CHINA’S MICE industry stakeholders are urging the development of truly professional PCOs and adoption of international standards to boost the country’s appeal as an associations meeting destination.

China’s growing prowess in the medical, scientific and technology fields has greatly raised its potential for hosting association events on the international stage, as reflected in the recent successful bid to host the 17th International Congress of Immunology (ICI) in Beijing in 2019, according to Huang Bo, vice-chairman of department of immunology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

However, the pivotal role a good PCO plays in bidding for association meetings is still not widely recognised in China, lamented trade members.

“PCOs are still new in China, although DMCs and exhibition suppliers are common,” observed Jennifer Salsbury, senior director, international, China National Convention Center.

The lack of a professional intermediary trade in China also poses a great challenge in wooing international association meetings. “The government should (push) for the creation of professional CVBs in key cities; a strong CVB can act as an interface between the local trade and international organisations,” Salsbury said.

She feels that China is not winning enough “big congresses” due to a lack of expertise in managing relationships with society headquarters, which she attributed to differences in working culture.

For example, while Chinese companies are used to brief contracts, short working timelines and the submission of a massive amount of paperwork to the government, such practices often run contrary to international standards.

Other aspects like the absence of a CSR culture and corporate philanthropy are also hurdles for PCOs to surmount when it comes to soliciting sponsorship from Chinese firms when bidding for international association events, pointed out Alicia Yao, general manger of IME Consulting.

“Companies often deem scientific/technical association events as the government’s responsibility and obligation to offer support, therefore they are often reluctant to render financial assistance to such events.”

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THE centre of gravity for Chinese firms has shifted to employees, from management before, an evolution that is beneficial for meetings and incentives, according to industry members interviewed.

With the business environment becoming increasingly competitive in China, private sector firms are fighting hard to stay cutting edge and to keep their staff loyal and motivated. As a result, they are holding more meetings, incentives and teambuilding retreats in a bid to strategise, seek ideas and innovations from staff, and keep the good ones from leaving.

Benson Tang, regional director-Asia, Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), noted that MICE expenditure in turn is rising due to the changing business environment.

An increased MICE spend is what’s also driving more companies to include MICE expenditure management as part of their corporate travel management policy, he added.

“In the past, corporate travel is transient – travel to look for new business, hold one-on-one business discussions with partners, for training purposes, etc. Now, more corporates are bringing MICE into the travel programme,” said Tang.

“(Today) there are events managers who not only do RFPs for meetings and incentives but look after the travel experience.

“China firms have become traveller-centric – before it was always the management’s point of view. This translates to a simpler policy today and one that engages the person’s well-being and travel experience. In more advance cases, there is even an ‘open’ travel management style,” he added.

Tang attributes the change to a maturing human resources (HR) discipline in China and HR’s recognition that a more traveller-centric policy could be a strong incentive to gain staff’s support and loyalty.

Boon Kwee Lim, president of Dusit Fudu Hotels & Resorts also noted that corporates in China are meeting through the weekend, not just the usual Monday to Thursday.

“Although (this arrangement) is pricier, the weekend (is) meant to reward staff and build the team. Companies are recognising that their staff are working hard and need time to relax; that leisure, a balanced lifestyle and well-being of staff are important,” he said.

Leo Tang, CEO of Eventown, said the MICE industry indeed had been hit by the government’s austerity drive and by tougher pharmaceutical laws, however, while government or state-owned enterprises spending on MICE is down, the MICE expenditure from private sector companies is not.

“In sectors such as gaming and mobile technology, there is a rise in meetings as their business is doing well,” he said.

However, he acknowledged that companies still try to control the spend nevertheless, which is why Eventown’s B2B portal with booking engine that features 30,000 meeting venues in China and enables users to compare prices saw revenue shoot up 77 times in 2013 over 2012, he claimed. Majority of bookers were Chinese clients.

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NO decision has been made on the structure of the new Asian Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaus (AACVB) headquarters, a far more crucial aspect in growing the region’s congress market than the decision to move the base from Macau to Bangkok.

Thailand won the bid to host AACVB’s HQ late last year, over South Korea, and Macau relinquished that responsibility to Bangkok officially on January 1 this year after hosting the HQ for 30 years. In Macau, it is believed the HQ comprised two or three Macau Government Tourist Office staff helping out with AACVB matters but, with Asia as a rising star in the conventions market, more support is needed.

Asked if the HQ would be a full-time secretariat or have dedicated full-time staff, Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) director of marketing and corporate image department, Parichat Svetasreni, said: “We are discussing this. My idea, and TCEB’s vision, is to grow the AACVB and conventions in the region sustainably. We now have a good foundation with eight countries (in the membership).”

“Asia is the rising star in business events, while associations in Europe and the US like to rotate their conventions. We will try our best to be the one-stop centre in promoting the region to them. If an association wants to rotate its event from Europe to Asia – be it Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia or anywhere else – we can provide the information and assistance. As you know, there are different subvention schemes and (MICE attractions) in each Asian country.”

However, the structure of the AACVB HQ is more critical than where it is based, said Kevin Leong, former AACVB secretary-general (1992-1995), when contacted by the Daily for his views.

“If the HQ is required to be proactive in initiating or implementing programmes decided by the Board and secretary-general/president, it will be crucial that the HQ be well-organised and resourced.

“If that is the case, the location of the HQ will need to be stable and not subject to social instability as that detracts from the focus of the staff. If the HQ merely supports the secretary-general passively, it does not matter where it’s located. In that case, the staff of the secretary-general would be more important – as it was for me,” said Leong.

Asked what sort of set-up would the AACVB need today to function effectively, Leong said: “A permanent secretariat with staff dedicated to the association to oversee the implementation of plans developed by the board and the secretary-general.”

AACVB did discuss this as part of its full-day meeting/AGM on Monday but president Zulkefli Sharif declined to comment, saying it was premature.

AACVB members currently comprise the MICE bureaus of China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Svetasreni said there was opportunity to court countries within the Greater Mekong sub-region (GMS) into the membership with Thailand’s “strategic location” as the hub to GMS.

“Thailand is a good location and we can help coordinate and facilitate the expansion of the membership to other countries like Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (where MICE is rising) to make the association a truly Asian association,” she said.

Additional report by Paige Lee Pei Qi.

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THE US incentive travel market, slowed down by the debt crisis in recent years, is on the rebound, albeit with smaller budgets, and Asia faces competition for it from the Caribbean and Mexico, as well as second-tier European cities, according to Joost de Meyer, chairman and CEO of First Incentive Travel US and an active Site International member.

“We see that the US incentive market is coming back and companies are going on incentives with their clients or staff,” said de Meyer. “But budgets are smaller, while the duration of trips is getting shorter.

“The content of incentive programmes is also shifting because of the changing demographics of participants – younger people want to have more free time to experience the destination and meet locals.”

Second-tier European cities are getting more popular as they are cheaper than established incentive destinations like London, Paris and Italy, he said.

Asian destinations should also be benefiting from the rebound. Besides destinations like Thailand, China and Vietnam that are well-known to the US market, de Meyer sees growing interest for Myanmar.

Asked what China needs to do to attract more US incentives, de Meyer said: “China should…attend well-known (trade) shows like IMEX (Frankfurt), IMEX America, AIBTM, etc. It should also seek cooperation with associations like Site and MPI. Seeing is believing, so it is always wise to organise fam trips (for US incentive planners).”

De Meyer helped in the formation of the Site China Chapter in 2006. He said for the chapter to grow further, it has to address the challenge that China is a large country, thus it is difficult to organise meetings and events for all members.

“It has to be on a local scale, i.e. organising meetings for members in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. It has to be supported by the local government,” he said.

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CHINA is gaining prominence as an incentive destination for global companies with its developed infrastructure, ample scenic landscapes and steeped history, but industry players in the country now need to play catch-up in the ‘soft’ aspects to deliver a complete meaningful experience for overseas clients.

With growing market sophistication, there is a stronger interest in cultural and theme properties such as hotels in courtyards, spa hotels and theme hotels like the Venetian or Hotel Indigo in Lijiang Old Town, observed Zhao Hongyu, COO of TUI China.

Sharing similar sentiments, Liu Ping, CEO of China Star, an inbound specialist in incentive travel whose main source markets are Holland, Germany and the US, shared that “themes” and “insider experiences” are key to delivering an impressive incentive programme in China.

Liu remarked that that few players – apart from DMCs with overseas backing – in China fully understand incentive travel. “There are too many ancient town replicas and Raise the Red Lantern-type destinations in China,” she said, adding that she is travelling across the country more often than ever in search of unusual products to wow clients.

However, cultural differences continue to pose challenges for Chinese incentive houses catering to foreigners. Zhao added: “For Chinese, dinners are seen as opportunities for social interaction between delegates, whereas Westerners pay higher emphasis on functions such as welcome parties, cocktail parties and teambuilding sessions as platforms for interaction between delegates.

“Westerners are concerned about content, Chinese are concerned about form,” she opined on the cultural gap in expectations.

“It’s not about creating a memorable event or enough to have good groundhandling services,” she said, urging Chinese incentive planners to understand that the motivations of Western incentive travel are founded not just on monetary terms but also psychological well-being of staff as well.

Kristina Forssell, director of Singapore-based 8th Wave Events & Destinations, shared: “Chinese agencies can often produce anything but not exactly the flavour you’re looking for, and sometimes the knowledge and understanding are just not there.

“We used to struggle with seating arrangements in China as restaurants were more inflexible then. For example, they sometimes could not understand that Western clients may not want to seat 10 people at a table and not be served food in the traditional Chinese set-up even though they’re having Chinese cuisine.”

Although a cultural gap may still exist in the Middle Kingdom’s understanding of the Western market, Joost de Meyer, chairman and CEO of First Incentive Travel US and an active Site International member thinks “that’s the beauty”.

He said: “People want to see China because it is something they read about and see on TV. Although there are differences, there are also comfort zones,” he said.

“The American groups, for example, when they come here, are able to stay in brands they are familiar with back home – InterContinental, Westin and Marriott – and more people in China speak English, which is an absolute advantage.”

Forssell added: “Standards are improving in China, and there are more competent staff in agencies as well, making it easier for us to communicate with our Chinese partners than a few years back.”

Meanwhile, Zhou also lamented the lack of specialised skills among incentive planners.

“It is regrettable that tourism universities and tertiary institutions hardly have any dedicated courses on incentives, instead using exhibition and conference course materials to teach future talent of the incentive industry,” she said.

Additional reporting by Raini Hamdi

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