MARINA Bay Sands has rolled out its Sands ECO360° Meetings Programme to provide greener options for meeting planners and clients.

The programme focuses on three main areas: green meeting options, high-performance facilities and standard sustainable practices. Services offered with this package include a Green Meetings Concierge who is assigned to work with clients throughout the process, helping to align the property’s various green offerings with clients’ sustainability goals. The concierge will present a Sands ECO360° Event Impact Statement to the client post-event, detailing information about the event’s impact on the environment.

Marina Bay Sands is also offering event organisers up to 40 per cent in savings when they book a meeting package from US$85++ per pax, as well as exclusive room rates from US$229++ in 2013 and US$245++ in 2014 on over 100 selected dates.

The meeting package includes use of a meeting venue for a full day, coffee breaks with three snack items in the morning and afternoon, an organised working lunch, use of one rostrum, microphone, projector and screen, and one complimentary Internet line for the organiser, among others.

Visit www.marinabaysands.com for more details.

BO Kyung Byun has succeeded Sung Won Hong as president and CEO of Coex Convention and Exhibition Center in Seoul, South Korea.

Byun was selected from a pool of almost sixty candidates, all of whom were assessed on strengths including interpersonal relations and leadership.

Byun has extensive experience in heading several top information and technology corporations in South Korea, including LG-IBM PC and KOLON Global. Since 2011, he has contributed substantially to South Korea’s global convention and exhibition industry and international relations through his role as CEO and president of Seoul Business Agency, one of the country’s leading organisations offering support to small and medium-sized domestic businesses.

His knowledge of these fields is expected to facilitate the further development of Coex as an events hub for global commerce and trade.

INTERFAMA Singapore has sold of its 50-per-cent share of PowerTrends Philippines to Leverage International Consultants on undisclosed terms, ending a 16-year partnership that created one of the longest running trade shows for the power and energy industry in the Philippines.

PowerTrends Philippines debuted in 1995 as one of the first trade exhibition and conference for the power and energy industry in the country, and the final event co-organised by Interfama Singapore and Leverage Philippines was the 2011 edition.

Leverage International Consultants will assume the role as sole organiser from 2013.

BETTER supporting infrastructure and more activities are needed in Putrajaya before Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) can be positioned as the country’s main convention centre, according to MICE industry players.

The comments came after Ali Hamsa, chief secretary to the government, was quoted in a local news report as saying that PICC would be helmed by Putrajaya Corporation by June, which had been tasked to develop a business plan to make the venue on par with other global convention centres.

Managed by the Prime Minister’s Department currently. PICC is the main convention centre in Putrajaya. It began operations in September 2003, with its first conference being the 10^th Organisation of Islamic Conference in October that same year. Today, most events held at the convention centre are government related.

MICE players in Malaysia told TTGmice e-Weekly that a lot more improvements must be made to the surroundings of PICC before the venue can compete on a global playing field.

Luxury Tours Malaysia manager, Ganneesh Ramaa, said supporting infrastructure such as hotels and public transportation were currently lacking.

Ganneesh opined the number of hotel rooms in the vicinity, about 1,200, were insufficient to support trade shows communities should events be held at PICC.

He said hotels adjoining the convention centre were also needed to provide convenient access for delegates.

“Putrajaya also needs a variety of fine dining restaurants, shopping and entertainment outlets for delegates to unwind and to entertain business clients,” added Ganneesh.

Saini Vermeulen, Panorama Tours Malaysia senior inbound manager, also called for better public transportation within Putrajaya and between Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

Ri-yaz Hotels & Resorts group CEO, Shaheen Shah, pointed out that a successful convention centre must be managed professionally and at an international standard, and therefore PICC needed an experienced general manager and good marketing and catering teams.

THAILAND’S MICE industry continues to register strong recovery in the first quarter, with DMCs reporting solid double-digit growth year-on-year.

Improved air access, revenue from new markets and Thailand’s value proposition were seen as key drivers of the positive trend. A peaceful 2012 – the first 12 months in the past five years to pass without any major political upheavals or natural disasters – was an additional shot in the arm for Thailand’s MICE players.

DMCs contacted by TTGmice e-Weekly reported a strong start to the year, with three posting yield growth ranging from 10 to 100 per cent year-on-year.

“We are up by 100 per cent on Q1 last year,” said Michael Lynden-Bell, general manager of Exotissimo Thailand. “We have done more MICE business in 1Q2013 than we did for the full 2012.”

France, Belgium and South Africa were key source markets for Exotissimo in the first quarter.

“The direct flight offered by Thai Airways from Brussels has been a huge win for us. We have seen a large increase in MICE business from Belgium and that has put Thailand back on the map as a MICE destination for many European markets,” said Lynden-Bell.

Other operators cited increased flight capacity from new carriers such as Norwegian.com and Thai Smile as additional boons to their business.

“We’re seeing good growth out of the American market,” said Andre van der Marck, general manager of Khiri Travel Thailand, where MICE yield rose 10 per-cent during the period.

“Australia is doing well for future bookings, following our trip to Melbourne for AIME in February,” van der Marck added.

Asian Trails Thailand’s incentives manager, Sumlee Anankamanee, said the firm’s MICE business grew by 30 per cent year-on-year in the last quarter as increased revenue from upper-market clients in India, China, Russia, Poland and Vietnam far outweighed a downturn in business from Portugal, Spain and other parts of Europe.

“Thailand’s still a good destination,” she said. “We are great value and we have everything in one place.”

CWT Meetings & Events has reinforced its team to manage and support the strong growth of its business with two new appointments.

Pauline Houston has been made director global supplier management for hotels and meetings and events. She is tasked with driving greater alignment in the approach to suppliers for both business travel and meetings and events clients.

Houston has worked for CWT since 2009 and was previously head of CWT Meetings & Events for the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Patrick Lukan has joined CWT Meetings & Events as senior director global operations to support the global strategy and delivery of operations for meetings and events. Lukan has worked the past 20 years in various technology and service delivery roles in the travel and technology industries including American Airlines, Sabre and Travelport.

Floyd Widener, global senior vice president, CWT Meetings & Events, said: “The beginning of the year has been very healthy for our business and we expect to see strong market growth for the first quarter of 2013 on a global level. We have further strengthened our team to drive even greater value for our clients.”