VETERAN PATA member Bill Calderwood has been appointed interim CEO for PATA, which has not been lucky so far with its search for a CEO.

Calderwood will step in when Gregory Duffell leaves end-February and ensure a smooth handover.

A member of PATA’s Executive Board, he will arrive in Bangkok on February 25. Meanwhile, the CEO search committee, with the professional assistance of an external recruitment agency, will continue to seek a fitting candidate for the CEO position.

Calderwood was Head of International Operations for the Australian Tourism Commission, and has run large membership-based organisations, tourism attractions and major travel retail and wholesale operations. He is currently managing director of The Ayre Group Consulting.

Said Calderwood: “It is an honour for me to act as interim CEO, and ensure and contribute to the smooth day-to-day workings of the association. Meanwhile of course, the CEO search committee will continue to examine various profiles and will select the best candidate as a more permanent incumbent of the position.”

INDONESIA-based Kompas Gramedia Group is expanding its venue portfolio with the development of a string of convention and exhibition centres around the country.

The group currently owns and operates the Gramedia Expo in Surabaya, and is working on the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC) that will open in May and the Gramedia Expo & Hotel Santika Medan, slated for a year-end opening. It also plans to build an exhibition hall and sports centre in Senayan, Jakarta.

Kompas’ hospitality arm includes Santika Indonesia Hotels & Resorts and Dyandra Promosindo, a leading PEO in Indonesia.

BNDCC president director Danny Budiharto, who is also spearheading the group’s other properties, said: “There are potential destinations in Indonesia and the (regional) governments are calling for MICE development, but none of them are providing facilities to move the industry. Therefore, we are taking the initiative to build venues to stimulate the market, although we realise it is a long-term investment.”

For example, when Gramedia Expo Surabaya opened, Dyandra Promosindo organised its own exhibitions there, which later spurred other local events to choose the venue, he said.

Similarly, Budiharto was confident that BNDCC would be able to kickstart the market for exhibitions in Bali.

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.