Press Room

This year’s ITE HCMC will be held from September 14 to 17. Once again the event will bring buyers and sellers together under one roof to discover a wide range of tourism products in the ASEAN region. Buyers will also be able to meet over 20 Vietnamese provincial departments of tourism featuring their tourism products and services.

It is estimated that 160 to 180 international buyers and corporate travel managers will attend the travel expo. The event will feature a seminar for buyers and sellers (by invitation), an official reception of international buyers by the people’s committee of Ho Chi Minh City and department of tourism. There will also be a grand opening ceremony with cultural performance organised by participants of the expo and other participating tourism bureaus, as well as networking cocktail for all participants and destination product presentations

This coming event will also see the efforts of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam to promote the four countries as one destination. For four days, tour operators, travel agents, tourism management organisations and other tourism related stakeholders get together to share information, build partnership and explore opportunities in the tourism business.

For more information on the travel expo, log onto: www.itehcmc.com

MICE in Asia is a media partner of ITE HCMC 2011.

The panel of judges of the different catergories of the Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism awards with the Mayor, Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail (fifth from right) at the Thank You dinner.

The first Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism Awards was a resounding success. The mayor thanked all judges, committee members and everyone involved in the awards with a dinner at the Songket Restaurant.

Panel of judges of the different category of the awards, were presented with a framed letter of appreciation from the Mayor, Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail for their time and effort in contributing to the judging of the category of awards they are assigned to.

Managing editor of MICE in Asia was a judge in the accommodation category for five and four-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur.

An inaugural edition of the award was recently held at the Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur and the gala dinner celebration, was graced by the Right Honourable, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Hj Abdul Razak. Among the VIP guests were the country’s fourth Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Bin Mohamad, Minister of Federal Territories & Urban Wellbeing and Minister of Tourism.

The awards were introduced by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall to recognise the high standard of practices of tourism industry players in the city, and for making Kuala Lumpur an international tourist destination.
Each category of the award was judged by a panel of senior industry professionals who were led by a head judge. There were a total of 10 judging panels that took between six to nine weeks to conduct a thorough judging process. It included site visits by the panel of judges and interviews of the nominees.

Nine categories with 32 awards were contended in this inaugural edition. The categories of awards are for Accommodation, Restaurants, Tourist Attractions, Nightspots, Shopping Malls, Foreign Airlines, International Tour Operators, Print Media (Magazines) and Front Liners. There were three classes of awards presented and they are for Outstanding Achievement (highest class), Excellence and the Mayor’s Recognition.
Leading the award recipients was the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Bin Mohamad, who was presented with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his many contributions that have shaped the Kuala Lumpur tourism industry over the last three decades such as, the KL International Airport, the Sepang Formula One Circuit, KL Tower and the city’s most recognisable icon, the Petronas Twin Towers.

The award recipients were presented with silver plaques exclusive crafted by the renowned French brand of silverware, Christofle. While the special trophy for the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ was created by Mouawad.

Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail, Mayor of Kuala Lumpur mentioned, “The response to the inaugural Kuala Lumpur Mayor’s Tourism Awards has been so enthusiastic, not just within the industry but also from the general public. The number of nominations received is overwhelming, and the public voting has been very successful.”

Beijing City at dusk taken from the Bird’s Nest National Stadium.

The team from MICE in Asia took time off from their busy schedule to get to know Beijing city better by travelling the subway. We started from Datunlu East station to Dongdan, where we cross over to line 1, and headed for Tian’Anmen East.

From this station, we walked to Jingshan Park which has a scenic view of the northern gate of the Forbidden City across the lake. From the park, we entered the Forbidden City and join groups of foot “soldiers” consisting of locals and tourists trooping along this magnificent historical site. We then exit the Forbidden City and headed for the Tian’Anmen Square and back onto the subway for line 1.

Jingshan Park

Forbidden City

Our next stop was the Military Museum which is after Muxidi station. We visited the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution located west of central Beijing in the Haidian District. The musuem displays restored military equipment of ancient times to modern weaponry which also includes machinery from the period of the People’s Liberation Army.

Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution and Art Museum.

We then returned to Datunlu East station, and walked towards the Bird’s Nest National Stadium. We toured the stadium in the evening which was spectacularly lit in red and also to catch a glimpse of Beijing city at dusk.

The Bird’s Nest National Stadium

Once again Beijing International Tourism Expo (BITE) returned with a success for three days (June 17 to 19) at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing. This time, the expo has managed to woo several new exhibitors from outside China such as the United Arab Emirates, Sharjah, Yemen, Switzerland, Japan and the United States, among others.

Also held during the expo, is the most influential industrial summit in Chinese outbound tourism, the 7th International Forum on Chinese Outbound Tourism or IFCOT. The conference provided a professional and effective networking and business platform for participants.

BITE 2011 is the 8th running edition. This year’s expo has again proven its credibility as an international gateway and platform for industry players, as well as trade professionals and visitors (locally and across the region) to connect and network, achieve their aims and objectives- most importantly secure more international business contacts.

The expo is jointly organised by Beijing Tourism Administration, CEMS (Beijing) Conference & Exhibition Co. Ltd and Conference & Exhibition Management Services.

MICE in Asia a media partner of BITE 2011.

This year, ITE & MICE had a record number of 10 new official participations and pavilions from Bhutan, Brazil, Cuba, Hungary, Mexico, Moscow, Nepal, Seychelles, South Africa and Tunisia. In all, there were a total of 56 exhibiting countries and regions which also saw an increase of 21.7 % over last year.

Over 60 percent of the exhibiting countries and regions were from the Americas and Oceania, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. While over 80 percent of exhibitors were from outside Hong Kong

The travel expo this year had: 3.7 percent or 648 international exhibitors; 3 percent or 11820 visitors in the trade days; and 0.6 percent or 69320 visitors in the public days. All are new record numbers for ITE & MICE despite countries continuing to tighten their budgets, unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, high oil prices, earthquake and tsunami in Japan. While regional visitors especially from southern China have accounted for around 25 percent of all visitors in trade days of the travel expo with some 80 percent of the public visitors prefer travelling in FIT. According to the organisers, TKS Exhibition Services Ltd these percentages are expected to remain more or less the same as before, and will be adjusted accordingly when detail breakdown of visitors this year becomes available.

Themes highlighted in ITE & MICE this year included, Wellness & Medical Tourism (WMT) and cruise travel. The cruise pavilion this year attracted exhibitors who were focused on Polar cruises.

This year also, ITE & MICE hosted three prize presentation ceremonies, which includes and award on Cantonese Favourite Destinations (Routes) by Southern Metropolis Daily, a leading newspaper in Guangdong, My Favorite Hong Kong Tour Guide Award by Hong Kong Professional Tourist Guides General Union and New Travel Routes Award by U Magazine.

The next ITE & MICE which is the 26th edition of ITE and the 7th edition of ITE MICE is scheduled to be held from June 14-17, 2012 at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre.

MICE in Asia is a media partner of ITE & ITE MICE 2011.  For more information of the upcoming travel expo, log onto: www.itehk.com and  www.itehkmice.com

The Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) has produced a directory of relevant MICE support services and on convention and exhibition facilities available in the country. Generally, it will be a useful reference guide for people in the MICE industry . Also in the directory is information of international congresses coming to Malaysia where it can be used as a reference to source suppliers for any kind of events.

Currently MACEOS which has been in existence since 1990 has more than 60 industry members. They are mainly exhibition and conference organisers, contractors, suppliers, freight forwarders, tour operators and venue providers.

Apart from the publication of this directory, MACEOS has organised familiarisation trip to other cities in the country to help build the industry outside Kuala Lumpur, provide skills training to raise the standard of the industry within the country, and host awards night to recognise the work and initiative of its members. For more information on MACEOS, you can go to www.maceos.com.my

The Mayor of Kuala Lumpur has introduced a programme where visitors and tourists are invited to help green the city’s environment. This is by planting a tree of specie found in Malaysia.

Any visitor to the city can sign up for the programme. He or she will be given a young tree to plant. It will be at a designated area within the city’s Taman Tasik Titiwangsa park. Each tree will bear the name of the planter, and a visual record of the tree’s growth, will be kept on the programme’s website that is www.igreenedkl.com.my.

Participants of the programme can log-on from anywhere in the world, to view the development of their tree. The progress of the tree’s growth will be updated periodically on the website. This is to enourage the planters to return to Kuala Lumpur, and make regular visits to check on the growth of their tree – hopefully invite family and friends to come to Kuala Lumpur to view the tree and the park.

Julia Douglas digging in.

Taman Tasik Titiwangsa Park with the Petronas Twin Towers as the back drop.

The Mayor of Kuala Lumpur with tree planters from United States.

Local school band playing the bag pipes and drumming support.

Tree planters from United Kingdom, United States, France, Spain, South America, India, Japan and Africa with their certificates of the specie of tree planted. Each planter is also required to give a name to their tree.

One of the leading professional MICE business and networking events, the IT&CM held in Shanghai from April 13 to 15 saw a 10% growth from the previous year. This year, it featured 691 exhibitors from 253 exhibiting organisations, 344 buyers, 83 media and over 1,000 trade visitors.

Along with the growth of IT&CM China, the event also achieved several new milestones in its efforts to develop the Chinese MICE industry. Appropriately themed “Leading China’s Next MICE Wave”, IT&CM China 2011 was also part of Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration (SMTA)’s inaugural Shanghai Business Events Week collaborating with several leading players to take the China MICE industry to new heights.

According to Darren Ng, managing director of TTG Asia Media, the co-organiser of event, “This partnership enhances the IT&CM China 2011 programme, offering delegates more exciting opportunities in business, education and networking.”

On the exhibition front, the event there were new Chinese and International exhibitors representing hotels and hospitality groups, cruises, destination bureaus. For the first time included in the IT&CM China 2011 exhibition, was a pavilion dedicated to unique convention venues and travel wellness from China. This year too making their debut were MICE venues and destination management services from the Middle East.

While the 2011 Buyers profiled new representatives from countries such as Argentina, Cambodia, Cyprus, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates. This coupled with 50% new buyer attendance, ensured the demand for MICE destinations, products and services at IT&CM China remain fresh. Also present this year were media members from France, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain and Vietnam.

A unique highlight of the IT&CM China business event was the equal mix of International and Chinese delegates. It achieved the show’s focus of ‘Promoting China to the World and the World to China’. Together with a compelling 3-day programme that comprised scheduled business appointments, MICE exhibition, seminar sessions, networking luncheons and coffee breaks, IT&CM China 2011 has managed to nurture business opportunities between China and the rest of the world, as well as fostering domestic MICE growth within China.