PREMALA Danapakiam, director of sales and marketing with Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK), has been appointed deputy chair of the ICCA Malaysia committee.
Eric van Piggelen, CEO of BCCK, described the appointment as a timely one, as Kuching will host the 55th ICCA Annual Congress 2016 from November 13 to 16.
He said: “We look forward to the mutual cooperation between ICCA Malaysia members to further cement Malaysia’s position in the association meetings sector.”
STADIA & Arena Asia Pacific 2016 will convene in the Japanese port city of Yokohama this September, drawing an estimated 2,000 specialists in the field of athletic facilities development.
It will be the first such event to be held in Japan, according to a media release from the Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Conceptualised by UK company ALAD in 1997, the event will feature both exhibition and conference components, and will invite participants to discuss sport venue design, construction, maintenance, operations management, and related technologies.
The 8,000m2 Yokohama Arena will be utilised for the gathering, a venue that is no stranger to many international sporting events. Participants will also get to visit other sports facilities across Yokohama, including the International Stadium Yokohama and the Yokohama International Swimming Pool.
As host for the 2019 Rugby World Cup Final, and with plans to be the site for the 2020 Olympics soccer matches, Yokohama is a fitting choice for Stadia & Arena Asia Pacific 2016.
TAUZIA Hotel Management is looking to beef up its MICE business through the Tauzia MICE Rally, which aims to showcase meeting and event offerings of 42 hotels in its portfolio spanning the Harris, Yello and Pop! brands.
After seeing positive results from the inaugural Rally last year, Tauzia brought the first Rally for 2016 to Surabaya in February, and this will be followed by sessions in Jakarta and Bali in April and September respectively.
Tauzia is the only hotel group that has its own MICE business sessions with corporates in Indonesia.
Fridi Harini, Tauzia’s corporate director of sale – Jakarta and Surabaya Regions, who is also the Rally’s programme director, said: “More than half of our portfolio carry the word ‘convention’ which means we are (well-)equipped for our customer’s functions.”
In part due to the increased awareness of the hotels’ facilities and offerings, Tauzia’s MICE business is rebounding from the 17.2 per cent decline in 2015.
Fridi said: “Looking closely at different cities’ performances between January and February this year compared to the same period last year, Jakarta hotels’ MICE business was up by 51 per cent, West Java region (Bandung, Sentul, Puncak) 31 per cent and Surabaya region 36 per cent.”
And with the improved business climate and the revision of government policy to allow government agencies to organise meetings in hotels, the Tauzia MICE rally can serve to drive this increased demand to Tauzia managed hotels.
Fridi said she expects that the group’s MICE business will be up by 42 per cent from that of 2015.
PATRICK Manthe has been appointed general manager of Chatrium Hotel Riverside Bangkok and Chatrium Residence Riverside Bangkok, effective immediately.
In his new role, Manthe, a Swiss national, is responsible for the entire operation of of the two properties, including guest services, sales and marketing efforts as well as hotel administration.
Manthe has almost 15 years of experience in the hotel industry, having started his hospitality career as a sales representative with the Metropole Hotel Interlaken Switzerland in 2000.
He was most recently the general manager of the U Sathorn Bangkok, part of the Eastin Grand Hotel Sathorn, and prior to that, the pre-opening general manager of the Fusion Alya Hoi An Resort, Vietnam in 2011.
HONG Kong’s Marco Polo Hotels has named Juni Rahardja as its new regional director of sales, Singapore, succeeding Roy Yan who had recently retired after 24 years with the group.
Juni has over 30 years of experience in Singapore’s hospitality industry and has held senior positions with international hotel brands such as Conrad Centennial Singapore and Grand Hyatt Singapore. She was most recently director – regional sales office Singapore for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts.
Juni Rahardja, regional director of sales, Singapore, Marco Polo Hotels
In her new role, she will be lead Marco Polo’s sales activities in South-east Asia to drive incremental business to the 14 Marco Polo and Niccolo properties located throughout Hong Kong, China and the Philippines.
HRS Group has announced that it is expanding its management team with five new appointments.
Flavio Ghiringhelli, who has been with HRS since September 2012, joins the management team with his promotion to vice president of corporate solutions, South-West & Eastern Europe. Before joining HRS, Ghiringhelli worked for easyJet and Meridiana.
Meanwhile, Dirk Schmidt takes over the North-Central Europe region as managing director corporate solutions, having joined HRS in October 2015. In his new role, he will work alongside Kimi Jiang and Suzanne Neufang, vice presidents, corporate solutions, for Asia-Pacific and the Americas respectively. Previously, he was vice president and general manager in several companies, including Novell and Attachmate Group.
As HRS opens up new service areas globally, further management-level appointments have also been made.
Responsible for raising the MICE business to a global scale, Oliver May joins as global lead MICE/strategy at HRS. Previously, May held the role of executive vice president at Meetago.
Jeff Hillenmayer joins the American team as head of corporate sourcing, Americas and will be strengthening HRS’ sourcing position in the market. Hillenmayer is a former employee of Lanyon where he worked as vice president service.
Finally, Eduardo Murad joins HRS to take over the role of director of sales in Brazil. Eduardo was formerly president of Alagev (Latin American Association of Events and Corporate Travel Managers).
Jennifer Cronin (seated right) and all the Marco Polo Hotel’s ‘chief business managers’. Less than two months after Cronin took charge as president of Marco Polo Hotels, her plan to enable GMs to operate as business managers has taken shape, starting with an intensive three-day conference aimed to discuss transformational leadership, new operational standards and unique selling points for each of the 14 Marco Polo hotels, while sharing best practices and the current challenges faced.
Hampton by Hilton celebrates launch of China hotel
HILTON Worldwide has launched the 223-room Hampton by Hilton Guangzhou Zhujiang New Town, marking the brand’s flagship property in China.
Hampton by Hilton Guangzhou Zhujiang New Town features amenities such as free Wi-Fi, 24-hour snack bar, restaurant, meeting room and fitness center. Fittings in each guestroom include a movable desk, an ergonomic chair, Serta mattresses, a sofa bed and Peter Thomas Roth amenities in the bathroom.
Managed by Huanpeng Hotel Management (Guangzhou), the hotel is located in Guangzhou’s Tianhe district near the Guangzhou International Finance Center, Citic Plaza and Pazhou Complex. The property is also situated close to the Guangzhou East Railway Station and offers access to leisure, shopping and entertainment venues.
Hilton boasts a portfolio of more than 2,100 hotels in its Hampton portfolio worldwide.
ETHIOPIAN Airlines, Africa’s largest carrier, is stepping up its flight frequency to India with the commencement of a second daily service between New Delhi and Addis Ababa on the next-generation Boeing 737-800 Sky Interior aircraft from March 27, 2016.
The launch comes on the back of the additional bilateral air services agreement that was signed between the two countries in November 2015.
The airline’s flight frequency from India has since been brought to 28 daily flights, 14 from New Delhi and 14 from Mumbai, with a load factor of 77 per cent and 80 per cent respectively.
“The airline is recording a 10 per cent year-on-year growth in passenger traffic from India, said Tadesse Tilahun, regional director, India Sub Continent, Ethiopian Airlines, attributing the rise in demand to the growing business relations between India and African countries.
Ethiopian Airlines is also considering adding a third destination in India, as the new bilateral agreement allows the African carrier to operate in one of the South Indian cities like Chennai and Bengaluru, shared Tilahun.
Chinese tourists are spending drastically more overseas
WHILE outbound travel from China still shows no sign of slowing down and Chinese expenditure on outbound travel surged 53 per cent to US$215 billion in 2015, inbound tourism into the country grew a mere three per cent, according to the Economic Impact Report 2016 by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).
The WTTC research shows enormous opportunity for China to take greater benefit of the travel and tourism industry, which supports over 75 million jobs in the country and can help the Chinese government to fulfill its objective of shifting towards a more service-focused economy.
David Scowsill, president & CEO, WTTC, said: “China’s unparalleled investments in infrastructure over recent years have created a good foundation for the further expansion of tourism by increasing connectivity and the country’s tourism capacity.
“Interest in inbound tourism into China will thrive if there is resolve on continuing visa facilitation into the country and focusing on strong destination promotion,” he urged.
Chinese outbound travel favourably impacted Japan and longer-haul destinations such as Europe and Oceania.
On the contrary, severe declines were experienced in its neighbouring regions such as Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan due to local factors.
