IT&CMA and CTW Asia-Pacific will build on its past success to increase trade conducted as a result of the event, while introducing a host of new innovations for buyers and exhibitors alike, said the organiser.

The world’s only double-billed MICE and corporate travel event will celebrate its 10^th year of co-location when it opens its doors at Centara Grand Bangkok Convention Centre from September 30 to October 3.

A recent survey showed that almost 70 per cent of buyers who attended last year’s event made purchases totalling more than US$45 million within six months, with related sales expected to push the total to more than US$120 million within the next half-year.

Speaking at the event preview in Bangkok on Tuesday, Darren Ng, managing director of TTG Asia Media, the event’s organiser, said IT&CMA and CTW Asia-Pacific 2013 was expected to yield greater benefits for delegates, especially those from Thailand, not only in terms of sales and acquisitions, but also through other valued-added innovations.

“The cost effectiveness of meeting qualified buyers from around the world on home ground makes participating at IT&CMA and CTW Asia-Pacific an opportunity not to be missed,” he said.

Meeting face-to-face was even more important in the digital age, said Sumate Sudasna, president of the Thailand Incentive and Convention Association.

“Attending (the trade event) is especially crucial because of the emergence of ecommerce where every week a new product and application is being developed and launched. As professionals we know that meeting face-to-face is the most important part of our business efforts so we can put a face to the emails or WhatsApp messages.”

Ng said a number of key initiatives will be launched this year, including:

– An online diary capable of scheduling 100 per cent of appointments, which provides also messaging services for buyers and sellers

– Association Day & Performance Improvement Forum held in collaboration with MCI Group to provide seminar sessions and structured business appointments

– A Luxury Post-show Tour for about 20 international luxury buyers to showcase Thailand’s luxury MICE and travel offerings during a 4D/3N tour

The Thai pavilion will be the largest destination showcase at the event with 375m² of floor space, while special packages will be introduced for Thai buyers and exhibitors to entice participation.

BANGKOK Airways and British Airways (BA) have inked an agreement to codeshare on flights to Thailand.

BA customers will be able to purchase flights from London-Heathrow to Phuket, Koh Samui or Chiang Mai, via Bangkok. Bangkok Airways will also codeshare with BA on the latter’s Singapore-Koh Samui service.

The British carrier flies daily to Bangkok and twice-daily to Singapore, with the Bangkok service to depart from Heathrow Airport’s Terminal Five from October onwards.

Steve Ronald, head of alliances, BA, commented: “The beautiful beaches of Thailand will be more accessible to European tourists now that we have teamed up with Bangkok Airways. The move of our Bangkok service to Heathrow’s Terminal Five will also serve to streamline connections between Europe and the Far East.”

Bangkok Airway’s senior vice president network management, Peter Wiesner, said: “We believe this partnership will offer a unique advantage for BA’s customers who will enjoy our unparalleled services, which include free lounge access, in-flight meals and more.”

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA), Changi Airport Group (CAG) and South African Tourism have signed an agreement to collectively invest S$1 million (US$800,154) for the promotion of travel to South Africa.

The sum, which will come in cash and in kind, will go towards advertising, campaigns and fam trips for media and trade representatives over the next one year.

SIA operates daily flights to Johannesburg and four-weekly flights to Cape Town, out of Singapore Changi Airport.

South African Tourism CEO, Thulani Nzima, said: “We have aggressively sought tourism growth from emerging markets such as Australasia, a region in which we grew 25.1 per cent and attracted 541,253 tourists in 2012.

“Singapore is an extremely important hub for us in the Australasia region and this agreement with Changi Airport and SIA is part of our commitment to co-operate with some of the world’s leading global tourism industry players to stimulate growth to South Africa.”

AS DEVELOPMENT of rail infrastructure in Asia speeds up and passenger numbers are set to triple, an “untapped opportunity” is presented for GDSs.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily on the sidelines of the Travelport and Travel Agency Conference yesterday, Jason Clarke, managing director of global sales, Travelport, said: “We can see significantly more investment in rail infrastructure in Asia and potentially many business travellers will make rail their primary choice.

“High-speed rail in Asia, apart from Japan, is still in its infancy. But today we see China starting to do it, and most recently Singapore, Malaysia (TTG Asia, May 17, 2013) and Thailand (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 20, 2013) have come into the picture too,” he said.

According to Clarke, the number of high-speed rail passengers in Asia-Pacific is targeted to grow by almost three-fold – from 388 million in 2010 to 986 million in 2016.

“We foresee increasing demand from consumers and travel consultants for rail travel and we are looking into providing them the technology to meet their demands,” he said.

Although Travelport, together with other GDSs, began rolling out rail content early last year, most have been for Europe rather than Asia (TTG Asia, July 13, 2012).

Clarke explained that as rail infrastructure in Asia is still in its “early days”, they could not pinpoint a specific time as to when they would provide rail content for the region. “Essentially we see the infrastructure being created and we are now preparing the technology to provide to the consumers, so that once the trains are ready, we will be ready too,” he said.

Explaining the appeal of rail travel, he pointed out that high-speed rail spared travellers the waiting that comes with air travel and brings one directly into the city.

“From the environmental point of view, the train is also a cleaner travel method because it is less polluted,” he added.

INDONESIA has seen positive growth in markets like the Middle East, Japan and Taiwan as a result of an increase in airline seat capacity.

Minister of tourism and creative economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, said: “The April month-on-month performance showed phenomenal growth of arrivals from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (159.6 per cent), Saudi Arabia (37.2 per cent) and Egypt (28.5 per cent), although in terms of total arrival numbers they are still very small.”

The Middle East market contributed only 0.1 per cent of total arrivals to the country.

“The growth of the UAE market could be the result of aggressive promotion by Etihad Airways and Emirates, which now fly to Jakarta from UAE a combined total of 28 times a week,” said Pangestu.

Similarly, Garuda Indonesia’s flight expansions to Japan and Taiwan have resulted in the growth of these markets.

Quizzed on the government’s plan to market in the Middle Eastern countries, Pangestu said her office would work together with the airlines for joint promotions in the market.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s January-April arrivals increased by 5.3 per cent from 2,529,896 last year to 2,664,176.

Among the top five markets, China booked the highest growth rate of 12.4 per cent, hitting 221,258 arrivals in the first four months. Overall, China was the third highest in terms of growth rate, after the Middle East which grew 21 per cent and India, 15.3 per cent.

Pangestu said the ministry had signed agreements with a number of China outbound operators to sell Indonesia and would be organising roadshows in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Nanjing and Qingdao in August, emphasising destinations beyond Bali.

“Our tour operator partners will sell packages, especially beyond Bali, such as Jogjakarta, Solo, Labuan Bajo (Komodo) and Lombok. We expect business from this roadshow to materialise in October,” she said.

The ministry will market Indonesia more intensively in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, China and Taiwan to achieve the target of nine million arrivals from these markets this year. The minister said these had been the top five markets for Indonesia with room for further growth.

THE Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) has set its sights on growing incentives traffic from India, and will look to court this market with its new MICE initiative.

MCB will introduce its Melbourne Values You scheme to the Indian market in August, in the hopes of generating more inbound corporate travel. The initiative comprises more than 100 offers from high-end hotels, venues and service providers throughout Victoria, designed to make planning an event in Melbourne easy and cost-effective.

The bureau’s regional sales director – South Asia, Edward Kwek, will spearhead MCB’s Indian marketing efforts from Singapore.

Karen Bolinger, CEO, MCB, said: “Indian incentive and corporate travel clients are looking for once-in-a-lifetime type experiences with high-end products, which Melbourne and the state of Victoria can deliver very well. We expect the Indian MICE business to grow substantially in the next year.”

South Melbourne Travel’s director, Marian Stanley, commented: “The Indian outbound MICE market is growing for Australia and more specifically, for destination Melbourne.”

She expects the annual India Travel Mission in August would help “immensely” in generating new business. The three-day event, organised by Tourism Australia, will bring together approximately 100 Australian suppliers and 100 Indian tour operators.

Melbourne hosted the Amway India Leadership Seminar in December last year. With 4,000 delegates in attendance, it was the largest-ever Indian event in Australia.

Sushil Wadhwa, chairman, Platinum World Incentives Mumbai, said: “We have sent several incentive groups from the banking and insurance sectors to Melbourne and other parts of Victoria in the last eight years and have received wholesome support from MCB and other industry stakeholders there.”

According to Business Events Australia, Indian arrivals to Australia rose from 148,231 in 2011 to 159,420 in 2012, out of which business travellers numbered 28,860 and convention arrivals, 8,760.

Tourism Australia also measured a seven per cent increase in MICE business between 2011 and 2012, a figure it expects will grow by 10 per cent in 2013, and 12-15 per cent in 2014.

The first quarter of 2013 saw a 25 per cent increase in leisure arrivals from India, said Nishant Kashikar, country manager – India, Tourism Australia.