of outstanding performances and inspiration, drawn from the most prominent events and technology solutions from the past year.

On February 26, 2015 eventex Congress 2015 will cover the event Marketing Trends and Strategies with 5 more master speakers, shar-ing their invaluable experience in event publicity and sponsorship, sales, marketing and audience engagement. Same day, half-day masterclass is dedicated to Meeting design with top author and facilitator eric de Groot.

On the evening of February 26, eventex party will gather all attendees to celebrate the new connections and knowledge, established during the congress.

registrations from 17 countries worldwide were made by far in the 7th edition of eventex Congress, expecting their peak in the coming weeks.

“This year eventex Congress will be a memo-rable and refreshing experience not only because of the respected event professionals but with the young talents that won our competitions” - said Ovanes Ovanessian, Founder of eventex.

CINZ MEETINGS 2015 is the Place to do Business

New Zealand’s premier business events trade exhibition, CiNZ MeeTiNGS 2015 re-turns for its 19th year in June, promising bigger business opportunities and an ex-panded programme.

Buyers booked valuable business at last year’s show. Conventions and incentives New Zealand (CiNZ) Chief executive Sue Sullivan says this growth is set to continue as the country’s business events sector expands.

“Over $50 million was written at CiNZ MeeTiNGS 2014. it is the place to do busi-ness,” Sue Sullivan says.

“MeeTiNGS is New Zealand’s leading platform for connecting important domes-tic, australian and international buyers with key regions, meeting facilities, accommo-dation, off-site venues and activities.”

Organised by CiNZ, MeeTiNGS 2015 will be staged across two large pavilions at auckland’s aSB Showgrounds on June 10 and 11. all of New Zealand’s regions will be showing their business tourism strengths, with more than 180 exhibitors and an ex-panded Luxury Collection.

“We are delighted to be back in auckland again and at aSB Showgrounds. exhibition space is already booking fast after the suc-cess of our first show here last year,” Sue Sullivan says.

“The expansive pavilions have proven popular with exhibitors and buyers, who re-ally appreciate the open, friendly feel.”

Leveraging MeeTiNGS’ growing interna-tional reputation, CiNZ is again working with partners Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) and air New Zealand to attract quality buyers.

They are bringing more than 35 influen-tial buyers and media from North america, Japan, China, india and South east asia to MeeTiNGS 2015.

Through their joint strategic partnerships in australia, TNZ and CiNZ are also inviting key association buyers to the event with the support of air New Zealand.

australian hosted buyers are in for another treat this year, with the chance to join one of eight regional familiarisation programmes prior to the show, Sue Sullivan says.

air New Zealand is principal Sponsor for CiNZ MeeTiNGS 2015, renewing its ongoing commitment to the sector and to the Hosted Buyer programme. The event’s other major sponsors are aSB Showgrounds, peek ex-hibition and Centium Software.


IT&CM China 2015 partners with Marriott Group

iT&CM China has partnered with the Mar-riott Group, which will provide accommoda-tion for more than 400 hosted delegates at-tending the 2015 event.

JW Marriott Shanghai Changfeng park, renaissance Shanghai yangtze Hotel and Shanghai Marriott Hotel parkview will all be used to host the delegates for the upcoming expo which is being held at the new Shang-hai Convention & exhibition Center of inter-national Sourcing.

“iT&CM China is a very important event for the MiCe industry, especially to a MiCe-focused hotel like us,” said Shanghai Marriott Hotel parkview general manager ricky Lam.

“as the newest Marriott property in Shang-hai, being able to partner such an influential event which is a hub for international MiCe activity in the region is a great opportunity to showcase our property to the market.”

iT&CM China 2015 will take place from april 14 - 16, 2015.

industry updates

Meeting Professionals International (MPI) has selected Copenhagen, Denmark, as the destination for its 2016 European Meetings & Events Conference (EMEC). The associa-tion revealed its plans earlier today during the closing of EMEC 2015 in Kraków, Poland.

Next year will be the third time MPI has hosted a conference in the Danish capital. The association previously held its former Professional Education Conference-Europe in Copenhagen in 1998 and 2007. EMEC 2016 is scheduled for February 7 – 9, 2016, at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel.

“MPI is thrilled to return to Copenhagen,” said Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of MPI. “In selecting the host city for EMEC, MPI works closely with our European vol-unteer leaders, strategic partners and Pierre Fernandez – the head of MPI’s European op-erations – to identify destinations that provide world-class infrastructures and facilities, are accessible for our membership and align with our culture to push the envelope in meeting design. Copenhagen excels in each of those areas.”

Copenhagen is one of the most popular des-tinations for meetings and events in Europe. The city has been recognized by the Interna-tional Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) for several years in its annual ranking of top convention cities.

“MPI Denmark, together with our partners VisitDenmark, Wonderful Copenhagen CVB and Radisson Blu Scandinavia, are honored to welcome EMEC 2016 to Copenhagen, and we are all very excited about this unique op-portunity to showcase the Danish Meetova-tion meeting design concept. Our vision is to help make this conference a state-of-the-art event where Meetovation meeting designs

are implemented in the execution,” said Helle Svaneborg, president of the board of directors, MPI Denmark Chapter.

Denmark and its capital of Copenhagen are known for their commitment to innovation, sustainability and corporate social responsi-bility (CSR). Copenhagen is the birth place of “Meetovation,” a meeting design concept that aims to create a better learning outcome and an increased return on investment (ROI) by using creative, state-of-the-art elements and techniques. The city also has a long track re-cord of sustainable meetings management and was voted Europe’s Green Capital for 2014 by the European Environment Commission.

“Evidence of being in action to make a so-cial, economic and environmental difference is essential to be a world-leading destination. I am thrilled that MPI’s EMEC will be held in Copenhagen in 2016 because it is a city that clearly demonstrates their commitment to sus-tainability,” said Fiona Pelham, chair-elect of MPI’s board of directors.

MPI’s partners for EMEC 2016 include Vis-itDenmark, Wonderful Copenhagen Conven-tion & Visitors Bureau, Radisson Blu Scandi-navia Hotel and the MPI Denmark Chapter. To register interest and receive updates on next year’s conference, visit www.mpiweb.org/emec2016.

MPI Announces Host City for 2016 European Meetings and Events Conference

GBTA Alarmed by DhS Funding Fight’s Impact on Business Travel

recently, a department of Homeland Security funding bill failed to pass a procedural vote. The statement below can be attributed to Michael W. McCormick, executive director and COO of the Global Business Travel association.

“The Global Business Travel association is concerned that today’s vote failing to fully fund the department of Homeland Security could have serious, unintended consequences for business travel, an industry that is expected to account for $310.2 billion in spending during 2015. We call on Congress to work together to fund dHS, which supports the movement of people, goods and services throughout our transportation system.

absent a full year funding bill, business travel can easily be disrupted, causing an immediate impact on our economy. For every one percent decrease in business travel spending, the u.S. economy loses an additional 71,000 jobs, nearly $5 billion in Gdp, $3 billion in wages and $1.2 billion in tax collections.”


The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre) celebrates its 10th year in op-eration on the back of a milestone 2014 with 1,759 events hosted, an 11% increase over the previous record of 1,565 in 2013. The Entertainment and TenOnCall seg-ments saw business grow 40% and 14% respectively while Banqueting & Func-tions and Exhibitions both registered a 9% growth. Delegate numbers were up accordingly, to over 1.97 million against 1.96 million in 2013.

And as it approaches its 10th year, the Centre can take pride in having served more than 17.6 million delegates and visi-tors from 9,969 events and contributed RM5.5 billion in economic impact since opening in June 2005.

General Manager, Alan Pryor attributed the Centre’s success to date and the year’s (2014) excellent performance to a flexible and innovative outlook that supports the generation of value-add solutions to meet the different needs of a range of local and international clients and in turn, ensures the continuing delivery of quality prod-ucts and services.

Looking at the year ahead, Pryor says

Milestone 2014 for Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre

The single largest indonesian incentive group ever hosted in australia will be landing in Melbourne throughout February and March for the Tupperware indonesia Manager incen-tive Trip 2015.

a global leader in direct selling, Tupperware is one of the most trusted names in housewares globally, and will use the event to reward over 4000 of its highest achieving sales managers, team leaders and distributors.

delegates will arrive in stages over the next eight weeks for a four-day program and deliver an estimated $19 million economic contribu-tion to the Victoria economy.

Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) tailored a unique itinerary to appeal to the specific interests of the group; first time visitors to australia, and mainly women aged between 30-50 with a passion for shopping and sightseeing.

Tupperware indonesia Sales Support Man-ager, agus Mustapa, said MCB’s collaborative ap-proach, commitment to finding the perfect fit, and the city’s ability to easily host a group of this size, were important factors in his decision to choose Melbourne over other potential australian cities.

“MCB took the time to understand what we were really looking for: an exciting, enter-taining and inspiring trip in a safe and vibrant destination.”

Melbourne Welcomes Indonesia’s Largest Incentive Group

the Centre will look to build on the mo-mentum achieved in 2014 by “leveraging the knowledge and experience we have gained from a decade in the industry. This valuable knowhow has moulded us into the savvy and resilient team of profes-sionals we are today.”

The Centre’s 10th anniversary tagline of ‘Focusing on perfection, always, cel-ebrating ten enriching years’ with the accompanying message ‘Leaving you with memorable impressions is what drives us. Our motto will always be to passionately deliver excellence to make you happy’, aptly describe how the ex-perience, knowledge and commitment

industry updates

“Melbourne was the clear stand out. aside from the endless attractions, thriving shopping culture, ease of access to regional areas, and reputation as a safe and friendly city, it also has the infrastructure necessary to accommodate large groups – great hotels, entertainment and attractions, and all in a city that is easy to get to, and easy to get around,” he said.

MCB CeO Karen Bolinger said that “Melbourne is becoming an increasingly attractive option for the asian incentive market, and we are seeing growth from indonesia in particular.”

“We are in the unique position to offer visitors an exciting and dynamic urban experience in the World’s Most Liveable City, with the natural and historical wonders of regional Victoria only an hour or two away,” she said.

“Guests can leave having experienced a real taste of the beauty, complexity and di-versity of australia, from both a regional and urban perspective – a characteristic quite unique to Victoria.”

MCB collaborated with key partners City of Melbourne and Tourism australia, who assist-ed in securing the bid, negotiating a seamless customised ViSa application process between WiTa Tour (the travel agent) and the australian embassy, and facilitated discussions with air-lines to ensure ease of travel.

to quality will hold the facility in good stead going forward.

In tandem with the (Centre’s) 10th an-niversary is a host of marketing and pro-motional packages to thank clients and stakeholders who have contributed to the venue’s growth and success to date. These range from discounts on ancillary charges for Day Conference

Packages (DCPs) and complimentary mocktails for Banquets to Exhibition Loy-alty Value-Add Programme tier upgrades, and much more.

Among the many high-profile events on the Centre’s 2015 roster are the ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting 2015, Global Food Safety Conference 2015, 18th Hu-man Genome Meeting 2015, Global Round World Scholar Cup 2015, Interna-tional Meeting on Advanced Spine Tech-niques (IMAST) 2015, Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Association of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (APACRS) 2015, Congress of the International Society for Hemodialysis (ISHD) 2015, Congress of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology 2015; and Asean Federation of Endocrine Society (AFES) 2015.

Cambodia Hosts 1st World Conference on Tourism and Culture

Cambodia hosted the 1st World Confer-ence on Tourism and Culture to talk about the challenges and lasting development op-portunities for cultural tourism. The three-day event, organized by Cambodia in cooperation with the united Nations World Tourism Orga-nization and the uNeSCO, brought together, ministers and representatives of tourism and culture from 99 countries, for the first time.

at the opening ceremony, prime Minis-ter Hun Sen said the conference was an appropriate opportunity to discuss and exchange experiences among experts and researchers in order to pan out new mea-sures for continued development of tour-ism and culture.

He said that this conference will help promote more active cooperation in build-ing a new partnership between tourism and culture so as to push for the sustainable development of cultural tourism.

Last year Cambodia attracted 4.5 million international tourists, generating total rev-enue of more than $3 billion. The country will witness around 5 million foreign visitors this year and up to 7.5 million in 2020.


Business Events to Benefit from New Air Deal with China

The Association of Australian Conven-tion Bureaux (AACB) congratulates Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastruc-ture & Regional Development Warren Truss and Trade & Investment Minister Andrew Robb on announcement of a new air deal with China.

The new arrangements allow Australian and Chinese airlines to immediately increase capacity by 18% to 26,500 seats each way per week between Australia’s major gateway cit-ies (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth) and Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Both sides can also operate a further 26,500 seats each way per week between all other cities in China and Australia’s major gateways. By October 2016, this will expand to a total of 67,000 weekly seats.

Airlines will continue to be allowed to offer unlimited services between China and regional Australian convention destinations including Adelaide, Darwin, Gold Coast and Cairns.

AACB President, Lyn Lewis-Smith stat-ed that, “This announcement builds on other Government initiatives improving

industry updates

Australia’s access to Chinese delegates such as the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, multiple-entry three year business visitor visas and trial of electron-ic visa lodgement for Chinese visitors. It also compliments the ‘Attracting Business Events to Australia: Role of Government Agencies’ framework, announced by Min-ister Robb in November 2014.”

According to the 2020 Business Events Sector Quarterly Progress Report, year end-ing September 2014, the Chinese market rep-resented 61,000 business events delegates to Australia with a spend of $238 million. The Chinese market is currently ranked fourth in delegate spend behind the traditional markets of the United States of America, United Kingdom and New Zealand.

AACB Executive Director, Andrew Hiebl said, “Aviation capacity out of China has been challenging for Australian convention bureaux. This announcement helps our ef-forts in attracting large groups from this high-yield growth market.”

Deloitte Access Economics (2014) suggests that delivering more growth from Asia re-quires deepening our economic understand-ing and strengthening our economic ties.

“International business events are a prov-en mechanism for building professional networks and promoting cultural exchange. Opening up access to Chinese delegates fur-ther encourages trade, investment and re-search collaboration opportunities between the two countries,” Hiebl added.

Increasing Chinese air rights is also inte-gral to achieving Australia’s Tourism 2020 targets. Overnight spend by business event delegates in Australia is currently worth $13 billion (Tourism Research Australia, 2014), with a target of $16 billion by 2020.

Many of Australia’s convention bureaux will target the Asian market in partnership with Tourism Australia at IT&CM China and Business Events Australia’s North Asia and South East Asia Showcases across April and May.

prague is the second Best Meeting destination in the region

prague has again been ranked among the best meeting destinations in the region and won another Meetings Star award for 2014. prague already gained this award last year when it ranked first with a total of 4.64 points.

This year, it has gained the same number of points and ranked second out of 45 evaluated destinations. The best destination of 2014 is is-tanbul, third place goes to dubrovnik.

The Meetings Star awards are presented an-nually by Slovenian Kongres Magazine which focuses on MiCe in Central and South east eu-rope. When evaluating individual destinations the following criteria are taken into account: natural and cultural factors, general and transport infra-structure, tourist and meeting infrastructure and marketing buzz. The additional criterion that the editorial board of Kongres Magazine also took into account is the current ranking on the iCCa Coun-try and City ranking 2013 and Mercer’s global scale of quality of life in individual capitals.

The winners were awarded at the welcome reception at 2015 Conventa trade show in Lju-bljana, Slovenia, on Wednesday 21 January, 2015. The award for prague was taken over by a representative of GuaraNT international who is a member of prague Convention Bureau, the official convention bureau of the City of prague.

Nigeria Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference is a high-powered, three days conference which aims to bring inter-national hotel and regional industry ex-perts together to discuss and debate the changing landscape and to help identify intelligent and targeted investment op-portunities. Through an interactive pro-gramme that includes panels, breakfast briefing and breakout sessions, delegates can learn about the latest trends and how the future of the industry is expected to develop in the coming years.

It will be a well attended event and will give attendees the opportunity to explore Nigeria’s diverse and largely untapped

potential. Jonel Hospitality Consulting in Association with Federal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation and Woodstarhotels.com are delighted to join forces to bring to interested investors in African’s biggest economy the Nigeria Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (NHTIC) 2015

Nigeria Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference


industry updates

A number of senior executives have been appointed to the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre team in preparation for the venue opening its doors to the world in 2016.

OCEC General Manager, Trevor McCa-rtney said the Sultanate of Oman was fast becoming recognized as one of the world’s most exciting emerging convention desti-nations, with the venue being the catalyst in attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors from next year.

He said to assist in meeting the de-mands of business meeting organisers worldwide, the OCEC had expanded its Business Development, Technical, Finance and Food and Beverage teams.

The new appointments include Chanaka Fonseka as Food and Beverage Director; Troy Reynolds as Head of Event Opera-tions; Sheikha Al Mugheiry as Interna-tional Business Development Manager; Thomas Joseph as Business Development Manager for Exhibitions; Derek Wilson as Audio Visual and Production Manager; Pieter du Plooy as Systems Administrator; and Mohammed Waheed Al Lawati as an Executive Assistant.

Mr. McCartney said as it approached its grand opening in early 2016, the Centre’s priority would be to grow awareness and interest in Oman as a serious contender for hosting large scale conventions and exhibitions.

“A key part of that strategy will be re-cruiting staff with expertise in specific ar-eas as well as nurturing and developing

Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre Team Continues to Expand As Opening Day Nears

the local talent pool,” he said.Chanaka Fonseka is an internation-

ally experienced executive specialising in food and beverage operations. Chanaka is already part of the AEG Ogden family and has undertaken a number of leader-ship roles in his career in the hospitality industry.

Troy Reynolds, a Certified Meeting Professional of the Convention Industry Council, brings over 25 years of experi-ence in the events and hospitality indus-try. His brings to the venue a passion for delivering remarkable meeting experienc-es which in turn leave an enduring impact on the local community and economy.

With six years in the local Five Star hos-pitality industry, Sheikha Al Mugheiry’s experience within the international and regional market place will be critical to the OCEC’s relationship with the Omani community and in attracting major inter-national conventions to Oman.

Ms. Al Mugheiry said it was a privilege to be a part of such a landmark devel-opment and being able to showcase the beauty that Oman has to offer the world.

“The OCEC is a key opportunity for young Omanis to be exposed to a thriving business events environment and advance themselves professionally, through the highest standards of training from an in-ternational venue operator, such as AEG Ogden, “she said.

Thomas Joseph has spent almost a de-cade in the local exhibition, business and live events industry, and will utilise these skills and his knowledge of the regional market to increase the Sultanate’s market share in this competitive arena.

Derek Wilson joins the OCEC with over 30 years of experience in providing technical services to the exhibition and events indus-try at some of Great Britain’s foremost con-vention centres and global events, including a managerial position at the recent Com-monwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

Pieter du Plooy has developed an exten-sive knowledge base on business systems analysis over the past 25 years, working closely with unique, industry-specific software to provide a single solution to the fully-integrated management of the events and meetings marketplace.

Mohammed Waheed Al Lawati brings to the OCEC a range of marketing and entre-preneurship skills. He has previously been involved in a number of large scale national projects and previously served in a pivotal role with Injaz Oman, which is part of the internationally renowned Junior Achieve-ment Worldwide organisation.

Mr. McCartney said the OCEC would continue its local and international re-cruitment drive with the aim of having more than 180 full-time staff by the end of this year.


Exciting news in store for IT&CM China delegates as the 2015 show gears up to open at a brand new venue in April this year. Deemed the Pearl on the River, Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of Interna-tional Sourcing (SHCEC) is the perfect com-bination of convention and exhibition.

The international multifunctional com-plex houses facilities for conventions, exhi-bitions, activities and catering.

Located in the center of Shanghai Chang-feng Ecological Business District, surround-ed by Suzhou River and adjacent to Hongq-iao business area, SHCEC has a total area of 9,000sqm of conference rooms, 16,000sqm of exhibition area, 5,000sqm of catering area and 800 underground parking lots.

Stone Shi, Director of Sales & Marketing reveals, “SHCEC is a new venue in Shanghai. It is a one-stop service platform of exhibition, convention, activities and catering for do-mestic and international events. Hosting the IT&CM China 2015 event will enable SHCEC to showcase our facilities and capabilities.”

In addition, three properties from the Marriott Group have partnered with IT&CM China as Official Hotels for over 400 hosted delegates – JW Marriott Shanghai Changfeng Park, Renaissance Shanghai Yangtze Hotel and Shanghai Marriott Hotel Parkview.

IT&CM China 2015 Unveils Brand New Venue and Marriott Group Official Hotel Partners

hospitality updates

This year’s Young Hoteliers Summit will fo-cus on the transition from classic to contempo-rary hospitality and aims to address the issues that enhance competition and shape decisions that drive the industry forward. Participants will evaluate the evolving trends and assess the im-pact of global economic developments on the travel and tourism trade. Key topics of discus-sion will include the future power of OTAs, the effect of the millennial generation entering the workforce, the impact of the sharing economy on traditional hotels, and much more.

YHS anticipates the involvement of 33 in-ternational hospitality schools, having Takoradi Polytechnic Ghana, Royal Roads University, and Cesar Ritz Colleges join for the first time. Key-note talks and workshops from several industry speakers will be giving partakers an excellent networking opportunity.

As Challenge Provider, The Dorchester Col-lection is the main partner of the summit, pre-senting the delegates the Creativity Challenge – a current Human Resources issue of the brand on which delegates will collaborate to gener-

ate innovative and actionable solutions. The Dorchester Collection’s passion for excellence and innovation along with their commitment to impeccable hospitality service makes them a great fit as Challenge Provider for the 6th Edi-tion of YHS.

Eugenio Pirri (Vice President, People & Orga-nization Development) and Ana Brant (Director, Global Guest Experience & Innovation) will present this year’s Challenge Provider Keynote topic.

The Young Hoteliers Summit will be held from Monday 16th - Wednesday 18th of March, 2015 at the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, Switzerland.

6th Annual Young Hoteliers Summit 2015 Announces Challenge Provider

“IT&CM China is one of the largest and leading international MICE trade shows in China that attracts a large contingent of national and regional convention visitor bu-reaus and tourism offices from China. It is the best platform for us to meet with qual-ity buyers and media from across China and the rest of the world”, commented Crystal Song, Director of Marketing from JW Mar-riott Shanghai Changfeng Park.

Jürgen Sterkau, General Manager of Re-naissance Shanghai Yangtze Hotel echoed his agreement, “IT&CM China’s reputation is acknowledged by many industry clients and guests. As an official hotel, Renaissance Shanghai Yangtze Hotel can be assured of a stronger market presence that further under-lines our hotel as one of the leading MICE hotels in the Shanghai MICE market.”

As the newest kid on the block, Shanghai Marriott Hotel Parkview is more than ready for the upcoming April show. Ricky Lam, General Manager said, “IT&CM China is a very important event for the MICE industry, especially to a MICE-focused hotel like us. As the newest Marriott property in Shang-hai, being able to partner such an influential event which is a hub for international MICE activity in the region, is a great opportunity to showcase our property to the market.”

IHG to open third Holiday Inn in South Africa

Featuring a selection of meeting rooms and function space, the hotel is well equipped for hosting events or private business meetings. Guests can enjoy food and beverage in the hotel’s restaurant and two bars. Located close to the airport, guests staying on business are also guaranteed convenient access to Sand-ton Convention Centre as well as the major city centres of pretoria and Johannesburg.

Holiday inn Johannesburg airport will be the second iHG hotel in africa with the operators who also manage Crowne plaza Nairobi. This will be iHG’s third Holiday inn hotel in South africa. as with all Holiday inn hotels, guests can expect the ideal mix of business and leisure in an inviting and com-fortable environment.

pascal Gauvin, Chief Operating Officer, india, Middle east and africa, iHG, said, “Holiday inn has enjoyed a long and suc-cessful history in South africa since we launched our first hotel in Johannesburg in 1971. Today South africa ranks amongst the top business events and leisure travel des-tinations in africa and we are confident in the market’s long-term growth potential.”

“Choice decisions 65 (pty) Ltd is a repu-table hotel developer with a strong track record as a hotel developer and we are de-lighted to be working with them again. We are confident Holiday inn Johannesburg air-port will be the hotel of choice for travellers looking for a comfortable and reliable stay in South africa,” he added.

Nazir akbarali, CeO, Choice decisions 65 (pty) Ltd, said, “We have been working with iHG for many years – on earlier Holiday inn properties we developed with them in Can-ada and the current Crowne plaza Nairobi. Our partnership with them has been very successful and we are pleased to be man-aging our second hotel with them in africa. We look forward to welcoming guests when the doors to the new Holiday inn Johannes-burg airport open early this year.”

iHG currently has 29 hotels open on the continent of africa across five brands: in-terContinental, Crowne plaza, Holiday inn, Holiday inn express and Staybridge Suites, and a further six hotels in the pipeline. across the asia, Middle east and africa region there are 84 Holiday inn hotels totalling more than 19,400 rooms, with an additional 48 hotels due to open in the next three to five years.


hospitality updates

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) today introduced Hyatt Centric, a new, full service lifestyle brand designed for business and leisure travelers. The launch marks the sixth brand Hyatt has introduced since 2006, and offers Hyatt the opportunity to again set the standard by using its distinctive approach to empathetic engagement with guests leading to innovation.

The Hyatt Centric name was inspired by the brand’s mission of putting its guest at the center of the action in the best desti-nations. True to its promise, more than 15 Hyatt Centric locations, comprised of open and previously announced hotels, will de-but this summer in the heart of some of the world’s most popular cities, including New York, Paris, Atlanta, Chicago and Miami.

“From listening to our guests, we learned there was an opportunity to better meet the needs of a large group of travelers that we call Modern Explorers. These travelers are looking for a cosmopolitan vibe in the center of the action, so we worked to test various elements in real time, in real hotels over the past two years. Hyatt Centric is the culmina-tion of that work,” said Mark Hoplamazian, president and chief executive officer, Hyatt. “The new Hyatt Centric brand will further strengthen the overall Hyatt brand portfolio and expand our opportunities to work with world-class developers and operators. We are delighted to expand our offerings in the lifestyle segment and believe that the Hyatt Centric brand will be embraced by Modern Explorers and redefine its category, just as all the brands we’ve introduced over the past eight years have succeeded in doing.”

Modern Explorers are a multigenerational group comprised of travelers who view their hotel as more than a place to stay. Rather, their hotel is the hub of their experience, connecting them to unique experiences, the best of what the destination has to offer – ex-periences that lead to great stories.

“Modern Explorers are truly a savvy, cu-rious group. Their expectations are simple, but their standards are high and they want their experience to be intuitive and smart. They want options and all the must-haves from a full service hotel but without any fuss or complications,” said Kristine Rose, vice president of brands, Hyatt. “We be-lieve Hyatt Centric hotels will deliver on our guests’ desire for experiential travel while inspiring them to go out and explore. From the eclectic and fun hotel design to colleagues who are explorers themselves, the Hyatt Centric brand will be the perfect

Hyatt Launches New Hyatt Centric Brand

More than 40 Jin Jiang Hotels Launch Exclusive Promotions for Corporate Clients

Starting from Feb, Jin Jiang international Hotels will launch an exclusive Spring festival promotion for its valued corporate clients at more than 40 of its participating four and five star hotels in over 30 cities in many interest-ing travel destinations acrossChina including Beijing, Shanghai, inner Mongolia, Kunming, Sanya and urumuqi.

More than 40 Hotels Launch exclusive pro-motions for Corporate Clients Jin Jiang continu-ously creates special incentives and extra privi-leges for its corporate clients, and this time they are offering two different promotion packages to choose from. The first includes free room upgrades when booking rooms at a wide selec-tion of its participating hotels. The second is a banquet promotion whereby clients will receive a range of exciting gifts when booking catered banquets for events at a choice of its participat-ing hotels. This offer includes:

* One complementary bottle of red wine for reservations of 2 tables and above *

One complementary bottle of red wine and one room coupon for reservations of 5 tables and above * One complementary bottle of red wine, one room and catering coupon val-ued together at3,000 rMB for reservations of 8 tables and above * One complementary bottle of red wine, one room and catering coupon valued together at5,000 rMB plus one mysterious special gift package for res-ervations of 10 tables and above Cinn Tan, Senior Vice president of Marketing and Sales at Jin Jiang international Hotels, states, “Our corporate clients are very important to us, many of which have been staying or holding events at our hotels for years, and we want to show our sincere appreciation for the support through the creation of such incen-tives. We will continue to offer value added products and benefits for our valued clien-tele and their guests, and we at Jin Jiang are committed to making sure that they receive the best hospitality services.”

lined way possible. For example, at Hyatt Centric hotels, room service will be offered as a knock n’ drop service, which will allow guests to enjoy gourmet food in their rooms without formal delivery. Additionally, while each hotel will be custom designed to its market, the Hyatt Centric brand will be characterized by certain common elements, including spaces like The Corner, where guests can work, socialize and peruse a cu-rated collection of local books and maga-zines, and a bar and restaurant area that will help foster great conversations and deliver thoughtful, locally inspired food and signa-ture cocktails.

A human touch in a digital world: Hyatt Centric hotels will offer a balance of ad-vanced digital capabilities but with the understanding that these experiences are even more beneficial when combined with a human touch. While guests can enjoy the in-room technologies designed to connect seamlessly with their devices and media, a staff of knowledgeable associates will be on hand to aid guests in their discovery of the destination – particularly useful for business travelers with limited time for exploration. “There’s no substitute for a live conversa-tion with someone who can tell you first-hand about that interesting café you found on your smartphone,” said Rose.

launching pad for our guests to start their experience, whether for business or plea-sure, within the destination.”

In response to the needs of this target guest, the Hyatt Centric experience will fo-cus on three core elements:

An authentic entryway to the destination: At Hyatt Centric hotels, guests will know they can rely on an experience inside that will serve as a launching pad to exploration outside. Each hotel, located in the heart of interesting destinations, will offer a unique and modern take on its location. The art-work, furniture, food and beverages will tell a story, allowing guests to immediately get an authentic feel for the location.

A focus on simplicity, thoughtfully crafted: Hyatt Centric hotels will provide a simple, welcoming environment that deliv-ers the essentials in the easiest, most stream-


Continuing its rapid global expansion, Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) announced today it has signed de-finitive agreements to acquire the Delta Ho-tels and Resorts® brand and management and franchise business from Delta Hotels Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of British Columbia Investment Management Corpo-ration (bcIMC) for C$168 million (approxi-mately $135 million).

The Delta brand comprises a diverse range of hotels and resorts with 38 hotels and 10,000 rooms in more than 30 cities across Canada. Delta offers a fresh approach to the guest ex-perience, including its new ModeRoom(TM) guest room designs, innovative use of new technologies, and new properties, such as its flagship Delta Toronto located at the hub of Canada’s hottest high-rise neighborhood, South Core. When completed, the transaction will increase Marriott’s distribution in Cana-da to more than 120 hotels and 27,000 rooms, making Marriott the largest full service hotel company in Canada. [Click here for images]

Arne Sorenson, president and chief ex-ecutive officer of Marriott International, said, “Delta has an impressive portfolio of hotels that are among the most preferred in Canada. With this acquisition, we are continuing our focus on building our brand portfolio and growing in attractive regions outside the U.S. Combining the strong Delta brand with Mar-

Marriott Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Delta Hotels and Resorts

riott’s hotel development expertise will accel-erate growth of the brand in Canada and in other markets around the world.”

David Grissen, group president over-seeing The Americas for Marriott Interna-tional, said, “at completion, this transaction will propel Marriott to a leading position in Canada. Canada represents the largest international source market for our hotels in the United States, and the integration of Delta into Marriott’s 4,100 plus hotel global portfolio will provide new travel opportuni-ties for both Delta and Marriott customers. We expect integrating Delta into Marriott’s systems, sales engines, Marriott.com, and the more than 49 million member Marriott Rewards loyalty program will create mean-ingful operational synergies for owners and franchisees.

Marriott’s Americas management team looks forward to working closely with Delta’s hotel owners and franchisees, and

hospitality updates

Starting this year, hotels will be able to hold Worldhotels to its Sales promise. At the group’s Annual Conference, held in Guangzhou from 22nd to 25th January, Worldhotels launched the ‘Check 5’programme – a bundle of key initiatives designed to help hotels build their sales intelligence. The programme comes with a confident guarantee: af-filiates can leave the network if Worldhotels fails to deliver the promised activities.

As part of the‘Check 5’ guarantee, hotels are given the opportunity to focus their sales efforts in five core markets of their choice. For each selected market, Worldhotels provides them with the below success factors to grow their businesses:

Access to market intelligence and information col-lected from Worldhotels sales experts that provides hoteliers with essential insights into the economy, politics, and segmentation of their key feeder markets

Quarterly webinars hosted by Worldhotels’ sales experts that update hoteliers on all “real time” happenings within their markets

Dedicated face-to-face working sessions with Worldhotels’ sales experts during the Worldho-tels Annual Conference

A personal introduction to the selected mar-

Worldhotels Promises Saleskets, that walk hoteliers through the “need to know” info for their business trips

An annual review of the hotel’s‘Check 5’ Guar-antee and the delivered Worldhotels activities

Affiliates can adjust their market focus and reassemble their Top 5 markets each year.

Commenting on the ‘Check 5’ Guarantee, World-hotels COO, Geoff Andrew, says, “Sales has always been our strongest suit. It’s why many of our hotels have chosen Worldhotels. With our ‘Check 5’ guaran-tee, we take our sales efforts to the next level and offer our hotels a more focused and efficient approach, en-suring the depth and breadth of their local success.”

“A promise without consequence is no promise at all”, adds CEO, Kristin Intress. “If we fail to deliver the ‘Check 5’activities, our hotels are free to leave us. “

For 45 years, Worldhotels has been deeply com-mitted to expanding its Sales foothold in global key markets and driving incremental revenue towards member hotels. With 32 sales offices worldwide, of which 8 are in Asia Pacific (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, and New Delhi), Worldhotels is the leading global Sales organisation for independent hotels and re-gional hotel groups.

welcoming Delta employees, who will have access to a larger range of opportunities in North America and globally once the trans-action closes.”

Under terms of the agreement, Marriott is acquiring the Delta management and fran-chise business, as well as the Delta brand and related intellectual property. At stabili-zation, after realizing certain operating syn-ergies, Marriott expects the purchase price to be approximately 10 times annualized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

bcIMC-affiliated entities own 13 Delta ho-tels (and one under development) and will sign new 30-year management agreements with Marriott for these properties. Third parties own the other 25 Delta hotels; 15 are managed by Delta and 10 are franchised. In total, five managed hotels (approximately 1,100 rooms) are under development.

The transaction is subject to receipt of cer-tain third party and governmental consents, including by the Canadian Competition Bureau. Assuming receipt of the necessary approvals, the parties expect to close the transaction in the second quarter of 2015. Marriott does not expect the transaction will have a material impact on its 2015 results, excluding one-time transaction and integra-tion costs.

Avington acted as exclusive financial ad-visor to bcIMC.

Note on forward-looking statements: This press release contains “forward-looking state-ments” within the meaning of U.S. federal securities laws, including the parties’ plans for closing; the resulting impact on the size of Marriott’s operations in Canada; Marriott’s expectations for Delta’s stabilized EBITDA and EBITDA multiple and Marriott’s 2015 earnings impact; and similar statements con-cerning anticipated future events and expec-tations that are not historical facts. We caution you that these statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to nu-merous risks and uncertainties, including the ability of the parties to agree on definitive transaction documents, the receipt of neces-sary consents, and other risk factors that Mar-riott identifies in its most recent quarterly re-port on Form 10?Q. Any of these factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this press release. We make these forward-looking statements as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly up-date or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.


hospitality updates

The International Luxury Hotel Asso-ciation is excited to announce that Sim-mons Bedding Company, LLC (“Sim-mons”) is their exclusive Sleep Partner for the coming year, and will be spon-soring a session at the ILHA Fast For-ward 2020 Conference, to be held 28-29 September 2015, in Orlando at the Or-lando Convention Center.

Steve Tipton, vice president of the Hos-pitality Group for Simmons, will also join the ILHA Advisory Board this year.

“Simmons is an industry innovator, constantly evolving their sleep technol-ogy to improve the guest experience and reduce the impact of their products and operations on the environment,” said Ba-rak Hirschowitz, President of the ILHA. “We are honored to have them as a part-ner in 2015.”

Since the development of the Beau-tyrest® mattress in 1925, Simmons has been serving the hotel industry with in-novative bedding solutions that deliver not only a compelling value proposition to hotel owners and operators, but also an exceptional night’s sleep to guests. De-

cades of intense focus on innovation have made Simmons a recognized and trusted leader in hospitality bedding.

“Every day we think about the future; about how we can improve and move our products to the next level,” said Tipton. “If a guest has a great night’s sleep, the room seems bigger, the food tastes better and the staff seems friendlier. It helps start their day off in a great, great way.”

In a recent analysis of traveler’s online reviews by TrustYou and pub-lished by Travel & Leisure in an online exclusive report, Simmons took 3 of the top 5 positions for most comfort-able hotel bed, including the coveted number one spot for contributing to

ILHA announces Simmons Hospitality Bedding as Official Sleep Partner for 2015

Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) recently an-nounced Meet with Purpose, a concept designed to make it easier for meeting professionals to reduce waste and incorporate health and wellness into meetings and events.

Meet with Purpose provides meeting profes-sionals with sustainable choices to incorporate into events that not only enhance the experiences of attendees, but also align with many customers’ corporate responsibility goals.

Inspired by Hilton’s corporate responsibility strategy, Travel with Purpose, Hilton gathered feedback from customers and sales Team Mem-bers to identify the most pressing sustainability issues for meetings and events. To meet these needs, Hilton created Meet with Purpose, sup-ported by two focus areas:

Mindful Eating encourages meeting profession-als to reexamine event dining to minimize food waste and encourage healthy choices. Hilton offers solutions such as portion control, sourcing locally, pre-plating salads and establishing central water

When put into practice, Meet with Purpose can have a large impact on an event. As examples:

Last Sep, Hilton San Francisco Union Square hosted an event that typically draws approximately 60,000 attendees. Hilton’s team helped the compa-ny recycle 66,858 pounds of waste material, source approximately 30 percent of energy from renewable sources and contribute more than 1.3 tons of food donations.

Additionally, Hilton Chicago has a robust recy-cling and composting program, efficient water sys-tems and partners with local farms to source food locally in addition to growing their own vegetables on a rooftop garden. The hotel works with custom-ers to incorporate these practices into meetings and events hosted at the hotel to add value to the event for attendees and the host company.

“Today’s meeting attendees seek greater meaning in their event experiences and expect event planners to consider the broader implications of the meeting itself,” explains Lesley Brasesco, Hilton Worldwide’s manag-ing director of sales effectiveness for the Americas. “Meet with Purpose offers meeting professionals a menu of options that make it easy to incorporate sustainable, impactful and healthy choices that de-liver on the broader corporate responsibility com-mitments of our customers and Hilton.”

Hilton Introduces ‘Meet with Purpose’ to Inspire Sustainable, Healthy Choices for Events

the New York Distrikt Hotel’s guest sleep experience. It also took spots 9 through 13 of the top 20.

“We view hospitality as an extension of our brand,” said Tipton. “We listen – to the needs of hospitality clients and guests – and innovate around both. Our focus? Ensuring our beds stay in hotels longer and deliver reliable, durable performance from the first day in a hotel room to its last.”

The International Luxury Hotel Associ-ation is a member-based nonprofit organi-zation chartered to provide education and resources designed to assist the hospital-ity and travel industries to meet consumer needs and expectations.

stations with reusable containers.Mindful Meeting inspires meeting professionals to

host more sustainable events by considering practices that are less resource-intensive. The solutions range from using paperless registration and placing notepads in a central location to turning off climate control when a meeting room isn’t in use.


American Airlines today officially wel-comes its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner. American took delivery of the airplane, a 787-8 with registration number N800AN, on Thursday at Boeing’s factory in Ev-erett, Washington, and it is scheduled to arrive in Dallas/Fort Worth on Friday af-ternoon.

“We are committed to delivering a fan-tastic product for our customers with the continuation of our unprecedented fleet re-newal program and more than $2 billion in improvements in the customer experience,” said Doug Parker, American’s chairman and CEO. “The 787 makes our fleet younger and more modern and it will open up new possibilities to connect our customers to the places they want to fly.”

“We’re proud that American Airlines has chosen the 787 to be a key part of its fleet renewal plan,” said Ray Conner, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “We appreciate American’s confidence in the airplane and know the Dreamliner will open exciting new routes for American’s customers.”

American has placed firm orders for

American Airlines Welcomes First Boeing 787 DreamlinerAmerican already has the youngest fleet

of the U.S. global network carriers, with an average aircraft age of 12.3 years. In 2015, American plans to take delivery of an av-erage of two new aircraft per week. These new deliveries will make American’s fleet even younger, more modern and more ef-ficient and will provide a solid foundation for continued improvements in technol-ogy, products and services.

American is in the midst of more than $2 billion in planned improvements to give customers a superior travel experi-ence around the world. These investments include fully lie-flat seats on international long-haul aircraft; international Wi-Fi; more in-flight entertainment options and power outlets; a new, modern design for Admirals Club lounges worldwide; and an upgraded assortment of complimentary healthy food, cocktails and more. In addition to taking delivery of hundreds of new planes, Ameri-can is retrofitting its entire fleet of Boeing 777-200s and selected 767-300s, 757-200s and Airbus A319s to refresh the cabins and enhance the experience on domestic and in-ternational flights.

aviation updates

42 Boeing 787 aircraft, with the right to acquire an additional 58. American will take delivery of both the 787-8 and 787-9 as part of the 42 firm orders. American expects its first 787 to enter revenue ser-vice in the second quarter, flying domesti-cally between American’s hubs for several weeks before being launched on interna-tional flights.

The 787 will bring new benefits to American’s network and customers. It has an onboard experience unlike any other airplane and provides improved aerodynamics, advanced engine technol-ogy, reduced maintenance requirements, better fuel efficiency and lower overall operating costs.

Japan airlines (JaL) received the Best On-time performance Ser-vice award in the asia-pacific Major airlines Category, from an in-dependent aviation performance-tracking company FlightStats, for its domestic and international flights operated between January and december 2014.

Asia-Pacific Major AirlinesJaL has achieved on-time arrival rate of 87.78% for its domestic

and international flights, and was named number one in the asia-pacific Major airlines category for 2014.

it means that JaL has topped the Best On-time performance Ser-vice in asia-pacific Major airlines category for the third year in a row and five times since 2009.

JaL express won the best On-time performance Service award in asia-pacific Major airlines category in 2009, the only year including regional airlines.

The oneworld® alliance, to which JaL also belongs, has received FlightStats’ airline alliance On-time performance Service award for 2014.

placed safety in flight operations above all else, JaL Group staff will endeavor to challenge achievement of higher on-time perfor-mance, and meet the needs of our customers so as to become the most-preferred airline in the world.

JAL Awarded the Best On-time Performance Service in the Asia-Pacific Major Airlines Category

“The indian aviation industry is on a high growth trajectory, with the coming up of new world class airlines and development of world class airports. The need for regional connectivity has been felt and Cabinet’s decision to develop new airports in Tier-i and Tier-ii Cities is definitely a very positive move. yet there are significant challenges related to land acquisition, various regulatory approvals and finaliza-tion of airport tariffs. i expect these challenges to be addressed in the forthcoming budget. There is an immense potential for growth of the indian civil aviation industry provided certain structural deficiencies are corrected. it would serve as a key enabler for economic growth, employment creation and tax revenues. it is imperative that success of civil aviation is seen as a national priority, a goal shared by different ministries, government agencies and the industry.”

Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director, Bird Group and Member, CII National Committee on Civil Aviation

OU

TLO

OK

on

the U

nio

n

Bud

get 2015 -

16


aviation updates

Alaska Airlines today announced it will continue to offer free premium inflight entertainment directly to customers’ per-sonal electronic devices for two more months, in addition to the more than 100 titles of free content that are available all the time, to all passengers, as part of the new Alaska Beyond(TM) experience.

All content, including premium mov-ies and TV shows, will be complimentary through March 31, 2015. Starting April 1, customers can still enjoy free access to a wide selection of complimentary custom curated content and purchase premium movies and TV shows starting at $1.99.

The new entertainment service is avail-able today on more than half of Alaska’s mainline aircraft and will be equipped on nearly all of Alaska’s all-Boeing fleet by April 2015.

Additionally, beginning Feb. 1, Alaska will also introduce new Inflight Entertain-ment tablets powered by Microsoft. The tablets will be available to rent on long-

haul flights for $8-10 and will feature movies, TV, XBOX games, music, digi-tal magazines, and easy Internet access on WiFi-equipped flights. The rentable tablets will continue to be offered at no charge to First Class customers and MVP Gold75Ks.

“Our customers tell us they love our new, free, inflight entertainment service, and we’re listening. We’re excited to con-

Alaska Airlines to Offer Free Inflight Entertainment through March, Introduces New Microsoft-Powered Tablets

tinue offering our premium content - like mainstream movies and TV to reward customers for trying out Alaska Beyond Entertainment,” said Halle Hutchison, Alaska’s managing director of brand mar-keting.

Last month, Alaska debuted its new flight experience, ‘Alaska Beyond.’ In ad-dition to the new, free inflight entertain-ment offerings, Alaska Beyond features delicious, locally sourced food and bever-ages, comfortable Recaro leather seats and personal power at every seat.

Alaska Airlines, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), together with its partner regional airlines, serves more than 100 cities through an expansive net-work in Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. Alaska Airlines ranked “Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Traditional Carriers” in the J.D. Power North American Airline Satisfac-tion Study for seven consecutive years from 2008 to 2014. Alaska Airlines’ Mile-age Plan also ranked highest in the J.D. Power 2014 Airline Loyalty/Rewards Pro-gram Satisfaction Report.

Qatar Airways is continuing its rapid growth in Europe with an increase in capacity on its flights to Italy, as well as the introduction of double-daily flights to Madrid. The increase in both capacity and service will roll out over the next five months to help meet the expanding passenger needs for both these popular destinations.

With the introduction of widebody aircraft com-mencing March 29 to Rome and Milan, and June 16 to Venice, the capacity to the airline’s three Italian desti-nations will increase by 30%. Furthermore, a change in the departure and arrival times to Rome and Milan will also help improve connections to a number of other destinations for the Italian market. The increase in ca-pacity to Italy will be provided by introducing the Airbus A330 on the Milan and Venice routes, and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on the Rome route.

Qatar Airways currently offers 35 flights a week to Italy, in-cluding double-daily services to Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa, as well as daily flights to Venice Marco Polo.

In addition, commencing on 16 July, Qatar Airways will begin operating a double-daily, direct scheduled service to Madrid-Barajas Airport from Doha’s Hamad International Airport, adding four extra weekly flights. The flights will be operated by a Boeing 777, offering

Qatar Airways to Increase its Capacity on All Routes to Italy and Introduce Double Daily

293 seats in Economy Class and 42 in Business Class.Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency

Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “Our commitment to bringing a five-star experience to all our passengers is reflected in our continual growth in not just our destinations, product and services, but also in the increases in ca-pacity and frequency that we implement to ensure that our passengers have multiple options when planning their journeys. As such, we are delighted to be able to offer more opportunities to connect with both Italy and Spain, two of our most popular destinations, for both our leisure travellers looking to explore the world of history, art and architecture, as well as those travel-ling for business.”

Singapore airlines Campaign launched in Germany

Tourism australia and Singapore air-lines have launched a new co-operative marketing campaign in Germany to inspire affluent long-haul travellers to fly down under with Singapore airlines. The cam-paign consists of a 30-second ‘There’s Nothing Like australia’ TV commercial on Germany’s most watched news channel “n-tv” and digital advertising including youTube pre-rolls. a range of tour op-erator and state partner promotions were launched concurrently with the campaign, which runs until 13 February.


aviation updates

The San Francisco Giants and Virgin America announced a multi-year partner-ship extension, which maintains the Bay Area-based airline’s position as the “Of-ficial Airline of the San Francisco Giants” through the end of 2018. This announce-ment came during an “orange carpet” send-off for the 2014 World Championship Trophy as it heads to New York City for the East Coast leg of a three-month World Championship Trophy Tour presented by Bank of America.

The trophy will fly in style, riding in Virgin America’s exclusive eight-seat First Class cab-in from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to John F. Kennedy International Air-port (JFK) onboard the Virgin America Airbus A320 aircraft “Fly Bye Baby,” named in honor of the hometown team. Onboard the flight, Gi-ants President and CEO Larry Baer will invite fellow Virgin America guests to grab photos with the trophy and will host a live Twitter chat at 35,000 feet using the airline’s inflight WiFi. Guests and fans alike are encouraged to follow along and submit questions using the hashtags #sfgtrophy and #flytogether.

The extended partnership includes unique co-branding elements at AT&T Park, including the “Virgin America Loft,” a premium customized suite located in right field above McCovey Cove, and the “Virgin America Club Level” that fea-tures the airline’s signature cabin mood-lighting. In 2012, the airline first unveiled its Giants themed “Fly Bye Baby” aircraft that was updated in 2014 with a crowd-sourced #FlyTogether design populated with the photos of hundreds of Giants fan who submitted photos on Instagram and Twitter. Today at SFO, Virgin America unveiled the aircraft’s newest design - the 2014 World Championship mark - in cel-ebration of the San Francisco Giant’s latest World Series Victory.

“As the only airline headquartered in the Bay Area we, alongside all our flyers, had the opportunity to cheer on our hometown champions as they earned their third World Championship in five years,” said Luanne Calvert, Chief Marketing Officer of Virgin America. “We are thrilled to extend this partnership and look forward to many more

Virgin America And San Francisco Giants Score Big With Extended Partnership Agreement

years of success for the team. We can’t think of a better way to celebrate than kicking-off the East Coast leg of the Trophy Tour in style onboard Virgin America.”

Once in the Big Apple, the trophy will be available to Giants fans that have fol-lowed the team for generations - a histo-ry that dates back to when the team was based in New York before moving to San Francisco in 1958. A public viewing of the trophy will be held on Saturday, January 24 from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Finnerty’s Bar in Manhattan.

“We are delighted to extend this dy-namic and creative partnership with Vir-gin America - a partnership that we’ve cultivated since 2008,” said Larry Baer, President and CEO of the San Francisco Giants. “We love the synergies that exist between our two organizations and are ex-cited to bring the look and feel of Virgin America’s unique planes to AT&T Park and to create a Giants presence onboard the airline’s flights so fans never have to miss a minute of the game thanks to live television at 35,000 feet.”

In addition to a Main Cabin that offers custom-designed leather seating with a deeper, more comfortable pitch, the airline’s First Class cabin offers plush white leather seating with 55 inches of pitch, 165 degrees of recline and lumbar massagers.

Virgin America’s airport lounge - The Loft - is located at LAX and its Elevate fre-quent flyer program offers no black-outs or restrictions on rewards seats with three levels of status including Elevate Gold and Elevate Silver.

The airline continues to expand its net-work across the country with flights to Aus-tin, Boston, Cancun, Chicago, Dallas Love Field, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Los An-geles, Los Cabos, Newark, New York (JFK and LGA), Orlando, Palm Springs (season-al), Portland, Puerto Vallarta, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C. (IAD and DCA).

airCharter.com is pleased to announce version iii of the eCharterConnect charter reservation sys-tem. For the first time in the uS a system will allow users to view what is normally held confidential by brokers. in all transparence, the complete op-erator information along with the tail number and data for as little as $4 per record, customers can view it all including cost of block hour rates as well as aircraft specifications, insurance, safety rating, up-to-date interior and exterior aircraft photos. air-Charter Credits will unlock a tail data indefinitely for viewing. With the provided data the user will be able to contact aircraft operators directly, avoiding what can cost thousands of dollars in broker com-missions traditionally.

Since 2001 eCharterConnect software, was the first website to offer absolute Fixed Guarantee pricing that calculate pricing for private jets from takeoff and taxi times, wind speed, delay prob-abilities, flight time, crew charges, crew swap, takeoff & ramp fees, high density airport charges and much more.

also with this release airCharter.com launches the new operator backend platform, located at www.aircharter.com/operator which allows for the operator to respond to customer’s quote requests, post empty

AirCharter.com Launches Their Revolutionary, Industry-Changing Private Jet Booking Engine

legs, update aircraft information, such as pricing, manufacturing and refurbishment date, aircraft pho-tos, relevant insurance and safety information and any needed paperwork.

With customers in mind, this new addition to its backend allows airCharter’s list of 10,500 verified and accredited aircraft to continue growing. users using this new system can get instant quotes with near flawless accuracy, giving customers an exact figure expected to pay for the trip. With a few clicks customers can view the cost of each leg, the cost of repositioning and the ability to change the depar-ture airport to the home base of the aircraft, saving thousands of dollars.


Leading aircraft charter company, air Charter Service, has announced plans to spend around GBp10 million over the next five years advanc-ing the company’s charter booking technologies and online presence.

Chris Leach, Chairman and Founder of aCS, commented; “Whilst we believe that the award-winning personal service that we offer will never be replaced entirely by technology, we are adapt-ing the traditional brokerage model. develop-ments such as our popular jet prices app, which launched two years ago and allows customers to get instant charter quotations, enhance our customers’ aCS experience, as we move more online than in previous years. We are currently revamping and redeveloping all of our websites, with enhanced functionality, with the planned re-lease date in the spring. We are developing real

Air Charter Service to Invest £10 Million in Charter Technology

time customer information portals and are plan-ning on investing in other disruptive technology over the next few years.

“We have always invested in technology, but now the need is greater than ever. To cover the three divisions in each of our eighteen offices and the 50,000 aircraft that we have access to, we already have many websites around the world in multiple languages - each tailored to the local marketplace and culture. each office also has our custom-made charter bookings plat-form, and this bespoke software allows us to ef-ficiently source aircraft anywhere in the world.

“Many of our competitors claim to be unique by investing in technology, but ultimately we feel that we have an advantage due to our existing international footprint, meaning technological developments will easily be rolled out world-wide. We provide our customers with global solutions, not local gimmicks.

“it is an exciting time at aCS following an outstanding 2014 which showed strong growth and around GBp300 million in sales. We have always been a highly ambitious company and the board is hoping that this investment will keep us leading the technology race in the char-ter marketplace.”

aviation updates

Boeing (NYSE: BA) joined with Ethiopian Airlines and three separate non-profit orga-nizations to deliver more than 4,000 pounds (1,814 kilograms) of medical supplies and equipment for charities and hospitals in Ethiopia and Somalia. The deliveries, car-ried on the ferry flight of Ethiopian’s newest 787 Dreamliner, were made to a number of medical institutions via Vital Voices Global Partnership, Horn of Africa Neonatal De-velopment Services (HANDS) and Seattle Alliance Outreach (SAO).

“Ethiopian Airlines continues to be a leader in corporate social responsibility activities in Ethiopia. With this delivery flight, we are also very happy to facili-tate the supply of much needed medical supplies in neighboring Somalia as well,” said Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Ge-breMariam. “As the flag carrier for the country of Ethiopia, we are viewed as not only an airline but also as a source of vital

Boeing, Ethiopian Airlines, Vital Voices Global Partnership Join Together for Humanitarian Flight

service for the people of Ethiopia. We are proud and honored to work with Boeing to help our people and country where we have such great needs.”

The shipment includes an autoclave to sterilize surgery equipment which will be used by a new kidney dialysis center in Ethiopia, as well as neonatal medical equip-ment for Jimma University,College of Public Health & Health Sciences which is dedicat-ed to saving infant lives. Vital Voices Global Partnership will send medications, comput-ers and medical equipment valued at ap-proximately $68,000 onwards from Addis Ababa to the Dr. Hawa Abdi Foundation in Somalia, a charity that provides basic needs through the access to healthcare.

“The Vital Voices Northwest Council has been thrilled by Seattle’s enthusiasm and generous donations to this important cause,” said Rosita Van Coevorden, chair of the Vital Voices Northwest Council. “We are delighted to be donating state-of-the-art medical supplies such as hos-pital-grade defibrillators that will provide sorely needed resources at the Hawa Abdi General Hospital.”

“Ethiopian Airlines is an active partner in Boeing’s Global Corporate Citizenship’s Humanitarian Delivery Flights program,” said Liz Warman, director, Boeing Global Corporate Citizenship, Northwest region. “We have a long history together not only buying and selling airplanes, but also work-ing in collaboration and using our respective resources to help deliver medical supplies and equipment to those who are in most need of them in Ethiopia and Somalia.”

The Boeing Humanitarian Delivery Flights program is a collaboration ef-fort between Boeing, airline customers and non-profit organizations to deliver humanitarian aid throughout the world to communities in need or crisis. Since Boeing’s Humanitarian Delivery Flight program began in 1992, the company has facilitated more than 170 humanitar-ian delivery flights, including 10 in 2014, working in partnership with more than 50 airlines worldwide.

Ethiopian Airlines is the first African operator of the 787, taking delivery of 10. Ethiopian Airlines currently operates an all-Boeing fleet of 737, 757, 767, 777, and 787 airplanes in passenger service, and has 757, MD11, 777 and a 737-400F air-plane in cargo operations.


In an open letter to the Airports Commission, 19 of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs and founders of businesses to-day pledged their support for expanding Gatwick Airport.

Signatories to the letter include Luke Johnson, former Chairman of Pizza Express and Patisserie Valerie, John Sta-pleton, co-founder of New Covent Garden Soup and Little Dish, Duncan Cheatle, founder of The Supper Club and co-founder of StartUp Britain and Emma Jones MBE, founder of Enterprise Nation.

The letter highlights the importance of maintaining a competitive network of airports in the south east to sus-tain choice and resilience when accessing overseas mar-kets. It concludes that only an expanded Gatwick would reinforce the competition that was so long in coming to the UK’s aviation industry, and that expanding Heath-row would restore its monopoly and strangle the ben-efits of this diversity.

One in five of Gatwick’s passengers now travel on business and two thirds (67%) of business travellers arenow choosing to fly low cost on short-haul trips to the UK’s major trading partners in Europe. Gatwick offers these business travellers value for money, convenience and efficiency. It is increasingly the choice of the cost conscious business traveller.

Speaking on behalf of the signatories, Emma Jones MBE, Enterprise Nation, said:

“Enabling startup businesses to go global is vital to the fu-ture of the UK economy. Start-ups do not have vast expense ac-counts, but rely on low cost fares to reach new markets. Since the breakup of BAA, Gatwick has excelled in providing more choice, lower fares, better service levels and efficient service – why wouldn’t UK entrepreneurs want more of the same?”

Stewart Wingate, Gatwick’s CEO, said:

“Indecision has dogged this debate for decades but more than anything, entrepreneurs and businesses up and down the country need certainty. Expansion at Heathrow is politi-cally and environmentally toxic, but a new runway at Gatwick could be delivered by 2025 at a fraction of the environmental impact of Heathrow. “

The signatories of today’s letter join a growing list of support-ers backing an expanded Gatwick from the business world in-cluding nine Chambers of Commerce, three Business Improve-ment Districts and two Local Enterprise Partnerships.

A recent UK-wide survey also showed that 42% of small business owners would back Gatwick’s expansion over that of Heathrow (37%).

Ryanair: Business Plus Fast-Track Service Extended to London Gatwick

ryanair extended its Business plus fast-track security service to London Gatwick (from 2nd Feb), rome Ciampino (from 2nd Mar) and eindhoven (from 1st april) with more airports to come, as it continues to offer europe’s business travellers a tailored suite of travel benefits.

With Ryanair Business Plus, customers can enjoy: • Flexibility on ticket changes • 20kg checked-in bag allowance • Free airport check-in • Fast track airport security at selected airports • Priority boarding • Premium seats

Over 27% of ryanair customers travel on business and ryanair continues to connect europe’s major business centres, offering customers the largest range of destinations at the lowest fares, with multiple daily flights, improved schedules and the best service.

Starting from just euro 69.99, ryanair Business plus is available to book on the ryanair.com website across ryanair’s entire route network, with further information available at www.ryanair.com/ie/business-plus.

ryanair’s Chief Marketing Officer, Kenny Jacobs said, “ryanair will carry over 24m business customers this year and the launch of our Business plus service has made flying with ryanair an even smarter choice for european businesses, with our tailored package offering free airport check-in, flexible ticket changes, a 20kg bag allowance, fast-track at airports, priority boarding and premium seating.

Business and corporate travellers choose ryanair for our low fares, industry-leading punctuality and the largest route network in europe and we now offer even more business routes, connecting europe’s major cities with additional flights and improved schedules, ensuring great savings for businesses of all sizes.

We’re pleased to roll out our fast-track services at London Gatwick from 2nd Feb, rome Ciampino from 2nd Mar and eindhoven from 1st april and we’re continuing to work with our airport partners to extend this service to more airports.”

Leading UK Entrepreneurs Support Gatwick Expansion

Gulf Air Launches Feb Fare Promotion from Moscow to Select Arabian Gulf and AsianGulf air, Bahrain’s national carrier, has launched a special February fare

promotion slashing airfares for travel from Moscow to Bahrain and onwards to dubai, abu dhabi, Muscat, Bombay, and Karachi between now and 20th May 2015.

For sale until 28th February 2015 only, Gulf air’s return economy Class fares start from eur296 to dubai and abu dhabi, eur312 to Muscat, eur447 to Bahrain, eur454 to Bombay and eur616 to Karachi. Gulf air’s premium (Falcon Gold class) return fares start from as low as eur1182* to dubai.

Gulf air is the only airline operating direct flights between Moscow (dMe) and Bahrain. The airline’s four weekly flights are operated on airbus a320-er aircraft in a unique layout: 14 Falcon Gold seats and 96 economy class seats with extended legroom. russian travelers can discover a new destination – the Kingdom of Bahrain and avail of excellent connectivity to a wide range of destinations in the Middle east, indian Subcontinent and asia.

aviation updates


technology updates

Kaba’s Keyless Mobile Access Technol-ogy Fitted at The Cromwell. Mobile Phone Used as Hotel Room key for Secure and Convenient Assignment of Access Autho-rizations

Kaba, the leading provider of access control solutions for the hotel industry, has installed a mobile access system at The Cromwell in Las Vegas. Cloud-based Kaba keys operate in all hotel rooms, al-lowing guests to open their room doors with their own mobile phone or device as an alternative to a classic RFID card. The use of Bluetooth Low Energy means that Apple iOS smartphones are supported.

“Kaba’s mobile access system is based on the cloud service set up by security firm Legic Identsystems, a subsidiary of Kaba. With this ground-breaking Kaba hotel locking system, which opens hotel locks in less than a second, guests can en-joy a completely new and intuitive experi-ence that very much suits The Cromwell’s unique ‘modern meets vintage’ style,” says Alastair Cush, Head of Kaba Lodg-ing’s Global Business Development.

Kaba securely integrates with a prop-erty’s online system between the front desk and lock Kaba’s mobile access solu-tions integrate seamlessly with the hotel’s online system via secure communication between the front desk and the guest door lock. Kaba can utilize a choice of technol-ogies, including Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Near Field Communications (NFC), so hotel operators can securely is-sue and manage access authorizations in the way that suits their requirements.

Secure mobile access solutions enable greater convenience The flexibility of Kaba’s mobile access solutions with mobile phones ensures a guest experience that meets the latest demands. Guests can check in online with their mobile, and then use it during their stay as their very own mobile room key. Kaba’s mobile access authorizations are encrypted in the Kaba system using the Legic ID Connect cloud solution, trans-ferred to the hotel guest, and only decrypted within the hotel lock of the hotel room. This guarantees secure and convenient access to hotel rooms and other secure areas, includ-ing elevator floor control

With 188 rooms and suites, The Crom-well is the only standalone boutique hotel located on the Las Vegas Strip. With its prime location on one of the busiest inter-

Kaba, the Leading Provider of Access Control Solutions for the Hotel Industry

sections of the Las Vegas Strip - one that welcomes more than 20 million passersby each year - the luxury lifestyle hotel also features a 40,000 square foot casino, hotel lobby bar, lounge, restaurant by Giada De Laurentiis and beach and nightlife venues by Victor Drai.

With its innovative products, systems and services, globally active technology group Kaba is a leading provider of high quality access management solutions, keys, cylinders, physical access systems, enterprise data and time recording, and hotel access systems. The group is also a global market leader for high security locks, key blanks, transponder keys and key manufacturing machines. The stock exchange-listed group has sales of around one billion Swiss francs and employs around 9,000 people in more than 60 countries. For more than 150 years Kaba has set trends in security and beyond - in terms of functionality, convenience and design, and always with a focus on opti-mum value to customers.

a hotel with robot staff and face recognition instead of room keys will open this summer in Huis Ten Bosch in Nagasaki prefecture, the op-erator of the theme park said Tuesday.

The two-story Henn na Hotel is scheduled to open July 17. it will be promoted with the slogan “a Commitment for evolution,” Huis Ten Bosch Co. said.

The name reflects how the hotel will “change with cutting-edge technology,” a company offi-cial said. This is a play on words: “Henn” is also part of the Japanese word for change.

robots will provide porter service, room cleaning, front desk and other services to re-duce costs and to ensure comfort.

There will be facial recognition technology so guests can enter their rooms without a key.

“We will make the most efficient hotel in the world,” company president Hideo Sawada told a news conference. “in the future, we’d like to have more than 90 percent of hotel services op-erated by robots.”

Huis Ten Bosch theme park to get hotel staffed by robots

a single room will be normally priced at ¥7,000 per night, while a twin room will run ¥9,000.

if the hotel looks like it will be filled during the peak season, potential visitors will have to bid for the price they are willing to pay. The highest one wins, although there will be an upper limit of ¥14,000 for a single room.

The first building in the complex will open in July with 72 rooms, followed by another 72-room building next year, the company said.

The theme park in Sasebo uses actual-sized copies of old dutch buildings to bring the experi-ence of the Netherlands to Japan.


appointment updates

Visit Vancouver uSa announces 2015 Board of directors

Visit Vancouver uSa is pleased to an-nounce its board of directors and officers for 2015. The board of directors is com-prised of hospitality and business profes-sionals, community leaders, and City and County representatives who are responsible for building community-wide support for the tourism industry in Clark County.

For the 2015 term, Brian McClary, direc-tor of operations of the Heathman Lodge, assumes the position of board chair. Melinda Wulf, general manager of doubleTree by Hil-ton, will fulfill the role of vice chair. Carla rise, general manager of residence inn by Marriott, has been elected secretary/treasurer. New directors include Mike Bomar, president of the Columbia river economic development Council; Taylor Nintzel, general manager of Hampton inn & Suites; and Jeanne Stewart, Clark County Council.

The returning directors for 2015 are as follows:

• Jan Bader - City of Vancouver, program & policy development manager

• Kimberly Bennett - Visit Vancouver uSa, president & CeO

• Jordan Boldt - Vancouver Farmers Market, executive director

• Alison hite - SpringHill Suites by Marriott, General Manager

• Kari Jonassen - Homewood Suites by Hilton, General Manager

• John Morrison - Clark County event Center and Fairgrounds, executive director and CeO

• Eric walters - Hilton Vancouver Washington, General Manager

Visit Vancouver uSa is the official desti-nation marketing organization for Vancouver uSa and the surrounding areas. The orga-nization also markets the region as a venue for spor ts events through the Vancouver uSa Sports brand. Visit Vancouver uSa’s mission is to increase visitor spending in Vancouver and Clark County through com-petitively marketing the area as a destina-tion for meetings, conventions, and group and leisure travelers.

reed exhibitions has appointed Nick pilbeam to the position of divisional director – Travel.

Newly appointed pilbeam, who brings with him an enormous amount of growth strategy knowledge and industry insight, will head up the travel division of the world’s leading events organiser reed exhibitions.

The renowned industry events that fall under reed Travel exhibitions include the international Luxury Travel Market portfolio, World Travel Mar-ket portfolio and the newly branded ibtm events portfolio of global and regional events providing business solutions on 5 continents. They include ibtm world, ibtm arabia, ibtm africa, ibtm america, ibtm china, ibtm india, aiMe and iCOMeX.

Reed Exhibitions Appoints Nick Pilbeam as New Travel Divisional Director

pilbeam who has spent the majority of his career at the British airways group (now international airlines Group) moved to av-ios, the air miles loyalty program in 2008, and was most recently accountable for the entry and global growth strategies into new markets and new par tners. pilbeam also led the launch of the avios currency worldwide with British airways executive Club and ibe-ria plus programmes including transforming the airmiles programme in the uK.

More recently, pilbeam spearheaded avios’ expansion into South africa with the launch of the avios Travel rewards programme in that market, securing high profile strategic partners across the finance and retail sectors.

pilbeam replaces richard Mortimore, who was promoted to Chief executive of reed exhibitions uK in 2014. pilbeam will repor t to Mortimore.

Mortimore said: “We are delighted that Nick has come on board and we are confident that his broad range of expertise and excellent customer awareness will ensure that the strong brands within reed Travel exhibitions are continually de-veloped, keeping up with the fast-pace and ever changing nature of the industry.

American Airlines recnetly promoted Vasu Raja to vice president - International Revenue Management. In this new role, Raja will lead a high-performing team responsible for overseeing all revenue generated from the company’s interna-tional business. His responsibilities will include overseeing the Atlantic joint busi-ness alliance with British Airways, Iberia and Finnair, as well as the airline’s Pacific joint venture with Japan Airlines. He will report to senior vice president - Revenue Management.

“Vasu has played a key role in leading the integration of American and US Airways’ international revenue functions and under his leadership, international revenue saw the two best years of performance in the company’s history,” said Scott Kirby, presi-dent - American Airlines.

Raja previously served as managing director - International Revenue Manage-ment. He joined American in 2004 and has held a variety of roles in Sales, Corporate Planning and Revenue Management. In his role as managing director - Corporate

New Management Appointments at InterContinental Hong Kong

Planning, Raja designed and executed the largest aircraft purchase in aviation history. He also led the development of a detailed fleet and network plan that was used as the basis for American’s restructuring plan and merger analysis.

Before joining American, Raja was a teacher with Teach for America in Baltimore. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Humani-ties from The University of Texas - Austin, a master’s degree in teaching from Johns Hopkins University and master’s degree in business administration from Georgetown University.

American Airlines and US Airways merged in December 2013 to become the world’s largest airline. They are combining operations at nine hubs, and have already merged significant parts of their cargo op-erations as well as corporate support func-tions. In 2015, the company expects to com-bine the American Airlines AAdvantage and US Airways Dividend Miles programs into a single frequent flyer program and to achieve a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration.


cinema destinations

The Thailand Film Office, Department of Tourism, Ministry of Tourism and Sports, is organising the Thailand Inter-national Film Destination Festival 2015 (TIFDF2015) that is set to promote the 12 charming provinces that the Tourism Au-thority of Thailand (TAT) recommends tourists not-to-miss when they are in the kingdom. The Festival will be held from 4-12 February, 2015, at Siam Paragon Cine-plex, Bangkok

H.E. Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, Minister of Tourism and Sports said, “This year, the Thailand International Film Destination Fes-tival marks its 3rd anniversary and will be showcasing the kingdom’s 12 hidden gems as the new shooting locations for interna-tional films. This is in line with the govern-ment’s policy to promote the preservation of Thai traditions and cultures under the “2015 Discover Thainess” campaign that empha-sises the country’s unique cultural assets and the Thai way of happiness to be passed on to international visitors.”

Thailand has become a popular location to shoot international films, and in recent years, the country has seen such films as ‘Hangover 2′, ‘The Impossible’, ‘The Lady’ and ‘The Railway Man’ bring recognition to the skills and facilities on offer in Thailand.

Department of Tourism Director-General, Acting Sub-Lieutenant Anuparb Gaysornsu-wan said, “In the past two years, the TIFDF has successfully promoted Thailand as an international film destination as seen in the annual increase in the number of interna-tional film productions from Japan, India, Korea, China, the US and Hong Kong. For this year, the Festival will focus on the natu-ral and cultural treasures of Thailand, espe-cially in the TAT’s 12 hidden gems which have yet to be used as locations by any inter-national film companies.”

Under the ‘Scenery, Scene, Seen on Screen’ theme, the TIFDF 2015 is set to present Thailand as an international film destination with three main activities:, the Thailand on Screen, the Amazing Thailand Film Challenge and the Awards Ceremo-ny, as well as a selfie contest.

The Thailand on Screen, scheduled to be held from 7- 11 February, 2015, at Siam Paragon Cineplex will present 10 films from eight countries that were shot in Thailand, including the premiere in Asia

Discover Thainess on Screen at Thailand International Film Destination Festival 2015

of ‘Pernicious” from the US. Other films include ‘Last Flight’ from China, ‘Pale Moon’ from Japan, and ‘The Prince and Me: The Elephant Adventure’ from the US. The Festival will also screen the Box Office drama ‘The Railway Man’ from Australia.

The Amazing Thailand Film Challenge is hosting a total of 36 teams of film-mak-ers, comprising college and university students, from around the world to make a short film in the TAT’s 12 hidden gems. Each team will include one appointed Thai filmmaking student to promote new friendships. Apart for the Best Film Awards, there will be prizes for Best So-

cial Media approaches in promoting the film. The film production takes place from 4-11 February, 2015.

The Awards Ceremony to announce the winners of the Amazing Thailand Film Challenge, scheduled to be held on 12 February, 2015, is earmarked as a star-studded and glamorous event, with guest appearances by some of the stars, celebri-ties, film-makers and crew from around the world as well as from the Thai film industry.

Thailand Film Office Director Ms. Ubonwan Sujaritkul said, “In 2014, Thai-land generated about 2 billion Baht in rev-enue from international film productions. The top five markets for international film productions in Thailand last year are the UK, the US, India, China and Hong Kong, respectively. We expect the same revenue for 2015, and we will continue to promote Thailand as an international film destina-tion through regular road shows at inter-national film festivals; such as, the Cannes International Film Festival in France.

Short films on Kerala Tourism’s responsible Tourism initiatives were screened at the world’s biggest travel and tourism trade event - the World Travel Market (WTM), London. The united Nations World Tourism Organization (uNWTO) launched the three new short films showcas-ing the life-changing experiences of rT in the villages of Kerala.

“Kerala has placed responsible Tourism at the core of its tourism development since 2007. The State has transferred the potential of tour-ism into opportunities that improve livelihood, preserve nature and build bridges between cul-tures,” said Mr. Taleb rifai, Secretary General, uNWTO after launching the short films.

“a proud moment for Kerala, the films show the world how our model of sustainable tour-ism is generating more employment opportu-nities in our villages. it has also succeeded in safeguarding local ethos and cultural heritage, rejuvenation of traditional farming methods and preservation of natural resources,” said Mr. a. p.

Films on Responsible Tourism Captivates WTM London

anilkumar, Minister for Tourism.The three films, which highlight the rT slogan

‘Better Together’, were shot in the picturesque vil-lages of Kumarakom, Wayanad and alappuzha.

“Our experience in practicing responsible Tourism is an eye opener for other tourism desti-nations across the world. These films will inspire others to follow responsible Tourism for growth and development through environment-friendly tourism,” said Mr. Suman Billa, Secretary, Kerala Tourism.

“The films will certainly help to evoke pride among the people of our State leading to further awareness and increased openness towards tourism initiatives,” said Mr. p. i. Sheik pareeth, director, Kerala Tourism.

the industry is all about face to face€¦ · a matter of real urgency, courtesy of the global...

Documents