Asia’s M.I.C.E. Industry on the Move
Imtiaz Muqbil, Executive Editor, Travel Impact Newswire (Bangkok)

Barely a month after the PATA Travel Mart signalled a strong comeback for leisure travel in the Asia-Pacific, indications are that travel for business, meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions is on a similar rebound. The mood and atmosphere at the 12th Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings Asia (IT&CMA) in Bangkok this past October was on par with that at the PATA Mart in September, with buyers and sellers taking advantage of the same underlying factors fuelling leisure travel -- stable economies and the absence of any major international health or geopolitical gloom and doom.

A total of 262 MICE buyers and 111 corporate travel managers from 40 countries turned out for meetings with representatives of 300 exhibiting companies from 29 countries in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Europe, UK and US. As with the PATA Mart, the changing profile reflected changing travel patterns. Among the buyers, the largest contingent was from Singapore, which claims to host the regional offices of more than 7,000 multinational companies, followed by Australia, Germany and Thailand. Significantly, there were 18 buyers from India and 15 from China, according to the lists made available to the delegates. New buyers came from Russia, Macedonia and Poland. Once high-flying markets like Japan were down to only six buyers, even lower than the Philippines, which had 14 buyers.

Among sellers, newcomers to the show included a strong Japanese presence, the Convention & Tourism bureaux of Osaka, Nagoya and Hiroshima, the Chiba Convention Bureau. Also present for the first time were the Vienna Convention Bureau, Brunei Tourism and Tourism New Zealand. Of special attraction to them was the "Doublebill" event; organisers TTG Asia Media had merged IT&CMA with 7th Corporate Travel World (CTW) Asia-Pacific and co-located them in Bangkok, thus allowing attendance by both corporate travel buyers as well as MICE event organisers.

Thanks to economic booms in China and India, there is no shortage of opportunities. China alone is said to be adding 80 new congress and exhibition venues over the next few years. Indian buyers said the galloping economy and the huge number of global multinationals relocating jobs, manufacturing and call-centre activities to India was driving outbound incentives, with plenty of business for everybody. Australia, Dubai and Singapore are also generating corporate meetings and incentives. A survey by the International Congress and Convention Association showed that Asia is gradually eating into Europe's dominant share of the global association meetings market, thanks to state of the art products and value for money services.

Peter Morris, Chief Economist of Airclaims, reported on a survey of 469 corporate travel managers, suppliers and travel agents worldwide, showing overwhelming agreement with the view that the Asia-Pacific would provide leadership for travel & tourism products in the next decade. And it's not too difficult to see why. Right across Asia, new products and new destinations are rapidly emerging.

In Vietnam, a new 543,000 sq m trade and exhibition centre opened in Haiphong, and a new one is under construction in Hanoi for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in 2006. Landlocked Laos, one of the poorest countries in Asia, gained a new exhibition hall which hosted the ASEAN Tourism Forum in February 2004, and is soon to get a riverside convention centre that will host the 10th ASEAN summit from November 26-30.

In Indonesia, the completion of the country's first direct presidential elections and the peaceful transition of power has energised the industry whose new slogan is "We Shall Return." The Indonesian delegation was 17-strong at the IT&CMA, mainly companies representing either Jakarta or the more popular destination, Bali. The Jakarta Convention Bureau appears ready to take on a more active promotional role with a new "Enjoy Jakarta" branding and upgrading of infrastructure facilities.

Malaysia has been given a huge budget of 200 million ringgit. Set to host both the PATA Mart and ASEAN Tourism Forum in 2005, Malaysia is also building itself up as a centre for Islamic events and conferences. In June 2005, a new convention centre is to open in Kuala Lumpur. Its director Jenny Salsbury said a major trend was that medical conventions, the dominant producers, are splitting up in line with growing specialisation in the medical field itself, opening up future opportunities.

The Japanese, too, have joined the competitive fray for inbound business. As part of the national target to attract 10 million arrivals by 2010, Japan is looking to include meetings and incentives in the mix of arrivals. Stringent visa regulations have been relaxed for visitors from some of the Chinese provinces. A new airport is opening in Nagoya. While other destinations focus on their 'safety and security,' the Japanese came up with a unique angle; they cited the honesty of the Japanese people, noting in their press conference that in 2003, the citizens of Tokyo had returned 2.5 billion yen (US$ 22 million) to the city's lost and found stations.

Established destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand are feeling the competitive heat. A new Thailand Conventions and Exhibitions Bureau has just been set up and is working with THAI Airways to promote low season MICE functions. Hong Kong is working on a US$ 500 million AsiaWorld-Expo near the airport, with phase one to be ready by 2005 and fully operational by 2006. It will be linked with the Airport Express Train and a pier will cater for high speed ferries from Macau and southern China. The Hong Kong Disneyland will be 10 minutes away with regular transfers between the two.

Singapore is fighting hard to retain its title of the Asia-Pacific's leading business city and the world's Number Three convention city. Business travellers make up about 20% of the city-states total visitor arrivals and contribute about 25% of its total visitor receipts. The city has embarked upon a major effort to attract more international organisations and international associations to be based in Singapore, like the regional offices of the International Air Transport Association and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. In November 2003, the Singapore Tourism Board launched a SG$ 15 million "Make it Singapore" campaign to draw more business visitors.

To backup these hardware developments and marketing efforts, software support will be critical. Research is an important component. The IT&CMA was preceded by the convening of the first Asia-Pacific Int'l Congress & Convention Researchers Meeting. Delegates from Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, India, Taiwan and Japan attended the meeting which was designed to help Asia-Pacific based associations and corporate planners uncover the potential of intra-regional meetings.

Said Jane Vong-Holmes, the regional director of ICCA Asia Pacific, "Asia in 2003 had 16% of the global market share of international association meetings. There could be more meetings that are not captured in our database, especially now when the trend for regional or offshoot meetings seem to be more prevalent as associations become more global."

To beef up the quality of training programmes, ICCA has coordinated with Le Cordon Bleu to establish what is claimed to be the world's first Master's degree course in International Meetings Industry Management. Based at the University of Southern Australia, the course is delivered entirely online and can be completed in two years. It is targetted at people working in senior management and supervisory positions.

At the motivational level, too, change is afoot. European incentive organisers report that people are getting bored of team-building exercises and theme parties, and want more relaxing things like spa treatments, yoga classes, wellness and meditation to lower stress levels.

Among the sellers was a European speakers bureau which has set up a Kuala Lumpur-based Asian office to seek opportunities for European speakers in this part of the world, and also source Asian speakers to hit the lecture circuit abroad. Asia is bursting with good quality speakers but there is a huge difference in the fees they command; Former US President Clinton can make up to US$ 150,000 per speech while former Philippines President Ramos will make only about a tenth as much, US$ 15,000.

The biggest changes are taking place in the doing-business environment with the same cost-cutting pressures faced by corporations in Europe and North America, being felt in the Asia-Pacific. The Airclaims survey presented by Mr. Morris cited five major pressures in the corporate travel sector: 1) Volatile trends in travel and budgets; 2) Surges in new information tools; 3) the urgency of delivering 'more for less'; 4) New business models for supply, transactions as well as for agencies and corporate travel managers; and 5) Increasing market concentration.

However, Norman Rose of Travel Tech Consulting pointed out that the dynamics of business travel in Asia are different. International travel comprises 80 % of the aviation market, with complex multi-city and multi-segment sectors. He said that access to consolidator fares pose enormous barrier of adoption of self-booking facility. Labour costs are lower than in the US, Australia and Western Europe. In total, the travel costs are not deemed strategic enough, usually aligned to the administrative department rather than to a dedicated division in charge of managing travel and entertainment. All that may change, depending on the depth of internet penetration and the advances made by online agencies in the corporate market.

Genevieve Sulway, who manages travel for Nokia in the Asia-Pacific and China, said the company spends more than 300 million Euro on travel per annum. Travel management is consolidated in Europe and the Americas and following suit in the Asia-Pacific which today commands Nokia's smallest travel spend but the fastest growing in volume year-on-year. She said the company is making increased use of low-cost airlines, and increased use of restricted tickets and "off-peak fares". At the same time, the company steers volume to preferred suppliers and books via Nokia-dedicated travel agencies.

Whether for business travel or MICE events, the bottom-line is that there is no shortage of business available. The next opportunity to tap into this potential will be in 2005 when the Doublebill show will move to the beach resort of Pattaya, giving some exposure to Thailand's pioneer beach resort and its best-known property, the Royal Cliff Beach.

For more information on IT&CMA/CTW, please contact:

TTG Asia Media Pte Ltd
9 Battery Road, #17-02 Straits Trading Building Singapore 049910
Tel: (65) 6395 7513
Fax: (65) 6536 0896
Website: http://www.itcma.com.sg or http://www.corporatetravelworld.com

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