TO ACHIEVE its target of establishing the country as one of the top five convention destinations in the world, the South Korean government has declared the upcoming year as the 2012 Korea Convention Year.

Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization in cooperation with seven MICE Alliances in regional convention destinations, the campaign, which will overlap with the final year of the Visit Korea Year 2010-2012, will see government support and incentives for events held in the country increase up to twofold for qualified meetings, conventions and incentive tours.

Convention centres and hotels will offer discounts of up to 30 per cent off the published rates for meetings venues, while hotels will offer up to 40 per cent discount on rooms, complimentary room upgrade and welcome amenities for designated guests.

Complimentary site inspection trips may be arranged for qualifying organisations, and special discounts for the organiser of the meetings and conventions as well as their participants are available on Korean Air and Asiana Airlines.

Incentives like tickets for traditional performances, souvenirs and tour programmes may also be provided for qualified events.

In addition, the programme has joined forces with the Korea MICE Alliance, so that each city’s unique incentive plans are maximised for participants in any of the nine convention destinations across the country. On a national level, Korea Tourism Organization will increase financial subsidies to the organisers of MICE events.

To qualify for the Korea Convention Year’s incentive programme, conventions should meet the Union of International Associations meeting standards, while incentive tours and corporate meetings should have more than 100 participants.

The event, which may take place in South Korea anytime between 2012 and 2015, must be confirmed by end-2012. Events with more than 500 participants from the Asian region, or those with more than 1,000 international participants, may qualify for airline discounts.

AMERICAN Express Global Business Travel will begin rolling out in the second quarter of 2012 a new web-based tool for companies to maintain enhanced mobile communications with their employees on overseas business trips.

Mobile Communications Manager (MCM), touted as a timely product that will help clients in times of crisis, especially in the wake of recent political riots, natural disasters and strikes around the globe, will be released in markets worldwide in a phased approach.

MCM, using information residing within the GDS, is able to keep tabs on the number of travellers on the road and their locations – with information broken down into regions, countries, cities and even nationality.

The tool is able to reveal contact details, including hotel contacts and all types of bookings made by individual travellers.

A two-way messaging facility leveraging on travellers’ mobile devices is also able to establish direct contact in times of crisis.

Marriott Suzhou director of sales, Litchi Su, was hesitant about the tool’s application in pinpointing the exact location of travellers, as such compliance may not be readily acceptable in the mainland Chinese market.

“The system is very convenient for companies and travellers especially in times of crisis, but some company staff will be concerned with providing very personal information,” she said.

By Patricia Wee

HONG Kong-listed Kosmopolito Hotels International Limited (KHI) has placed the MICE segment high on its business agenda and strategy, and is making moves to include event facilities in all six of its upcoming properties.

Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, KHI senior vice president sales & marketing, Philip Schaetz, said the six hotels – all under the upper four-star Dorsett Regency banner – would offer generous dedicated meeting spaces.

“Today, with the exception of the Dorsett Regency Kuala Lumpur, which has function rooms and draws a lot of events, and Yue Shanghai Hotel, most of our existing hotels (17 in Hong Kong, China and Malaysia) have limited event spaces. That will change with the new hotels,” he said.

Due to open next year are the 371-key Dorsett Regency Hotel Kwun Tong and 506-key Dorsett Regency Hotel Tsuen Wan in Hong Kong, and the 547-key Dorsett Regency Hotel Chengdu in China. The property in Chengdu will sit in a mixed-used complex that will be the provincial capital’s tallest building.

Two more properties are scheduled to open in 2013 – the 285-room Dorsett Regency Hotel on New Bridge, Singapore and the 416-room Dorsett Regency Hotel, Zhongshan in China.

The sixth opening will materialise in 2014 in London, near the popular Westfield London shopping centre. The property is KHI’s first venture outside of Asia, and Schaetz believes its location will attract Asian travellers who enjoy shopping, as well as corporate travellers doing business in London.

Meanwhile, KHI’s new generation of meeting-friendly hardware will be matched by strategic efforts that include building up brand awareness among MICE buyers, an increased presence at trade shows to connect with MICE planners, and providing information on MICE facilities via the individual hotel websites.

TOURISM New Zealand has decided to base its newly appointed regional manager South-east Asia and India in Singapore, in a bid to enhance existing partnerships with airlines and travel trade partners in the region.

Mischa Mannix, currently Tourism New Zealand business development manager based in Auckland, will replace Kiran Nambiar, the former incumbent based in Mumbai, in December.

Staff at the NTO’s offices in Mumbai and Bangkok will report to Mannix.

Mark Frood, general manager Asia Markets, Tourism New Zealand, said the NTO’s decision to move its regional manager to Singapore “was not a strategic one”.

“More airlines, including low-cost carriers, now offer flights and greater capacity to New Zealand from India and South-east Asia. We thought that it was the right time to centralise our marketing activities (for South-east Asia and India) in Singapore, which is the region’s prime aviation hub, alongside Bangkok,” he explained.

“It was the most sensible course of action to take, as we wanted to be closer to both our trade and airline partners.”

The NTO is looking to expand the team in Singapore before long, with a marketing & communications hire the first priority.

Meanwhile, Tourism New Zealand is in the midst of carving out its marketing plan for 2012-13.

While Frood declined to elaborate on future plans, he did reveal that the NTO would focus on marketing its niche products, such as wine, gastronomy, boat trips and self-drive tours, to South-east Asians and Indians in the coming year.

According to Frood, visitor arrivals from India and Malaysia are growing strongly, while the Singapore market, which was flat a few years before, is starting to pick up again.

OUTRIGGER Hotels and Resorts will manage the Phi Phi Island Village Beach Resort & Spa as its third hotel property in Thailand.

The resort will continue to operate under its current name until November 1 next year, when it will be rebranded as Outrigger Phi Phi Island Resort & Spa.

Outrigger has already assumed full sales & marketing functions at the resort, which currently offers 112 villas, four restaurants, two bars, a spa, a fitness centre, and a dive and activity centre.

A US$1.7 million refurbishment will take place before the rebranding, with thirty-eight new villas to be added to the property.

SHANGHAI-based DMCs who have been complaining for the longest time about the lack of large venues in downtown Puxi, will welcome the new Sofitel that will open on West Beijing Road by end-2012.

The Sofitel Shanghai Jing An Huamin, located a short walk away from the main shopping thoroughfare of West Nanjing Road, will have six meeting rooms, and a 1,310m2 grand ballroom with capacity for up to 760 pax banquet-style or 1,500 pax cocktail-style.

Most ballrooms in downtown hotels, in comparison, seat below 500 pax.

Sofitel Shanghai Jing An Huamin’s director of sales & marketing, Andrew Hartley, said: “Already, I have serious interest coming from groups and incentives.”

Besides the MICE facilities, the property will also feature three restaurants and two bars, an indoor heated swimming pool, and a fitness centre.

There will be 503 guestrooms at the hotel, including 74 junior/prestige suites and one imperial suite. The minimum room size will be 45m2.

By Patricia Wee

SEVERAL Thai carriers have had to make adjustments to their operations in Bangkok as a result of prolonged flooding in some parts of the capital.

Nok Air will continue to operate its flights to 15 domestic destinations out of Suvarnabhumi Airport till January 31. The budget carrier previously relocated to Suvarnabhumi from its hub at Don Muang Airport (TTG Asia e-Daily, October 25), which remains closed due to the floods.

Thai Airways International (THAI) and Bangkok Airways have also been affected, with both carriers having to relocate their head office operations owing to severe flooding on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road—with water levels reportedly reaching up to 90cm this morning.

THAI transferred ticketing services to its Larn Luang, Silom and Suvarnabhumi Airport branches, while Bangkok Airways’ moved its ticketing services to Suvarnabhumi.

Both airlines continue to operate daily flights to and from Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Meanwhile, with reports coming in that Rama II Road – the main highway from Bangkok to the country’s south – might become inundated by floods, THAI has decided to launch a Southern Thailand Flood Relief special fare.

The tactical offers 47-58 per cent off regular ticket prices on the flag carrier’s routes to Surat Thani, Krabi, Phuket, Hat Yai and Koh Samui, valid for travel from today till December 10.

PHOENIX Tours International became Taiwan’s first travel consultancy to be publicly traded when it was listed on the Taiex stock exchange last month.

For Phoenix’s president, Antonio Liao, it was a long-awaited move. “We heard that Star Travel (another Taipei-based outfit) submitted its application for the over-the-counter market, so we had to run a little faster,” he said.

In Taiwan, equities are traded on two boards. The over-the-counter market has a minimum capital requirement of NT$50 million, while listing on the main board (Taiex) requires a minimum capital of NT$600 million plus an annual net profit equivalent to six percent of that.

Phoenix has the distinction of being the first travel consultancy to list on both.

Liao insisted his company’s listing was not driven by a need to raise capital. “Travel agents have enough cash,” he said.

“It is more about image. People will notice, and customers will feel more comfortable dealing with Phoenix. It will help us form alliances with partners in the trade, as well as in the globalisation of our business.”

Phoenix’ IPO is well timed, as Taiwan’s travel industry – barring a worldwide financial meltdown – is poised for growth. The country has opened its borders to mainland Chinese tourists in recent years, and the government has set a ten-year goal of increasing tourist arrivals from five to 10 million.

Liao named several other travel consultancies rumoured to be planning listings, but of them only one, Lion Travel, agreed to talk to TTG Asia e-Daily.

“We plan to have our IPO by the third quarter of 2013,” said Lion’s vice president, finance, Sam Huang. “Right now, the environment is good. Taiwan’s travel industry is growing and will continue to do so in coming years.

– Read more in TTG Asia, November 18 issue

By Glenn Smith

MALAYSIA Airlines (MAS) is set to axe its services to Buenos Aires, Dubai, Cape Town and Johannesburg as part of a cost cutting exercise, according to a report in The Star yesterday.

In a related move, the flag carrier will also cease using Kota Kinabalu as a hub and terminate services from there to Tokyo (Haneda), Osaka and Seoul.

Quoting an unnamed source, the report stated that the axing of flights to Buenos Aires, Cape Town and Johannesburg would take effect in February.

The pullout from Dubai, meanwhile, would take place gradually—first with the reduction of weekly flights and those via Karachi and Damman.

Kuala Lumpur-based Corporate Information Travel senior manager, Shirley Ho, said: “This development does not look good for MAS as a national carrier because its hub is becoming smaller.”

“Our customers will still be able to fly to the destinations as other airlines serve them, but it is going to be an inconvenience as they would prefer direct flights,” she added.

By N. Nithiyananthan

FASTBOOKING, a Paris-based specialist in web-driven hospitality sales and marketing programmes, has set its sights on expanding its reach within Asia, especially in the flourishing markets of China and India.

According to Henry Teng, managing director, FastBooking Asia, the company intends to add 1,000 to 1,200 hotels to its existing portfolio of 1,400 member properties across Asia, over the next two years.

The company has 7,000 hotels across 70 countries under its belt at the moment.

In China, FastBooking is looking to increase its crop of hotels from the current 100 to 500 within the next two years, with properties in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou targeted first.

Plans have also been drawn up to grow the number of properties in India from 16 to 400 over the next 12 months, particularly in New Delhi and Mumbai.

The company is also looking to seal partnerships with several property management system providers in an attempt to accelerate its regional expansion.

Meanwhile, Teng told TTG Asia e-Daily that the company recently introduced tools to help member hotels manage traffic on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

These social media products will be released full-scale in the first quarter of 2012, according to FastBooking co-founder and COO, Soraya Kefs.