THE NEW Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC), which will triple the island’s MICE capability from May, intends to compete head-on with counterparts in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia for international events.

BNDCC is equipped with facilities double the size of existing competitor, Bali International Convention Centre. It will have a convention hall with up to 5,000 theatre-style seats, 14 breakout session rooms, three boardrooms and a plenary hall with 1,800 seats. A sizable exhibition hall and cultural centre is also in the pipeline within the next two years.

Kompas Gramedia Group COO and BNDCC president commissary Agus Adiprasetyo said: “Building a venue of this scale in a city like Jakarta will not give it as significant an impact as if it was built in Bali. It can now leverage on the island’s rich cultural, natural and leisure environment for competitive advantage.”

Bali Tourism Development Corporation executive managing director I Made Mandra said BNDCC would meet the need for additional MICE space on the island.

“It is true that Nusa Dua receives the highest number of international conventions (in Indonesia), but on the Asia-Pacific map, it is only 2.5 per cent of the total number,” he said.

OUTBOUND travel agents strong in Egypt and Middle East packages are turning their hopes towards other destinations, in anticipation that holiday demand for the region will be low for the next two quarters due to the unrest.

Mayflower Acme Tours deputy general manager Abdul Rahman Mohamed said the company had removed Egypt from its product line-up for the upcoming MATTA Fair in Kuala Lumpur, which begins on March 11.

He said: “We are monitoring the situation, and we’ll make sure the destination is safe before we promote it again. Otherwise, it would be a financial risk for us.”

Abdul added that demand for Jordan and Dubai had also dropped.

The company will put more emphasis on regional destinations in South-east Asia. It will also promote a new tour package that combines Russia, Denmark, Sweden and Finland in a 10-day/seven-night programme.

Malaysian Harmony Tours & Travel CEO, Cooper Huang, said he expected holiday-seekers who had been saving for a trip to the Middle East to opt for Europe because of similar prices.

THE MACAU Government Tourist Office (MGTO) is planning to create a new slogan and promotional image this year to replace its current A World of Difference, the Difference is Macau jingle.

With a corresponding promotional video and advertisement to follow, MGTO director João Manuel Costa Antunes said the NTO’s efforts were in line with the Macau SAR government’s plans to turn the destination into a “global centre of tourism and leisure”.

Antunes added that MGTO would cooperate with related government departments to optimise tourism and world heritage resources in developing the new branding.

Meanwhile, all is looking rosy on Macau’s MICE front, with the Macau Business Tourism Center supporting 266 events last year, 31 per cent more than in 2009. There were 1.2 million participants, an increase of 130 per cent over 2009.

Macau’s “Strategic MICE Market Stimulation Programme”, which supported 163 events in the destination involving over 630,000 participants last year, will be extended to June 30.

A BOAT packed with sleeping tourists sank in Halong Bay yesterday, killing 12 people from nine countries in Vietnam’s worst tour boat accident in more than two decades.

Tourists from the US, the UK, Australia, Japan, Russia, France, Sweden and Switzerland were confirmed among the dead, along with a Vietnamese tour guide.

Other boats in the area rescued another nine foreigners – two Danes, one German, two Italians, one American, one Australian, one French and one Swiss – and six locals.

The cause of the accident remains unclear, though the vessel was anchored alongside dozens of other boats and weather conditions were calm at the time of the sinking.

Many tourists stay overnight in the bay – a Unesco World Heritage Site – on boats equipped with sleeping cabins.

CRYSTAL Cruises’ representative in Malaysia, Jebsen Travel & Tours Services, is offering agents who manage to sell three cabins on any particular sailing an additional complimentary cabin, for use on any sailing within a year.

The promotion for agents worldwide is valid until end 2011.

Meanwhile, Jebsen will conduct a familiarisation trip onboard the 1,070-guest Crystal Serenity for travel agents, corporate clients and media when the ship docks for the first time in Port Klang on March 16 on its way from Singapore to Mumbai.

Jebsen’s managing director, Lim Chee Tong, sees this as an opportunity to promote luxury cruises to the Malaysian market. He said his company saw a 300 per cent increase in the luxury cruise segment out of Malaysia last year.

BANGKOK-based Six Senses Resorts & Spas will open its first resort in China in 2013.

Located at the foot of Sichuan province’s Qing Cheng Mountain – a UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site – Six Senses Qing Cheng Mountain will encompass Taoist and Chinese architecture and design principles.

The property, built entirely of natural and sustainable local sources where possible, will also have a Six Senses Spa.

TAIWAN and Singapore are to sign an open skies agreement soon, according to The China Times.

The Taiwan-based paper quoted Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration director-general Yin Chen-Pong as saying: “We will soon sign a new aviation agreement with Singapore that will completely open up our skies.”

A report in Singapore daily The Straits Times yesterday quoted sources in Taipei as saying that talks were nearing conclusion, and that the signing was due to take place next month.

THE INDONESIA Ministry of Culture and Tourism is pooling resources and leveraging on partnerships to make its presence felt in China despite its small budget, with expectations that such a model will be extended to other focus areas in the future.

The NTO will cooperate for the first time with the Jakarta-based Chinese Indonesian Association (INTI), Indonesian Business Association of Shanghai, Indonesian embassy in Beijing, consulate generals in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, tourism industry representatives and national carrier Garuda Indonesia, to organise and participate in various promotional events in China, explained the ministry’s MICE director and China tourism marketing coordinator Nia Niscaya.

“There will be an Indonesia event every month in different Chinese cities,” she said, adding that INTI would lead four of the promotional programmes this year. “We will not target places where Indonesia is already popular, like Beijing and Shanghai, but will start penetrating the northern part of China with promotions like cultural performances and product sales.”

Such joint ventures would facilitate a more frequent and spread out marketing effort in the destination under the ministry’s coordination, Niscaya said.

Meanwhile, the ministry will continue with its B2B and B2C initiatives in China such as participating in leisure travel and MICE marts.

LAS VEGAS SANDS (LVS) said it would love to get its hands on more land in Singapore, its chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson telling reporters this morning that Marina Bay Sands (MBS) was already running out of space.

“Demand for MICE is rapidly bringing us to the point where we may have to ration space or advise users to book six months to a year in advance…not three to six months as is the practice here,” he said.

Adelson said he would take “10 times more land, as much as we can get, whatever amount there is for auction”, even offering the government to reclaim land. “We reclaimed 100 hectares in Macau,” he added.

LVS president and COO, Michael Leven, said he was at the Gardens by the Bay development yesterday and “there was land there for additional hospitality products”, adding “there was a piece of land (across MBS) we’d like to look “.

He said as Singapore continued to increase its number of attractions such as the Gardens, visitor demand was going to be higher than supply. “The entire industry is running over 80 per cent occupancy and there were awful lots of times when it was short of supply,” Leven said.

MBS said more than 11 million people visited the integrated resort (IR) since it opened in April last year. At Marina Bay Sands Hotel, about 75 per cent of guests welcomed in 2010 were foreigners, with top markets being Indonesia, China and Malaysia.

Adelson now expects MBS to recoup its US$6 billion investment in four years, from five years previously.

He said he would like to set up a network of IRs in the region, dismissing pundits’ voice about potential cannibalisation in such a move. “Singapore, for us, has opened up a new market in South-east Asia that most people did not understand existed.

“For the youngest person in this audience, for the rest of his life, there will never be saturation in this part of the world. If you want to reach the limit of demand, just change everybody’s culture. (Reality is), demand for this type of facility that has entertainment, casino, etc, is unending…For the life of me, I can’t see that happening even with the youngest person in this room. And that’s not me.”

The grand opening today also marks the official launch of the world’s first ArtScience Museum, which has lined up impressive opening shows, including Genghis Khan: The Exhibition featuring the largest collection of Genghis Khan artefacts ever assembled.

It was marred however by the death of Michelin-star chef Santi Santamaria last night after an apparent heart attack. The chef was one of seven celebrity chefs who were presented to the international media yesterday as part of the grand opening celebrations.

WATERFRONT operators along Batu Ferringhi in Penang have been given until Saturday to form an association, according to the state government.

The temporary ban on watersports activities following a water scooter accident (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 7) was relaxed last Saturday, allowing beach operators to do business under strict surveillance over a seven-day interim period while they formed an association with proper guidelines and standard operating procedures, reported local newspaper The Star.

The Penang Municipal Council is in the process of finalising guidelines to regulate beach activities, and it is understood that one of the measures will be the creation of a special zone for jet ski operators on Batu Ferringhi.

World Avenues executive director Ally Bhoonee said: “(The association) will give the authorities a point of contact to discuss policies and safety and security issues. It will also educate operators on being more hospitable. Currently, the unlicensed tour operators are operating like thugs.”

Malaysian Association of Hotels Penang Chapter president Marco Giovanni Battistotti was also hopeful of an effective solution.

He said: “Family travel to Ferringhi beach will increase, and travellers who have moved on to other beach destinations will return to Penang.”