DUANGJITT Resort & Spa, located towards the south of Phuket’s Patong Beach, has rolled out a new convention facility within its 14.6ha premises to raise its appeal as a MICE venue.

“Although we have over 500 rooms, our meeting facilities could only accommodate 100-plus pax previously, hence the management decided to add a new convention hall to the resort with an investment of some 300 million baht (US$9.3 million),” said Duangjitt Resort & Spa’s assistant director of sales, Purimpratch Sukbuayai.

Comprised of three main buildings designed in traditional Thai architectural style, Duangchanok Convention Hall features the 986m2 high-ceilinged Duangchanok Ballroom that can comfortably accommodate 1,200 pax and be divided into three smaller spaces; the 309m2 Duangrada Reception Hall that can host around 300 pax; the Banquet Hall consisting of four breakout rooms (Duangkamol, Duangthip, Duangmanee and Duangkaew) varying between 100m2 and 200m2, plus the 232m2 open-air Duangdao Hall; and three VIP rooms with private restrooms.

“Duangchanok Convention Hall is able to accommodate up to 2,000 pax, making it the biggest MICE venue on Patong Beach,” added Purimpratch. “Construction has already been completed but the facility is still undergoing fine-tuning of its interior systems, with an official opening planned for later this year.”

Soft-opened in late-2013, Duangchanok Convention Hall hosted the 6th Andaman Travel Trade Show in November 2013 as its first event, and has received meeting requests for groups varying between 300 and 400 pax from neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Singapore, Purimpratch shared.

Upcoming groups include a 600-pax group from Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group and two 600-pax groups from India in September this year.

Less than 1km away, the newly opened Grand Mercure Phuket Patong also offers a 290m2 Grand M Ballroom accommodating up to 200 guests for sit-down dinners and 300 guests for standing cocktails, plus two meeting rooms of 95m2 and 60m2 each, according to the resort’s assistant director of sales, Nuschanart Ariyakhachorn. The 314-room property will celebrate its grand opening later this month.

DRIVEN by Pattaya’s rising potential as a corporate and meeting destination, Holiday Inn Pattaya is pushing for the growth of its MICE business with the launch of a meeting-oriented wing in August.

Set adjacent to the existing 367-room Bay Tower, the new 200-key Executive Tower will boast a dedicated meeting space, Workshop, on the fourth floor. The retro-inspired, industrial-designed area is outfitted with meeting rooms, a boardroom, an auditorium, a terrace and a media hub along with a dedicated breakout zone.

Apart from the additional 200 rooms and suites each with their own private balconies, the new building will feature a top-floor Executive Club with panoramic views of Pattaya Bay, swimming pools, a kids’ club and a restaurant.

“There continues to be a healthy demand for MICE business into Pattaya, with many telling us they are looking for something different,” Kate Gerits, general manager at Holiday Inn Pattaya.

“The Workshop concept is about bringing the meeting area to life, providing a creative space in which participants feel inspired, and being able to provide flexibility of space all on one level,” she added.

Holiday Inn Pattaya will also form part of the newly launched North Pattaya Alliance (TTGmice e-Weekly, June 30, 2014), a group of seven hotels aiming to raise the district’s appeal as a premier destination for MICE business events and Indian weddings.

SINGAPORE is proudly hanging onto its crown as the world’s foremost city and country for international meetings, titles the city-state is holding for the third and seventh year running respectively.

This is according to the Union of International Associations’ (UIA) 2013 Global Rankings.

UIA reports that some 994 meetings held in Singapore qualified under UIA’s criteria for international meetings – a 4.4 per cent increase over 2012’s 952 – and thereby forming 9.4 per cent of UIA’s database of meetings.

In particular, the Lion City garnered praise for its excellent infrastructure, efficiency, vibrant business ecosystem, knowledge networks and strategic location in Asia.

Second runner-up country, the US, recorded 799 meetings, while the Brussels took second place for top international meetings city with 436 meetings.

Singapore played host to notable events last year such as the IFLA World Library and Information Congress, the 60th Chartered Financial Analyst Institute Annual Conference, the Amway Japan Leadership Achievement Seminar, the World Engineers’ Summit as well as the World Retail Congress Asia Pacific.

Singapore has six world congresses in its pipeline to date – the World Congress on Brain Mapping & Therapeutics 2016 and World Congress of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus 2016; the inaugural Asian edition of SpineWeek; the Council for Advancement and Support of Education Asia-Pacific Advancement Conference 2015; the Regional Dermatology Conference 2016; and the Asia Pacific Congress of Hypertension 2017.

Neeta Lachmandas, assistant chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), said the MICE industry remained an integral component of Singapore’s tourism sector.

“The overall Economic Impact Analysis (examining the extent to which the MICE industry supports Singapore’s economy) of MICE activities is approximately S$3.7 billion (US$3 billion) or 1.1 per cent of Singapore GDP in 2012. This is an increase from 0.9 per cent of GDP in 2008.

“The Meetings segment contributes the highest proportion at 55.4 per cent of total economic impact. Beyond the direct economic benefits, MICE also contributed in terms of networking opportunities, branding of Singapore and cross-industry skill sharing.”

To further build on Singapore’s strengths as a MICE destination, STB is rolling out a training curriculum based on STB’s Sustainability Guidelines in September this year, in partnership with SACEOS.

RUSSIA’S profile as an exhibitions venue is getting a boost with the appointment of Sergey Alexeev of ExpoForum-International appointed as the incoming president of UFI for 2014/2015.

Welcoming Alexeev’s appointment, currently UFI president Renaud Hamaide of Comexposium/ViParis said: “Sergey brings 30 years of exhibition-related experience to our UFI presidents’ trio! As the first Russian UFI president, he will certainly provide valuable insights for the development of UFI programmes in this country.”

Russia is represented in UFI by 38 members, the third largest number after China and Germany. The country has more than 20 venues offering a minimum of 5,000m2 of indoor exhibition space and a combined total of almost 600,000m2.

This places the country 10th in the world in terms of exhibition infrastructure capacity and UFI ranks Russia 8th for exhibition activity for the three million square metres of net exhibition space rented yearly.

Commented Alexeev: “Joining the UFI presidential trio is a reflection of the prospects and professionalism of the Russian exhibitions industry. Over the past 20 years Russia has taken its place among the world’s exhibition leaders.”

Hamaide will thus take his place in the Triumvirate as outgoing president, while the new current president is Andrés Lopez-Valderrama of Corferias, Colombia.

These appointments will take effect after the 81st UFI Annual Congress in Bogota, Colombia which will be held between October 29 and November 1 this year, for the term 2014-2015.

Alexeev will become president for the 2015/2016 term.

In the meantime, Lopez-Valderrama will lead a UFI that has since welcomed 15 new organisations, bringing membership to 650 in 83 countries, and 28 more audited international exhibitions.

The UFI presidential trio is meant to provide for greater management continuity within the association and enable UFI to represent the exhibition sector in a greater number of international industry events and activities.