BRISBANE Marketing has appointed Rob Nelson as the chief of Brisbane Convention Bureau.

In his new role as general manager, conventions and business events, Nelson will focus on increasing national and international sales efforts including the sales team at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, and Tourism & Events Queensland.

Nelson joins Brisbane Marketing from an extensive career in major events, sport and general management consultancy. He was previously managing the marketing & commercial and group events roles for Events SA at the South Australian Tourism Commission.

INTO its ninth edition, IT&CM China 2015 will take place at a fresh venue in Shanghai this year.

Deemed the Pearl on the River, Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing (SHCEC) is located in the centre of Shanghai Changfeng Ecological Business District, surrounded by Suzhou River and adjacent to Hongqiao business area. SHCEC has a total area of 9,000m² of conference rooms, 16,000 m² of exhibition area, 5,000 m² of catering area and 800 underground parking lots.

Furthermore, three properties from the Marriott Group – JW Marriott Shanghai Changfeng Park, Renaissance Shanghai Yangtze Hotel and Shanghai Marriott Hotel Parkview – have partnered with IT&CM China as official hotels for over 400 hosted delegates.

At the same time, IT&CM China is expecting a 25 per cent increase in MICE suppliers and showcase at Thailand’s 60m² pavilion, which is fronted by Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) and includes first-time participant Thailand Incentive and Convention Association.

On the motivation of returning with a larger presence, Vichaya Soonthornsaratoon, director of meetings, incentives and conventions department of TCEB, explained: “China has been one of Thailand’s top three market sources for MICE travellers for the past five years. In 2013, it rose to claim the number one spot. With such a strong performance record and bright prospects, we need to deepen our focus on China. Through our participation at IT&CM China, we will also create more opportunities for our Thai MICE suppliers to meet MICE buyers in China.”

More than 600 international and domestic buyers can be expected at the 2015 show, in addition to long-time exhibitors as well as new players such as Berlin Tourismus & Kongress and Business Events Australia.

Heike Mahmoud, CMP, director conventions of Berlin Tourismus & Kongress, said: “Our goal is to develop and expand our network in China and to promote Berlin’s diverse offers – the modern hotel landscape, the city’s exceptional incentives and high-class restaurants. With its good networking options, IT&CM China 2015 will be a great opportunity to intensify our cooperation with Chinese partners.”

Echoing her agreement is LC Tan, regional business director – Greater China, business events of Business Events Australia: “Trade events like IT&CM China have strategic importance to deepen and strengthen Australia’s relationship with Chinese buyers and business partners as well as create awareness for its trade engagement programme and tailored tools for the Chinese market.”

Over 600 international and Chinese buyers attended the 2014 event, of which some 490 came from the various regions of China. This surged the ratio of Chinese buyers to an all-time high of 70 per cent of the buyer delegation.

THE Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has announced the launch of the ASEAN Rising Trade Show (ART), as part of its strategy to strengthen the Thai international exhibition industry to drive the national economy in 2015.

Underlined by the Think Big, Go Beyond theme, the ART campaign is endorsed by the Thai Exhibition Association, and UFI also participated as one of the judging panels.

Speaking at the Thailand International Exhibitions and Events Forum 2015, Supawan Teerarat, TCEB’s vice president, strategic and business development, said: “The ART is a three-year programme running from 2015 to 2017. The criteria for participation in the programme includes exhibitions that are new and creative, promote business sustainability for trade fairs, demonstrate the growth of international participants from AEC countries and contribute to the growth of the trade fair industry.”

Highlighting five key industries – automotive, energy, food & agriculture, healthcare & wellness and infrastructure – the ART campaign also aligns with TCEB’s strategy to provide financial support for the selected international exhibitions while expanding ASEAN MICE Collaboration programme, initiated since 2011 with the aim to synergise local association-level organisations with the government sector, to capture new markets beyond the AEC to South China.

In 2015, TCEB expects to attract over 190,400 international exhibitions in Thailand to generate a revenue of 17 billion baht (US$521 million). The bureau is targeting over one million international MICE travellers to Thailand in 2015 to contribute over 106.8 billion baht to the Thai economy.

In the 2014 fiscal year, Thailand welcomed 919,164 MICE travellers, generating 80.8 billion baht in revenue to the national economy. Among these, 157,996 are business travellers in the exhibition sector with a revenue of 13.6 billion baht. The top five countries with buyers and visitors participating in Thai international exhibitions are Japan, Malaysia, China, Singapore and India respectively.

CARLSON Wagonlit Travel (CWT) today announced the official opening of its new centre in Manila, a state-of-the-art facility offering round-the-clock services to global clients and providing support for its worldwide infrastructure.

Douglas Anderson, president & CEO, CWT, said: “Manila’s reputation as having an excellent business climate for service organisations, its rich pool of qualified talent and inherent philosophy of customer service made it CWT’s first choice for our new centre. As we grow our business around the world, an efficient, customer-focused team is key to ensuring our clients’ travel needs are well-managed.”

The new facility includes a consolidated service centre providing internal support to CWT offices including recruitment and IT service desks; a global technology development team for products and tools; CWT’s global security and network operations centres, operating 24-7 to monitor and manage the performance of the company’s systems, data centres, networks, applications and security risks worldwide; and a centralised travel service centre.

Since it began operations in April 2014, the centre has already grown to 280 team members. Employees at the centre will also participate in a new global CWT training programme this year.

CWT has had a presence in the Philippines since the early 1980s when Rajah Travel joined the CWT network, providing travel services to CWT clients based in the Philippines. Rajah Travel will continue to provide services to CWT’s clients based in the country, while the new, expanded Manila office will support clients globally.

GLOBAL hotel solutions provider HRS Corporate has partnered risk management provider iJET International to roll out new booking tools that integrate its booking data into iJET’s Worldcue systems.

This new interface offers their joint clients improved risk management through the instant tracking and identification of employees and assessment of situations should they arise.

“With the world becoming more connected and global business travel increasing rapidly, multinational businesses are confronted with rapidly changing local risk scenarios. The company’s duty of care for their employees during business trips has become a prominent topic in recent years,” explained Todd Arthur, managing director for HRS in Asia-Pacific.

“It is the employers’ duty of care to protect their staff working around the world. This partnership with iJET, part of our end-to-end solutions, will allow our corporate clients to quickly respond to a crisis or emergent situation calmly and with confidence.”

The seamless integration of all HRS reservation data into iJET’s systems, which combine world-class threat intelligence with innovative technology and response services, will provide companies with a consolidated view of their employees on the road. This closes another gap in the process of value chain, keeping the organisation a step ahead in the domain of corporate travel agencies.

The systems integration will be available to all HRS Corporate and iJET joint clients upon request.