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BESarawak announced a leadership transition with former chief executive officer, Amelia Roziman departing after 20 years. To ensure continuity and stability, the board of directors of BESarawak has designated Jason Tan Chin Foo, as acting chief executive officer and with immediate effect.

Mr. Tan brings with him 18 years of experience in the hospitality and business events industry, with strengths in strategic development, stakeholder engagement, and organisational growth.

Since joining BESarawak in 2012, he has held senior leadership roles in business development, research, marketing, and communications; building deep institutional knowledge and trusted industry relationships.

Commenting on the appointment, chairman of BESarawak, Datu Hii Chang Kee, who is also Sarawak’s deputy state secretary for operations said that Mr. Tan, is well-position for this role with his strong industry insight and a clear commitment to collaboration and collective impact.

The board is confident that with Mr. Tan’s strategic leadership will strengthen BESarawak and advance the business events industry to new levels of performance and impact.

While Ms. Roziman will take on a new role as chief consultant for a private advisory platform LegacyMade.

The board of directors of Red Robin Events Sdn Bhd and the editorial board and marketing team of MICE in Asia, would like to wish Jason Tan, the very best as acting chief executive officer of BESarawak. To Ms. Roziman whom, we have worked with more than 20 years, all the best in her new post.

At the opening of the ITB Asia 2025 in Singapore, the show created a new milestone when Messe Berlin Asia Pacific and Tripadvisor Singapore Pte Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding to co-develop the Experience Pavilion, which will debut at ITB Asia 2026.

“We saw over 11 million experiences booked on our sites (including Viator) in the first half of 2025, which is a 15 percent YoY increase and we’re expecting that trend will continue for the remainder of the year and into 2026,” said Mr. Scott Wegener, director of sales (APAC), Tripadvisor.

The Experience Pavilion will highlight the power of experiential travel, spanning adventure, culture, wellness, culinary tourism and more, and will provide a platform for exhibitors to inspire, engage, and connect with buyers and media.

Tripadvisor will co-curate the Pavilion’s theme and content framework, leveraging its global network to bring together selected experience-focused providers, while Messe Berlin Singapore will ensure prime positioning, media visibility, and targeted buyer engagement.

The summit will be held at the Exhibition World Bahrain from September 1 to 2 bringing together regional and international stakeholders from meetings and events industry.

Among others, it will feature a forum focused on panel discussions, case studies, workshops and structured networking targeted at critical topics shaping the global MICE landscape.

The summit will also introduce the ICCA Middle East Recognition Awards, aimed at acknowledging institutional excellence and innovation within the region’s business events sector.

While the key theme is on technology and during the summit, participants will learn about how technology can strengthen the tourism and meetings industry and in creating, seamless experiences for travellers.

“We are looking forward to leading the charge in innovation and high-tech developments, particularly in how artificial intelligence is transforming destination marketing and the way cities position themselves globally,” said Dr. Senthil Gopinath, chief executive officer of ICCA.

There will also be discussions on sustainability with Bahrain’s effort in committing to sustainable tourism.  Conversations at the summit on sustainability will be centred on eco-friendly practices, green certifications and carbon neutral initiatives.

What participants can take away from the summit this year will be, strong networking opportunities, connect with industry professionals as well as, suppliers of tourism and MICE products, country tourism boards and destination and venue owners.

Back row: Oliver Chong, Assistant Chief Executive (Designate), International Group, STB; Melissa Ow, Chief Executive, STB; Alex Hungate, President and Group COO, Grab; Alejandro Osorio, Singapore Managing Director, Grab; Front row: Juliana Kua, Assistant Chief Executive, International Group, STB; Yee Wee Tang, Group Managing Director of Operations, Grab, at the MOU signing ceremony.

Through a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding, both organisations aim to attract more international visitors and drive tourism spend, while delivering seamless and authentic travel experiences in the city.

As part of the collaboration, STB will act as the gateway connecting Grab with tourism partners across Singapore for closer collaboration.

According to STB, the insights gained from these partners, combined with Grab’s demand generation tools and marketing capabilities, will help drive greater footfall and tourism spending throughout the island thus, benefiting a wide array of local businesses and experiences.

One key initiative will be the enhancement of the Grab Travel Pass, a convenient bundle offering discounts on Grab transport and services in-country.

Available to all international travellers visiting Singapore, the Travel Pass simplifies travel planning and improves on-ground mobility, delivering greater value to travellers while driving growth for tourism partners.

Leveraging on Singapore’s strength as a hub for global and regional events, the partnership will also see Grab collaborating with STB and event organisers to elevate the overall event experience through its mobility, food and financial services which are widely used by both leisure and business travellers.

In the first six months of this year, Singapore recorded 8.33 million international visitor arrivals with SGD8.07 billion in tourism spend in the first quarter of 2025.

In collaboration with two leading data authorities, Tourism Economics and Trip.com Group, ITB China has officially released its travel and trends report for 2025 to 2026. The report examines structural shifts and evolving trends across three core areas of the China travel ecosystem covering outbound travel, meetings, incentives and events and inbound travel to China. While findings of the report are drawn from insights of survey conducted among 1,400 members ITB China Buyer Circle.

According to Messe Berlin China deputy general manager, Ms.  Lydia Li the annual trends report is aimed at providing actionable insights for global partners and industry professionals interested in the Chinese travel market.

She added the goal of the report, is to help them better understand Chinese travel demand and industry dynamics, identify opportunities, stay in step with market shifts, and make informed business decisions.

The survey of the report revealed a shift in China’s outbound travel demographics, according to data from Trip.com Group. Travellers born in the 1980s and 1990s represent 67 percent of the segment in 2024, a proportion of which is expected to grow.

A rise of ‘active seniors’ is reshaping the market, with more than 100 million expected to travel by the end of 2025 and drive spending beyond CNY One trillion (USD140 billion).

At the same time, the trend of companies going global has brought new opportunities to China’s MICE market with business and leisure travel becoming a growth engine.

A key finding was the strong growth potential in the bleisure segment that is business and leisure travel cited by 83 percent of respondents. This trend reflects a shift in corporate travel priorities with higher demand for integrated experience value for delegates, teams and clients than just meeting logistics.

Inbound tourism as claimed in the report is becoming a key growth driver for China.  As the sector, enters a new phase of expansion with tourism economic projects continued gains in China’s share of global inbound supported by visa easing, restored air capacity and improved readiness on city level.

The study also delved into the increasing role of AI in travel.  Over half of ITB China Buyer Circle members are now using AI tools for product recommendations, customer service applications and market analysis. The challenges according to the report is on maintaining human-centred service while adopting AI-driven efficiencies.

In the final analysis, the report recognises that preferences among travellers are also changing, with a move toward free independent travel, social media-driven planning and higher demand for authentic, experience-led tourism beyond the major landmarks.

The Centre successfully secured six major international conferences through competitive bidding in the first half of the year and is set, to attract more than 6,150 delegates in 2026 and 2027 – generating an estimated RM77.5million (USD18.2million or Euro15.6million) in economic impact for Malaysia.

“Winning these bids is a resounding vote of confidence in Malaysia’s capacity, connectivity and collaborative spirit. Beyond the RM77 million in direct economic contribution, these events will spark new partnerships, accelerate talent development, and showcase our nation’s commitment to driving solutions for aviation safety, global health security, net-zero technology and women’s health,” said Mr. John Burke, general manager of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

These recent wins highlight the Centre’s ongoing commitment to fostering intellectual exchange, advancing professional development, and delivering economic value to the nation. The conferences span across the fields of aviation, global health security, evidence-based guidelines, clean-energy technology and women’s health.

While the regional and international conferences include Global Health Security Conference 2026, Energy Tech Summit Asia 2026 and 85th FIP World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences 2027.