SOME US buyers at IT&CMA said they have seen an increase in interest for Asia as a meetings and incentive destination.
Captain S Rajan, president & CEO, Air Safety Equipment, said the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Beijing have become popular MICE destinations, largely due to the availability of direct flights.
Year-on-year, the company has seen a 19 per cent increase in MICE business to China, which is the result of a three per cent increase in incentives, 10 per cent increase in product launches and six per cent increase in meetings.
According to Rajan, his company has also started to send some pilots for their annual medical check-ups in South Korea this year. He said: “Thirty pilots were sent to South Korea this year but in the coming years, this will increase as we have a total of 600 pilots. Treatment in South Korea is substantially more cost effective as compared to having medical check-ups done in the US. In May, we also took a sales incentive group of 110 delegates to South Korea. In the future, we plan to do sales incentive meetings for our clients on air safety there.”
Another US buyer, Tisa L Nava, programme director at Agora Global Meetings and Conferences, said she has seen more meetings and conferences to Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and China especially because of the robust economy in Asia and MNCs setting up offices in this part of the world.
She added that incentives are doing well too because many have not been to Asia, which is seen as exotic and special. “We usually suggest an itinerary of seven nights and one destination because flying to Asia is longhaul and you need time to recover from jet lag,” said Nava. Destinations that are benefiting include beach destinations such as Phuket and Cebu.
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