Press Room

This year saw multi-national corporations from Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand participated in several exciting activities in Taiwan for three days, to showcase their creativity, execution and presentation skill. The campaign consisted of two phases of contest: the online proposal submission and offline tour of Taiwan.

Day 1: Contestants travelled from Taipei to Tainan. There they visited the Jing Liao farm village for a session on painting of bamboo hats, group challenge on making a scarecrow and lunch of local cuisine prepared by the villagers.
This was followed by a competition to shuck as much oysters at the Budai Zhounan Salt Field. Later, the contestants had to compete in harvesting salt from the water pond at the field.

Day 2: From Tainan, the whole team then moved to Chiayi. The contestants were given a briefing on the social responsibility work undertaken by the Maple Community such as making eco-friendly soap from recycled cooking oil. After which each group were tasked with making the soap.

They then headed for the Taichung Cultural and Creative Industries Park. Here the team witnessed a Taiwanese opera performance. Their challenge was to stage an opera and garner points from the audience and judges.

Day 3: Points were giving for every step of the way, with each competition carrying weight for the final presentation at the Taiwan International Convention Center. At the TICC, each team is given the opportunity to present the services of their business accompanied by a skit. The contestants were also quizzed on Taiwan as top-of-the-mind destination for incentive travel.

On the overall, the team from Australia emerged as the champion, who faced stiff competition from the other countries. They received an incentive package to Taiwan worth USD 50,000 (for up to 20 people), and MEET TAIWAN will donate USD 5,000 to the winner’s designated non-profit organisation.
The Taipei Asia Super Team is a contest for businesses in Asia designed to promote Taiwan, was first launched by MEET TAIWAN in 2014.

Asia Super Team 2015

Day 1 in Tainan

Painting of Bamboo Hat at Jing Liao Farm Village

Making a Scarecrow Contest

Day 2 in Chiayi

Competition to Shuck as Many Oysters

Harvesting of Salt Competition at the Budai Zhounan Salt Field

Day 3 in Taichung

Making of Eco Friendly Soap at the Maple Community Center

Taiwanese Opera Performance Challenge at the Taichung Cultural and Creative Industries Park

Day 4 in Taipei for the Final of the 2015 Asia Super Team

The Asia Super Team from Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand, took to the stage at the Taiwan International Convention Center, and showcased the cultural background of their country; as well as information on the services of their businesses. They were also quized on Taiwan as the top-of-the-mind destination for incentive by celebrity Janet Hseih, who hosted the final competition ceremony.

Team Australia emerged as the champion for the 2015 Asia Super Team (https://medium.com/raw-startupism/aftr-super-team-aftr-wins-asia-super-team-competition-2657a891af1a#.70viekaov).

This year’s edition from September 29 to October 1, is expected to bring together more than 2,500 Asia-Pacific and international delegates. The event is once again co-located with the CTW Asia-Pacific, a leading corporate travel management conference for the Asia-Pacific.

Close to 100 of the top corporate travel buyers in the region are expected at the upcoming 2015 event. As usual the show validates and handpick applicants from diverse industries across the region. Successful delegates hosted comprise of key decision makers within their organisation.

For more information, log on to www.itcma.com

Kogetsu which means reflection of the moon on the water is a restaurant designed in the style of a traditional ryokan – built on stilts with a view of a lake and surrounded by gardens – features a teppanyaki room, sushi counter and three tatami rooms for private dining.

On the menu are a variety of fresh sushi and thick cuts of shashimi, succulent seafood, assorted tempura, speciality rolls, teppanyaki, grilled meats, as well as broth, rice and noodle dishes. You can then end your meal with a selection of deserts. All these prepared by the culinary team of resident Chef Taketoshi Minami who himself, has 20 years of experience in the hotel industry creating dishes that reflect the traditional elegance of Japanese cuisine.

The all-you-can-eat brunch at RM145 per person is on every Saturday and Sunday from 11.30 am to 3.00 pm. For reservations, you can email dine@thesaujana.com . Take note: If you bring kids below 12 years, they can eat for free, but limited to two per single receipt.

The property has undergone an extensive refurbishment to a tune of RM100 million, which was completed in July this year. Recently the hotel was relaunched to introduce its fresh new look. This also saw the Saujana reinventing itself as an urban resort with city convenience. Now, the Saujana is set to take a big slice of the Asia Pacific region’s MICE market with its considerable portfolio of venue and meeting spaces on offer.

“We are targeting meeting planners and incentive houses from the Asia Pacific region, as more than 70 per cent of Malaysia’s international tourist arrivals are from this region,” said Peter J Hourigan, Saujana Hotels & Resorts general manager and vice president of operations. Also to suit the different needs of organisers, the hotel he mentioned, has a ballroom that can fit up to 700 people in theatre seating and 15 meeting rooms of varying configurations.

Previously according to the general manager, 65 to 80 percent of the property’s business mix was largely on corporate meetings, but the hotel wants to grow its incentive segment. It has the space for outdoor theme building activities, as the resort sits on 160 hectares of tropical gardens, and has added six meeting spaces to the current 10 function rooms. There are also seven different concept restaurants which make it ideal for in-house guests to experience something new every day.

Located just outside of Kuala Lumpur, the capital city, the hotel has a strong ambiance of being in an urban resort sitting in the heart of Shah Alam district. In terms of accessibility, the resort is a mere 35 minutes drive from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and five minutes drive to the Subang Skypark, an aviation hub with a private aircraft facility.

Team building activities on the gardens of Saujana

An urban resort with city convenience.

In conjunction with its road show in Southeast Asia which was supported by MGM Macau, GTEF hosted a networking luncheon at JW Marriott Hotel Kuala Lumpur. It was attended by travel agents, hoteliers, members of chamber of commerce and trade associations, as well as local, regional and international media.

Present at the luncheon were: Peter Wong, vice chairman of GTEF and executive chairman of China Chamber of Tourism; Representatives from MGTO in Kuala Lumpur, Tunku Dato’ Seri Iskandar bin Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah and Cherry Lee; the honourary secretary of Pacific Asia Travel Association Malaysia Chapter, Datuk, Ali; and Toby Leung, vice president marketing and communications of MGM Macau.

The occasion was also a trade meeting opportunity to explore collaboration possibilities in investment, regional cooperation, tourism development and exchange of marketing potentials within the region. At the same time, a presentation was held to introduce the Global Tourism Economy Forum 2015 to tourism stake holders in Malaysia.

GTEF is co organised by the China Chamber of Tourism under the authorisation of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce coordinated by the Global Tourism Economy Research Centre in collaboration with the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). All four editions of the GTEF were hosted by the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR government.

International cruise company, Costa Cruises celebrated its presence in Kuala Lumpur with clients in the travel business and the media at Marini’s on the 57th floor of one of the world’s tallest buildings, the Petronas Twin Tower 3.

Costa Cruises was also the official cruise sponsor of the MATTA Fair – an annual travel exhibition held in the Malaysian cities of Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru.

MEET Taiwan kicked off a series of road shows in Asia featuring corporate incentive tours to Taiwan, and was in Kuala Lumpur to promote Taiwan as the top-on-mind destination for incentive travel. It was attended by the media, hoteliers, MICE industry practitioners and destination management companies in Malaysia including last year’s winner of the Asia Super Team.

It began with presentations from Meet Taiwan and its partners, Eva Air, China Airlines and several Taiwan based corporate incentive tour operators. Main highlight was on the Asia Super Team 2015: Team Up for Good.

The event generated some insightful business conversations.

Julia Douglas (left) Managing Editor of MICE with Carmen Siow, Assistant Manager, Taiwan Trade Centre, Inc (TAITRA), Kuala Lumpur Representative Office at the MEET Taiwan Road Show.

Khao Yai is Thailand’s first national park, and is the second largest in the country. The area along with the surrounding Dong Phaya Yen mountain range was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Covering an area of over 2,000 square kilometres includes parts of four other provinces with vegetation zones ranging from evergreen rainforest to tropical savannah.

TCEB has once again invited International media from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Australia and United Kingdom to tour the area to showcase it as an emerging business tourism destination.

The bureau also organised a press conference in Bangkok to brief the media on the activities undertaken by its key partners to drive the Thai MICE sector. They are the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Airways International, Ratchprasong Square Trade Association (RSTA) and Bangkok River Partners (BRP). At the same time introduce to the media, the Thailand CONNECT Welcome Package to attract more business events into the country.

Welcome reception and dinner hosted by Peninsula Bangkok

Press Conference at Anantara Siam Bangkok on “Thailand CONNECT the World 2015′

Walk-About Downtown Ratchaprasong Square

Night Tour of Rattanakosin by Tuk Tuk

Tour of the GranMonte Vineyard and Winery

Visit Khao Yai National Park and Participate in Depositing Salt at a Salt Lick and Tree Planting

Theme Night Dinner in Khao Yai

Chockchai Farm at Khao Yai

Farewell Dinner and Cultural Dance Performance

MICE in Asia would like thank TCEB and partners for the Thailand CONNECT the World – Bangkok and Khao Yai media familiarisation trip 2015.