THE TWIN debt crises in the US and Europe that is causing havoc in Asian stock markets has so far left the region’s incentive and corporate meeting business segment unscathed.
BCD Travel Singapore head of MICE and corporate leisure, Desmond Lim, told TTGmice that enquiries and bookings for meetings and incentives were still coming in.
“Things are still proceeding as normal now, and we are seeing a 70 per cent materialisation for enquiries. There are no signs of slowing down,” he said.
Kuala Lumpur-based Feature Tour owner, ET Quah, believes that Asian economies will not feel the full impact of the debt crises in the US and Europe till later.
He also pointed out that the region’s meetings and incentives industry was “still secure”, at least till the end of the year. “Many of this year’s events were planned and confirmed much earlier, and clients are going ahead as planned. None of my clients are reacting negatively yet,” he explained.
However, Quah said it was difficult to predict how the first quarter of next year would turn out. “Planning for 2012 will start this October, and we will be able to see how clients’ budgets will move,” he said.
On the corporate travel front, HRG managing director Asia-Pacific, Greg Treasure, expects some short-term reduction in customer expenditure due to ongoing economic uncertainty, but retains a positive outlook in the long run.
“Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region in the world, and as we have seen with similar events in the past, things bounce back very quickly when sentiment turns positive,” he said.
