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The new relationship brings together Sabre’s advanced technology with Tian Xia Fang Cang’s deep knowledge of the unique Chinese travel ecosystem. Under the deal, Tian Xia Fang Cang will have the ability to market Sabre Hospitality’s solutions in China.

Focus will be on enabling Chinese hoteliers to reach hundreds of thousands of travel agents globally across all major Global Distribution Systems through Sabre Hospitality’s SynXis platform, while giving travel agents additional opportunities to add hotel stays to traveller bookings.

“As we look forward to further travel industry recovery, it is essential that hoteliers in China take the time now to ensure they are prepared to capitalize on pent-up travel demand, and create future opportunities for growth,” said Tian Xia Fang Cang’s chief executive offier, Mr. Seven Wu.

He added: “We can now offer hoteliers in China the ability, through Sabre’s advanced solutions, to grow their reach across the world, ensuring they are best-positioned to welcome back travellers to China as it re-opens its borders.”

Tian Xia Fang Cang  hotel services platform  provides products, services and e-commerce solutions for hotel suppliers and hotel distributors. Through Sabre, it is now able, to enhance its  offering of GDS distributionto its existing and new hospitality clients.

“We now look forward to increasing Sabre Hospitality’s footprint in the important Chinese travel marketplace, while giving hoteliers in China the ability to create their own global growth opportunities, in both the leisure and corporate sectors, through Sabre solutions,”  stated Mr.Frank Trampert, senior vice president  and global managing director of community sales for Sabre Hospitality.

A delegation of business leaders from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region led by the city’s chief executive Mr. John Lee and principal government officials were in Riyadh to explore collaboration opportunities with the business community of Saudi Arabia.

Over the two days in the Kindgom, the delegation discussed with Saudi government and industry leaders how Hong Kong can facilitate the Kingdom’s strategic development via its role as a global financial hub and China’s international gateway.

The 30-strong delegation includes senior executives from Hong Kong’s financial institutions and regulator as well as major players in innovation and technology, sustainability and smart city solutions.

Riyadh was the first of three stops on the week-long mission to the Middle East organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.

At a press conference followed by an Investment Forum and dinner officiated by the Saudi Minister of Investment H.E. Khalid Al-Falih and attended by some 300 Saudi Arabian guests.

“Saudi Arabia is a strong economy of the Gulf region and a growing source of foreign direct investment. Driven by Vision 2030, the dynamic blueprint for the future, Saudi Arabia is destined to take its place as an economic powerhouse built on diversity, sustainability, and innovation and technology. Hong Kong has long been the Asia-Pacific region’s multi-level bridge for foreign and Mainland Chinese businesses and investors. As integration with the Mainland continues to deepen, so too do opportunities for Hong Kong and the economies and companies that works with Hong Kong,” said chief executive Mr. John Lee.

Mr. Lee was joined by Deputy Secretary of Justice Mr. Horace Cheung, Secretary for Financial Services and Treasury Mr. Christopher Hui, and Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Mr, Algernon Yau.

At the forum, H.E. Khalid A Alfalih stated:” Saudi Arabia has the largest regulated capital markets in the region, with the largest stock exchange in the MENA region. Due to evolving trends, we are also making efforts, to strengthen global supply chains and have launched a dedicated global supply chain resilience initiative. This will be a great opportunity for China and Hong Kong-based companies to use the KSA as a platform for adding value to products customised for the Middle East region and beyond.”

The delegation met with key enterprises in Riyadh to exchange ideas and learn more about Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. They visited major institutions, such as the Saudi Stock Exchange and the NEOM exhibition. The delegation also travelled to Abu Dhabi and then Dubai, to meet with senior government and business leaders of the United Arab Emirates.

Source: ASN Newswire

Set to take place in June from the 21^st to the 23^rd, the forum is supported by the Sarawak Tourism Board. It will focus on ecotourism, gastronomy tourism, adventure travel and destination management. Also included are topics on wellness particularly on sensory nature activities and, digital marketing.

The three-day programme begins with a one-day destination experience through a choice of technical tours. This is followed by a conference and travel mart spread across two full days and networking opportunities throughout the programme.

“As the travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region is seeing positive signs of recovery, the inaugural PATA Destination Experience Forum and Mart 2023 looks to highlight the best practices in destination marketing and destination management in support of a responsible and sustainable recovery for the region,”said PATA Chair Mr. Peter Semone.

Gastronomy tourism being one of the themes, Sarawak Tourism Board chief executive officer, Ms Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor mentioned that the theme suits Sarawak perfectly, as the capital city Kuching has been recognised as the “City of Gastronomy” by the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2021.

Registration is now open for buyers, sellers, and conference delegates. Interested delegates can register now and enjoy a Super Early Bird Rate and receive a 15 percent discount off registration fees until February 15. Afterwich delegates can enjoy an Early Bird Rate of 10 percent discount until March 15.

For more information about the event, please visit www.PATA.org/pata-destination-experience-forum-and-mart-2023 or email Events@PATA.org.

Business events are poised to make a vital contribution to Dubai’s economic development and tourism growth, with another exceptional year of successful bids for international conferences, meetings and incentive travel programmes.

The bid wins in 2022 include 57 association conferences, the most the city has won in a calendar year

Set to be held over the coming years, the events will bring in an additional 135,000 visitors including scientists, thought-leaders and business executives to Dubai, enhancing the value generated by the business events and tourism ecosystem.

Dubai Business Events the city’s official convention bureau, part of the Department of Economy and Tourism collaborated with a range of stakeholders for the successful event bids including Al Safeer Congress Ambassadors and the public and private sector entities they represent, industry partners including Dubai World Trade Centre and Emirates, and hotels and professional congress organisers across the city.

Beyond the direct impact of the events which range from flagship conferences and congresses organised by international associations, as well as prestigious corporate meetings held by multinationals, will contribute to Dubai’s growth as a knowledge economy hub.

The major association events captured in 2022 included the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine WorldLab Congress 2024, International Congress of Endocrinology 2024, World Sports Medicine Congress 2024, World Congress of the International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologies 2026, and International Symposium on Dental Hygiene 2028

While the corporate meetings and incentive travel programmes that Dubai won bids for include:  IBM India and Europe Incentives 2023; Terpel Convention 2023; Envista EMEA Summit 2023; and Mary Kay Mexico Incentive 2024.

The strong performance in 2022 represented a 95 percent growth in the number of successful bids from 2021 and, a 92 percent increase in the number of delegates– all further accelerating the momentum of Dubai’s growth.

Business Events Sarawak has signed a collaborative agreement with Professional Convention Management Association to be the strategic partner in North America and worldwide in developing its International Journal of Business Events and Legacies.  The agreement was signed during the PCMA Convening Leaders 2023 event at Columbus, Ohio in USA.

Agreement signed by Mr. Sherrif Karamat, president and chief executive officer of PCMA and Ms. Amelia Roziman, BESarawak’s chief executive officer during the Convening of Leaders 2023 at Columbus, Ohio.

The collaboration is expected to open new opportunities for Sarawak, a second tier destination in Malaysia. The journal’s reach is also expected to expand through PCMA’s network of audience and members as well as, establish the periodical as an efficient tool for academic and practical use.

A foremost academic journal and the first in the world, to merge business events and legacy topics under one title. The periodical contains high quality research, reviews and viewpoints offering wide and varied perspectives on business events issues for the events industry contributed by practitioners, researchers, academicians, students and event enthusiasts.

The journal’s initial volume, was launched in November 30 last year with 11 articles published predominantly on legacy and sustainability.

Managed by Curtin University Malaysia, the International Journal of Business Events and Legacies has a total of 48 collaborators ranging from editors, advisors to association and academia partners from Asia, Australia, Africa, North America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau has signed an agreement to work with Thai Airways International Public Company Limited, to market meeting and incentive business through trade shows and road shows. The target is; quality meeting and incentive travellers from Asia and Europe.

The two parties expect the collaboration will attract at least 500,000 travellers and generate 33 billion baht in revenue.

“We will focus first on overseas market of meetings and incentive travel. This sector has been a huge market source of travellers for Thailand since the middle of this year. Our targets are both short-haul market in the Asia Pacific region and the long-haul one in Europe. The particular focus is the markets where THAI and THAI Smile Airways operate flight services, for example Europe, India, Australia, Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar,” said Mr. Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, president of Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau.

The major global trade shows for meetings and incentive travel sector are IMEX Frankfurt 2023 in May in Germany, IT&CM Asia and CTW Asia-Pacific 2023 in September in Thailand, IMEX America 2023 in October in the US and IBTM World 2023 in November in Spain.

While for the road shows, the first targets are Cambodia and Vietnam. In May there will be planned road shows in Sydney and Melbourne.

More pro-active marketing activities are in the pipeline for TCEB’s overseas representatives to tap into; India, Singapore, Europe, United Kingdom and China once the circumstances permit.

Currently, TCEB has overseas representatives in seven potential markets such as Australia, United Kingdom, Europe, North America, India, Singapore, Japan and China.

It was at a meeting in Paris on February 4, 1973 that an initiative was proposed and acted upon to create an association focused on the young and fast-growing incentive market from North America.

Euromic is a non-profit marketing association of the world’s leading destination management companies.

Members of the association are a carefully selected group of established professionals, who have a proven track record of consistently delivering exceptional events. This year marked the association’s 50^th year.

“50 years of euromic, makes us one of the oldest DMC networks in the business, is a huge achievement for all past and present”, says Mr. Rajeev Kohli, president of euromic. “In this fragile world, this kind of longevity expresses the strong foundation of this great alliance; it is a major milestone, one we are all proud of and of the foundations laid to get us here.”

The association will be celebrating its half a century of service with a series of events and programmes. This includes special events at industry tradeshows.  Also in the pipeline is a podcast entitled: ’50 Years Old – 50 Years Young’.

The 24^th Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology Congress which was held from December 6 to 9 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre attracted 700 delegates, including about 400 experts, speakers and delegates from abroad.

This is the convention centre’s first physical large-scale international congress since the pandemic and it also marks, an important step, in the reopening of Hong Kong’s border to exhibition and convention participants worldwide

Previously in 2020, the event was held in a virtual format and a hybrid one in 2021

“The overwhelmingly positive response from APLAR 2022 attendees, demonstrate clearly, that online conferencing technologies cannot fully replace physical meetings.  APLAR 2022, is also a stellar showcase of Hong Kong’s resilience and versatility compared to other regional cities, one that HML can present to overseas organisers of major conferences as we head into 2023,”  said Ms Monica Lee-Müller, managing director of HML.

APLAR Congress showcases world-class research and thought leadership from rheumatologists, internists, orthopaedic surgeons, clinical immunologists, physiatrists, physical and occupational therapists, paediatricians and researchers on all aspects of musculoskeletal diseases.

Mr. Henry Hall is head of business development at CrowdComms and here, he discusses on how online events have evolved, make online events meaningful and, what events of the future might look like. 

How can you build meaningful communities in an online environment?

Technology has enabled humanity to connect for thousands of years. For example, the invention of fire went hand-in-hand with the growth of human civilisation. Creating a space for people to congregate, communicate and share is, in concept, no different today in the digital sphere as it was back then for our hunter-gathering predecessors. The first step is to create the space, the second is to encourage acceptance and adoption, and finally, to increase contribution and participation from members to drive meaning from the environment.

These conceptual foundations are good pillars to structure your methodology when creating an online community. Instead of a rack of ribs to congregate over, your users need quality content, instead of grunting and pointing they need 1:1 video calls and push notifications. We can lead and encourage users’ behaviours by adopting technology, and using it to influence activities, whether that be networking, content sharing or content creation. The technology you choose to build your community needs to have the functionality to act as a conduit for communication and participation.

What does a 360-degree event mean?

The lines between work and home life have blurred since the pandemic, as has the notion of a single stand-alone event. Live events are a fantastic time to share with old connections and develop new ones. The 360 event is an event that never switches off, where conversation can happen outside of the initial experience, with regular touch points to incentivise future participation and content-on-demand whilst marketing other opportunities aimed at similar communities. The digital transformation in home and work life we are experiencing is a testament to the change in our behaviours and serves as an excellent example of how our concepts of an event will change.

Some people thrive in remote working and networking situations, while others are less enthusiastic. How can event planners support both types of user?

It’s no surprise that this digital revolution we are a part of presents many challenges for us. From digital fatigue and the absence of familiar human connection to a lack of engaging content and poor user experience, many of us feel resistant, challenged and frankly bored of the virtual networking environment. Others see the benefits of accessibility and sustainability in having ten meetings daily in the comfort of a pair of sweatpants. Understanding these benefits and challenges of user groups is essential when developing a remote networking tool.

CrowdComms is focused on finding solutions to these challenges, which involves creative thinking about how we can modify functionality to be more engaging. Smart Sessions, which we launched in 2022, is a prime example of this.

What do you see on the horizon for the future of event technology?

There is lots of exciting tech developments in the pipeline for both live and virtual events. Every week I hear of a new technology designed to improve the event experience. I think biometrics will become more commonplace in the physical environment, as well as trends towards immersive rooms and live digital spaces to connect the different user groups. Then there is the Metaverse, and what a dystopian but truly liberating concept that is! Statistics show that the average 18–24-year-old in the UK spends over 50% of their waking hours on a computer, already participating in a metaverse (with bad graphics) that is the current internet. It’s a natural progression to develop a more immersive and interactive experience to drive contribution and participation with the ultimate aim of delivering meaningful online communities.

You can catch Mr. Hall’s Knowledge Programme session on ‘Events and the carbon footprint conundrum’ which will take place on Wednesday, November 30 at IBTM World in Barcelona, Spain

As travel restrictions officially lift in Japan, Agoda search data shows a surge of 16.5 times which is more than 1500 percent in searches for travel to Japan, taking  the country to the top searched destination and; representing the largest search uptick Agoda has recorded with any border reopening to-date.

Before the pandemic, Japan has captured the hearts of many as the travel destination of choice and travellers, have been eager to revisit the unique culture and authentic experiences the nation has to offer.

While Japanese travellers may be slower to pick up their bags and head out into the world, the industry is optimistic about Japan’s travel resurgence. Although locals are seen to practice more caution but, there is a general sense of optimism.

Domestic travel however, shows no signs of abating with Agoda noting a 135 percent increase, year to-date, in domestic travel searches as compared to 2019. To further aid in the rejuvenation of the domestic hospitality industry, Agoda is partnering with the Japanese government’s ‘Travel Support’ campaign to help drive traffic to local businesses nationwide in far reaching prefectures.

In the meantime, South Korea (#1), Hong Kong (#2) and Taiwan (#3) are the markets most keen, to head back to Japan. Mostly, the top ten inbound markets are dominated by Southeast Asian markets with Thailand (#4) and Singapore (#5) leading the charge, closely followed by Malaysia (#7), Indonesia (#9) and Philippines (#10).

Rounding up the two ten inbound markets are the United States number six and Australia eight.