SHANGHAI’S comparatively low room rates to other Asian cities remain a bugbear for the city’s hoteliers, but are helping to boost demand for the destination.

According to Advito, the independent consultancy arm of BCD Travel, the average daily rate (ADR) for Shanghai hotels in the last quarter of 2011 was US$193, compared to US$252 in Singapore and US$306 in Hong Kong.

Speaking to the Daily, Jenny Xia, assistant director of sales-MICE, The Westin Bund Shanghai, said: “The onslaught of new rooms in the last quarter and so far this year, and the resulting intensive competition have caused rates to drop. In our case, ADR slipped by five per cent as occupancy fell.”

Christophe Lajus, chairman of International Branded Hotels of Shanghai Association, said: “Despite the influx of MICE events in recent years, occupancy rates in Shanghai are painfully low when contrasted to comparable cities such as Singapore and Hong Kong. The rate of arrivals, including MICE, has simply not kept pace with the growth in supply.”

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JAPAN’S MICE suppliers are offering incentives for event planners and turning up in full force at major tradeshows this year.

Apart from IT&CM China, Japan Convention Bureau will be participating in CIBTM, IMEX Frankfurt, IMEX USA and EIBTM this year.

Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau-convention marketing department manager, Yuka Iida, said: “We are offering a free traditional performance and Tohoku handicraft for MICE groups that take up at least 200 roomnights. This helps the local economy and makes participants feel good about helping the affected destination. We also engaged a European consultant to conduct a risk analysis that reported Tokyo is safe.”

Niigata Visitors & Convention Bureau is offering delegate gifts worth a maximum of 100,000 yen (US$1,229), and subsidies on attractions and excursions worth up to 100,000 yen for MICE groups with at least 25 participants staying two nights or more.

Hotels and convention centres have also rolled out promotional meeting packages, while some are offering 10-15 per cent discounts on room rates.

Buyers at IT&CM China said the perks had helped to stimulate demand. Air Tours Cracow Poland product manager, Robert Magierski, noted that interest in Japan had “bounced back immediately” and he had been fielding incentive requests for the destination.

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BOLSTERED by recent upgrades in MICE hardware and heightened marketing efforts, second-tier Chinese cities such as Xiamen and Wuzhen are reporting a significant surge in MICE business.

Soukin Caojin, marketing director of Xiamen C&D Tourism and Hotels, which acts as Xiamen’s CVB, said: “Our MICE campaign is into its fourth year, and the city has seen consecutive 30 per cent year-on-year growth in MICE arrivals during this period. One-third of the traffic is from Fujian, with the rest from other parts of China and overseas.”

Xiamen hosted the AstraZeneca National Sales Conference for 5,000 delegates in February, and is expecting at least 10 medical conferences this year.

All hotels in Xiamen offer a RMB10,000 (US$1,590) rebate for events with 100-200 pax from at least five different countries, and RMB50,000 for events with 8,000 pax or more.

The city, with 2,740 five-star rooms, saw the opening of the 520-key Xiamen International Conference Hotel last year.

Another second-tier city, Wuzhen, launched its MICE department three years ago. Last year, the city drew about six to eight conference groups with 15-500 pax each week.

According to Yuanmin Zhu, deputy general manager, Wuzhen Tourism, MICE revenue jumped from RMB12 million in 2010 to RMB20 million last year. “Our goal is to boost the MICE proportion of overall receipts from 10 per cent to 35 per cent,” he said.

Wuzhen, which has about 800 five-star hotel rooms, will get a new conference centre for 1,500 pax this August.

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Reporting by Patricia Wee

MICEMonkey, a travel technology firm in Shanghai, has launched a new MICE-dedicated B2B website, MICE123.com, for the Chinese market.

Still in the beta version, the site is aimed at event organisers in China, listing over 1,000 pre-screened venues, destinations and service providers – including NTOs, PCOs, PEOs, DMCs, IT companies, car rental firms, airlines and hotels.

Currently available only in Mandarin, the site covers 18 cities in China, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand. An English version of the website will be introduced at a later stage.

In a press statement, Mimi Vong, CEO and co-founder of MICE123.com, said: “Our business model is targeted to address the mounting needs of users who are constantly in search of reliable content, trustworthy service providers and unbiased cost comparisons.”

She estimates there will be some 3,000 to 4,000 unique visitors to the website during the initial phase. A full version of MICE123.com is expected to be released by year-end.

CHINA’S economic boom has spurred higher spending and greater sophistication in event choices made by local companies.

According to Roger Tondeur, president of MCI, a congress and communications specialist, more Chinese coporates are taking their events to Europe. He said: “Business from Asia to Europe are usually from Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Today, China is picking up fast.”

“Recently we handled a large week-long incentive for a Chinese insurance company to Paris and Monaco.”

Shanghai China Travel International (CTS) MICE Center sales manager of executive travel department, Jerry Jiang, reported the same trend, saying that the Chinese outbound incentive market has grown rapidly in the last five years.

Jiang told the Daily that the market was not only travelling farther, it was also becoming more sophisticated in the choice of destinations and programme.

“Destinations such as Singapore and Malaysia are easy to travel to and they continue to be popular with Chinese corporates, but we have seen growing demand for Europe coming from the automotive industry, financial institutions and (multi-level marketing) companies such as Amway,” Jiang said.

Recognising the potential for further growth in China, Tondeur said he was looking to open more offices in China.

“We have offices in Shanghai and Beijing, and we are looking at opening three more. Chengdu is our priority, followed by Guangzhou and Shenzhen,” he said.

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