THE EXPRESS Rail Link railway, set to connect Hong Kong’s west Kowloon to southern Chinese cities like Guangzhou and Shenzhen by 2015, may not benefit Hong Kong’s hotel industry like it would inbound tour operators and attractions.

Harbour Grand Hong Kong’s director of sales – MICE, Heidi Chen, said that better accessibility from southern Chinese cities to Hong Kong may not necessarily mean good news for hotels in the territory.

“While the increased links will mean greater traffic between the two regions, more of the mainland Chinese arrivals will just end up coming for a day trip and return at night,” she explained.

“They will not stay in Hong Kong because the hotel prices here tend to be more expensive than in Shenzhen and Guangzhou.”

Hong Kong Tourism Board’s general manager, MICE and cruise, Gilly Wong, said while it was “very hard to predict” how the new rail links would impact arrivals from mainland China, she believes that the same principle that applies to having more air links between destinations will hold true in this particular instance.

“We hope that the improved infrastructure, connections and transportation options will spur increased mainland Chinese arrivals to Hong Kong. It will also help to facilitate economic development in the region,” she said.

Kowloon-based HS Travel executive director Hazen Tang, on the other hand, thought that the new railway was a boon: “When there are good connections, it will definitely attract more people. I expect I will have booming business from China once this rail link is established.”

Ocean Park Hong Kong’s chief representative, Eastern China, Alfred Ma, was also positive, saying that the convenience of having a direct rail link would definitely result in more mainland Chinese visiting the theme park.

THE FIRST-EVER direct service to Beijing to be launched by South African Airways later this year is expected to substantially grow South African corporate business to China.

Jenny Campbell, owner, Travel Partners South Africa, saw a 30 per cent increase in bookings to China last year and expects the new air link to “really push up demand”.

The only other South African buyer at the show, Leona Meadows, owner, Select Incentive Group Travel, added: “Demand for China has been strong for South African businessmen because it is a good sourcing ground for products that can be repackaged and sold back home. Much of my corporate traffic to China also comprises attendees of trade shows held here.”

Both buyers said the only difficulty in selling China was the limited supply of quality hotels within the vicinity of convention centres, with hotel star ratings falling short of clients’ expectations.

Meadows said that she had had corporate clients demanding a change of hotel after realising that the local five-star hotel was not “in the client’s mind” the equivalent of a five-star international hotel.

“That’s my other mission on this trip, to meet the hotel representatives and see for myself what the hotels really offer,” she said.

DESPITE a thriving outbound MICE market (see related story), groundhandlers and suppliers observe that Chinese incentive groups drive a hard bargain, doing away with DMCs and choosing to deal directly with hotels as much as possible.

A Singapore-based DMC, who did not want to be named, cited an instance where two Chinese incentive groups from a luxury brand asked for proposals, but ended up hiring the DMC to only provide land transfers.

Said the MICE manager: “They came to Singapore several times for site inspections, got ideas from me and asked which hotels I recommended, but later went off and did the programme on their own.

“The Chinese market is just starting to be conscious of what incentives are about, and the end-users think that by organising things themselves, they can save money.”

The same DMC said that despite earning only S$1,000 (US$801) from the deal, it was also asked if it could provide free mineral water, vehicles to be stationed at the hotel at the groups’ disposal and even help source a speaker.

Malaysia-based Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa senior sales manager Joanna Lee also noted similar behaviour. “They are still very price-sensitive. A few Chinese agents have started to negotiate directly with the hotel instead of liaising with tour operators.” This is especially apparent for shorter incentive programmes such as one-day events.

Lee said the contradiction was that Chinese buyers would come to trade shows demanding to have the most expensive hotel, but ended up complaining that the rates were too expensive once the actual contract was presented.

Noting that topnotch clients such as banks preferred to go direct to hotels, Indigo Pearl Shanghai office sales representative Mimi Zhang said the Phuket-based resort set up its Shanghai office two years ago and was at IT&CM China to make contact with corporates.

However, the Singapore-based DMC manager said a growing awareness of MICE might halt this trend, as Chinese buyers start to see the importance of a middleman.

“China (planners) are becoming more sophisticated in their needs. At least, what they want is getting closer to what a real incentive is. More education will help,” said the manager.

EVENT negotiations that were put on hold following the triple-whammy Japan disaster are being restarted, with new enquiries from planners trickling in slowly but surely, according to Japanese MICE officials.

Chiba Convention Bureau and International Centre’s convention division manager, Takeo Katsura, said: “We are starting to see new enquiries coming in from international convention organisers and, with Tokyo Disneyland slated to reopen on April 15, Chiba and the surrounding Japanese cities can expect to see a stronger return in business.”

The theme park closed when visitor numbers dwindled after the tsunami.

International conferences with large numbers of delegates are carrying on, including the 1,400-pax Academy of International Business Annual Meeting in Nagoya in June, a 10,000-pax microbiology conference in Sapporo in September, and the 8,000-pax International Union of Architects in Tokyo in September.

Large conferences may be a challenge to move and are thus staying put, but Japan is also seeing interest returning for smaller meetings. JTB Okinawa said it would be receiving a 200-pax meeting group from Hong Kong spending two nights in Okinawa, about 1,775km away from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, next month.

The agency’s inbound general manager, Toshihide Ozaki, said: “We are also answering three RFPs from major travel agencies in Singapore and Bangkok. Although these are for leisure groups, such interest reflects confidence in Okinawa and we hope more enquiries for meetings and incentives will follow soon.”

Japan Convention Bureau executive director Kaneyuki Ono believes Japan’s recovery will be swift if only MICE planners understood the geography of Japan. He said: “Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima, for instance, are far from the affected areas of Sendai and the north-eastern coast. MICE venues, hotels and attractions are functioning normally.”

Kevin Mead, president & CEO of IGAF Polaris, an association for accountants that organises 40 to 50 events globally each year, said high prices rather than a nuclear scare were what kept his meetings away from Japan.

“We know that Japan will resolve the nuclear matter eventually. Instead, it is the appreciation of the Japanese yen against the US dollar that is keeping us away. Japan is expensive compared to other destinations in Asia. You would think that now is the perfect time to take your events to Japan since demand is down and prices will be cut. That has not happened.”

Kip Horton, president, international division, HPN Global, sees a bright outcome. “There will be meetings on atomic energy and others related to the rebuilding of the country,” Horton said.

AFTER the first upsurge in China’s leisure outbound, the country’s MICE business is being touted as “the next wave”, and the trade is homing in to court a market with deeper pockets and more discerning tastes.

Sol Melia Hotel & Resorts recently set up a dedicated sales team for Chinese outbound and now has an office in Lujiazui to “be closer to” corporate clients in the central business district.

“We’re trying to push outbound MICE to our properties around the world. All of my hotels from Bali to Madrid are asking us for more clients,” said area vice president sales, Asia-Pacific, Sharon Lee.

Shanghai CS Innovation Consulting director/GM, Joseph Sze, representative for tour operators such as Tour East and Lac Hong Voyages, observed a sharp increase in incentive groups, with no longer just China-based MNCs driving the growth, but also state-owned enterprises and local private companies. “There’s a change in mindset now. With the economy improving, companies realise the need to reward their staff,” he said.

Sze said instead of the usual incentive holiday combining Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, clients were now exploring destinations such as Vietnam, requesting for special themes, and getting savvier in negotiating for better prices.

Sze’s incentive business grew by 10 to 15 per cent last year and he expects it to climb by another 20 per cent this year. Budgets have also risen by 15 to 25 per cent compared to 2010.

China International Travel Service Shenzhen sales supervisor Angela Cheuk, who noted a 30 per cent rise in incentives from September to March, said: “Local companies are now hiring travel arrangers to plan their incentive trips rather than doing it themselves. They have also started to specially set aside budgets for incentives.”

Companies are also asking for a training component as part of the programme, she added.

Grand China Express International Travel Service vice president Ni Hui said local companies were starting to learn from China-based MNCs, which have started to take a second look at longhaul destinations from end-2010 due to the return of business. Thus far, automobile clients such as Michelin, Hyundai and Kia were sending groups to France, Spain and Hawaii respectively, he said.

Ni said overseas meetings were the fastest-growing business segment. Meeting sizes are also swelling, from 1,000 pax three years ago, to 4,000-5,000 pax now.