Julia Rahman

Inspired by the 2020 theme of ‘the power of human connections’, the AIME team has partnered with SolarBuddy an Australian registered charity that provides solar powered lights to children in third world countries.

SolarBuddy was the first charity in the world to supply donated solar lights directly to children, and has educated over 130,000 students in over 500 schools, across 21 countries. Its mission is to help improve the educational opportunities of six million children living in energy poverty throughout South Pacific, Southeast Asia and Africa by 2030 through providing them SolarBuddy to study with after dusk.

So how does it work at AIME 2020?

Delegates will be tasked with building SolarBuddy from scratch. The lights made during the 2020 event, will give guests the opportunity to create something meaningful, while connecting and building relationships with one another for charity.

Scheduled to be opened in April next year, the museum and park which are set against the natural surroundings of Lake Poroto in Hokkaido, will showcase the custom and tradition of the Ainu tribe that has been officially recognised by the Japanese government as an indigenous people of the country.

Upopoy which is the name given to the museum is an Ainu term that means singing in a large group.  The mission of the museum is to bring people together to understand and learn about Ainu culture and history.

When completed, the museum and park will house a hall with exhibitions on display aided by audio and visual presentation on the Ainu people.  Adjacent is a park on a site of about 10 hectres that includes an open-air museum where you can actually experience the traditional life of the Ainu people through the reproduction of a settlement on the shore of Lake Poroto.

You can easily spend a day at Upopoy viewing the exhibits and enjoying the scenery and outdoor sights.

Eventually the Upopoy National Ainu Museum and Park in Shiraoi will becomea base for Ainu culture and tradition.  Currently information on the Ainu people can be found in several smaller museums and cultural centres across Hokkaido.

The Ainu people are to be found in Shiraoi, a town that is also a tourist destination with its sea, lakes, rivers, forests and hot springs.  The town is keen on preserving the culture of its inhabitants, the Ainu and the Upopoy National Museum and Park, which is fully funded by the Japanese government, will keep alive the heritage of the Ainu people.

One of Japan’s leading universities, the Hokkaido University is not only an institute of higher learning, but also known for its ginkgo tree lined avenue.  Visitors from all over the world come to walk along the road of rows of these trees to admire the autumn foliage.

The university commonly known as Hokudai is located in the city centre and near to the Sapporo Station.  A vast site, the campus ground includes several school buildings and forests covering about 660 per square kilometres which are used for research.

Part of the university grounds resembles a national park with huge trees, and are open to the public.  In spring there will be colourful cherry blossoms – fresh green plants and blue skies in summer – ginkgo trees with falling leaves in autumn – and in winter, you can enjoy the snow.

Brand USA, the destination marketing organisation for the United States, and United Airlines announced a three-year global sponsorship agreement to promote international travel across the United States.

The agreement makes United Airlines an official Global Airline Sponsor of Brand USA and the exclusive airline sponsor of Brand USA’s next IMAX® film, “Into America’s Wild”, which premieres in February 2020.

While the film takes international audiences on a journey across the United States through its scenic byways, ancient homelands, little known trails, and hidden gems that form the country’s natural tapestry. “Into America’s Wild” features the country’s greatest outdoor experiences from kayaking Oregon’s stunning coast, to traversing majestic canyons in the Southwest, exploring the wilds of Alaska, walking the Appalachian Trail and more.

“Our sponsorship with United Airlines grew out of our mutual passion for sharing America’s treasures with the international travel community. Together, we are determined to find creative solutions that impact global travel to the United States,” said Christopher Thompson, president and chief executive officer of Brand USA. “Travel decisions are increasingly influenced by entertaining content and compelling stories. With no shortage of narratives, Brand USA and United Airlines have the right resources and marketing innovation to elevate the position of the U.S. in the worldwide travel sector.”

Singapore Tourism Board, Tourism New Zealand, Malaysia Convention Bureau, Dubai Corporation for Tourism & Commerce Marketing, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, UNECA and Genting Cruises are among the first major names to be confirmed as exhibitors.

Dream Cruises, a member of Genting Cruise Lines, will host the event’s closing party at the Zouk Beach Club on board the award-winning Genting Dream cruise ship, which homeports year-round in Singapore.

IBTM Asia Pacific has partnered with premium remote interpreting cloud-based platform Interprefy, which as well as exhibiting, will empower the event’s theatre spaces with remote simultaneous interpreting. Interprefy will also provide a silent PA system to help reduce noise pollution, thereby enhancing the delegate experience.

Michael Jones, event manager for IBTM Asia Pacific, commented: “We’re delighted to announce the first exhibitor signings for what we are confident will fast become an unmissable event on the industry calendar. We’re performing ahead of target on sales and not only do we have some incredibly high calibre exhibitors from within the region, but also exhibitors from further afield who are looking to do business with Asia Pacific event planners. We have a very strong sales pipeline and will be announcing more news in the coming weeks.”

IBTM Asia Pacific will bring together a high calibre group of international, APAC regional and local meeting planners and exhibitors for two days of pre-scheduled one-to-one business meetings, education and networking. The event will be underpinned by IBTM’s sophisticated, industry-leading Hosted Buyer programme, which creates personalised appointment diaries for Hosted Buyers and exhibitors to ensure that delegates only meet people with whom there’s a very good chance of doing business.

Michael continues: “The team is working hard behind the scenes on the Hosted Buyer programme, as well as to finalise details of the education and networking programmes. Anticipation is huge ahead of this first edition of IBTM Asia Pacific and we’re excited to share further details in due course.”

The marketing and Hosted Buyer programme, which supports the success of every IBTM event, is well underway and is being managed by the experienced existing team based in Richmond, London, supported by Reed Exhibition’s teams in Singapore, China, Middle East, Japan, Korea and America.

The event will take place from April 6 to 8 April 2020 in Singapore at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre.

For more information, or to register interest, visit: ibtmasiapacific.com

Aligned with the Meeting Mean Business Canada (MMBC) deliverables for 2019, the coalition has officially launched its “Telling our Story” campaign. The campaign consists of one 4-minute video and 11 vignettes, all of which are focused around the importance of the meetings and events industry to the Canadian economy and the impact that it has on the global economy too.

Speaking about why the coalition created the series of videos, Heidi Welker, Chair Meetings Mean Business Canada commented “One of the 2019 goals was to develop a communications plan around “Telling our Story”. The committee, chaired by Debbie van der Beek, took this task very seriously and created some amazing video content. Phase 1 of the plan focused on Government Influence,” said Welker.

“Our goal with these videos is to communicate the significant economic impact that the meeting and business events sector has on our country as well as on a global stage. It’s time for government officials and fellow Canadians to learn and recognize the importance of this industry on the economy and jobs. The meetings and business events industry will become an industry as recognized as the automotive, manufacturing or agriculture sector. The videos created a focus on sectors where Canada is a leader and the importance that meetings and business events have, in order to advance their sectors. It was truly a labour of love,” said Van der Beek.

All of the videos are available for download from the toolkit page on the MMBC website.

The destination marketing organisation for the United States is the nation’s first public-private partnership to promote United States.  Brand USA has had a marketing presence in Southeast Asia since 2013 through its local representation of BRANDSTORY Inc.  For the seventh consecutive year, it has hosted an exhibition space at the ITB Asia in Singapore.

Its marketing promotion is to introduce United States by way of entertainment of which America is well known for.  Through its mobile giant screen strategy, it engages viewers to stories that drive interest in travelling throughout United States. The mobile giant screen shows international travellers what the U.S. has to offer in terms of travel experiences.

Following the success of their previous two films, Brand UAS launched its third giant-screen film ‘Into America’s Wild’ in collaboration with MacGillivray Freeman Films.  The film follows trailblazers John Herrington, the first Native American astronaut, and Alaskan pilot Ariel Tweto on a cross-country journey to explore the USA’s great outdoor wonders.  The film is scheduled to premiere in February 2020.

There has also been a series of developments on the aviation front for travelling to United States from Asia:  Singapore Airlines added a non-stop flight from Singapore to New York and Los Angeles; Vietnam Airlines is licensed to fly from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York Seattle and Dallas; Garuda Indonesia to operate flights from Jakarta to Los Angeles via Japan; Cathay Pacific four-times weekly from Hong Kong to Seattle and Washington; and Philippine Airlines non-stop between Manila and New York.

In Singapore, Brand USA collaborated with U.S. embassies and the U.S. Commercial Service to arrange a series of trade events at ITB Asia, which afforded opportunities for U.S. exhibitors to meet with prominent Southeast Asian tour operators, travel buyers and media representatives.

At the same time, the marketing organisation distributed USA Insider Guides that feature regional self-drive itineraries that take travellers off-the-beaten tracks around United States covering themes such as  musical journey, national parks and beyond.

Azerbaijan Tourism Board (ATB) took the opportunity to introduce its ‘Take Another Look’ campaign at Azerbajan during the trade show.

ATB looked at exploring collaboration with destination management companies from the emerging market of Southeast Asia with countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, which in 2018, recorded outbound departures of 77 million and an expectation of an exponential growth of 40 percent by 2023.

“We are delighted to launch our new brand identity and the ‘Take Another Look’ campaign at the ITB Asia. And we look forward to introducing our destination brand to Asian visitors, enhancing our tourism proposition in the industry, as we continue to provide tourists with unique, authentic experiences that will leave them with lasting memories for a lifetime,” said Florian Sengstschmid, chief executive of Azerbaijan Tourism Board.

Changes have also been seen in the country’s socio-economic status.  The country is developing rapidly and MICE business has now become one of the key tourism segments of Azerbaijan.

In view of this, the country established the Azerbaijan Convention Bureau which was opened in September  2013, and this now comes under the purview of the Azerbaijan Tourism Board.

While in terms of facilities, the Baku Expo Center and the Baku Convention Center both multi-purpose venues are considered to be ultra modern, and the largest in the Caucasus.

Another up and coming venue for hosting events is Qabala (Gabala) city, located in the northwest of Azerbaijan. Since 2009, the city, every summer organises the Gabala International Music Festival of both classical and jazz. Musicians perform in the open-air with participants from Europe and as far as the United States.

The tourism board is expected to roll out more marketing programmes to attract MICE business. According to its  chief executive officer, there are plans for road shows, media familiarisation trips and buyer trips from Asia.  End of April next year, the board is planning to organise for the first time in the country a buyers’ forum in Baku, the capital.

In Asia,  ATB has representative offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore in India.  While in China, it has presence in cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou and Seoul in South Korea.

Travel to Azerbaijan is now getting easier with the recently implemented and simplified new electronic visa procedure, to allow visitors to easily obtain a visa when travelling to the country. Currently, countries in Asia like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, are eligible for visa upon arrival, while Thailand and Vietnam can apply through the e-visa system.

This year the show attracted 13,000 attendees from 132 countries and territories with over 1,300 exhibitors and more than 1,250 buyers. The three-day exhibition noted a 7.4 percent year-on-year growth on appointments.

For the first time too, attendees got a chance to gain detailed understanding of some of the most important practices and trends that define the future of MICE events at ITB Asia’s inaugural MICE Show Asia. In its twelfth year running, this year’s conference programme brought together thought leaders from across the MICE, Leisure, Corporate, and Travel Tech sectors to keep pace with technological developments in the travel industry.

Dr. Christian Göke, chief executive officer, Messe Berlin said: “After 12 years, ITB Asia experienced strong growth again. This new record clearly demonstrates that the show is well accepted by the industry around the world as the must-attend event in Asia. Messe Berlin is delighted to continue the strategic partnership with Marina Bay Sands and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) from 2020 to 2022.”

Marina Bay Sands will see a renewal of its partnership with Messe Berlin (Singapore) as the show’s official partner hotel while the extension of the relationship with Singapore Tourism Board, will see Singapore as the host country for ITB Asia for the next three years of the show.

The next three editions of ITB Asia will take place from: October 21 to 23, 2020; October 27 to 29, 2021; and October 19 to 21 2022.

Interest is already being expressed for ITB Asia’s 2020 edition with more than 3,500 square metres of exhibition space being booked for next year’s show.

In addition, ITB Asia 2020 will be introducing Travel Tech Asia as a new show under ITB Asia’s umbrella of events. Travel Tech Asia will provide the travel-tech community with a platform to connect and create as well as, enhance the way people travel, meet and do business with technology.

The 8^th edition of Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF or the Forum), under the theme of ‘Tourism and Leisure: Roadmap to a Beautiful Life’, puts Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Beautiful Life concept at the core of its discussion on the global tourism economy.

In collaboration with UNWTO, the 2019 edition of face-to-face, ministers and private sector chief executive officers initiated a high-level dialogue under the topic of ‘How Tourism, Leisure and Sports Lead to a Beautiful Life’ – bringing together leaders from the private and public sectors to discuss how innovation and cooperation can give a boost to tourism, leisure and to sports.

Secretary for social affairs and culture of the Macao SAR Government and executive chairman of GTEF, Alexis Tam, stated in his closing remarks, “As stakeholders in tourism, we should all aspire to a thriving industry that creates beautiful places to visit for travellers, without discounting the quality of life for people living near them.”

The Forum has also announced Italy as GTEF 2020 partner country and Gansu Province as the featured Chinese Province. Italy, the first country in the Group of Seven (G7) to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative, will celebrate the 50^th anniversary of its diplomatic relations with China in 2020.

Italy’s partnership with GTEF represents the Forum’s fifth tourism collaboration with European countries and regions over the years.

While the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Global Tourism Economy Research Centre (GTERC) presented the latest edition of UNWTO/GTERC Asia Tourism Trends familiarising delegates with the latest tourism trends and outlook of the region as well as,  opportunities for tourism development in Argentina and Brazil in  health and sports tourism as new growth areas in Asia.

The report offered delegates the foresight to tap into golden opportunities for tourism investment and cooperation worldwide.

Business matching session during the Forum successfully bridged 142 tourism suppliers and operators from China, Argentina, Brazil and Europe, unlocking cooperation and exchange opportunities with each other.

GTEF 2019 successfully gathered and engaged close to 2,000 participants including ministerial officials of tourism and related fields, industry leaders, experts, scholars and participants from across the globe, along with delegations from GTEF 2019 partner countries Argentina and Brazil, as well as featured Chinese Province Jiangsu.

Stay tuned for more information about GTEF via www.gte-forum.com and its social media channels:

https://www.facebook.com/gteforum

https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-tourism-economy-forum

https://twitter.com/gteforum

http://weibo.com/gteforum

wechat ID: GTEForum