Hong Kong’s cruisiest events venue

Tag Archives: events

In addition to being able to berth the world’s largest cruise ships – of up to 220,000 tonnes – Hong Kong’s glitzy, high-tech new cruise terminal at Kai Tak is making its mark as a genuinely different big-events space.

Opened in 2013, the 200,000-square-metre facility is set on the site of the old airport close to the heart of the city. It’s already hosted major shows including well-attended events for Mercedes, Audi, and Tesla, boxing tournaments and large-scale public expos visited by 30,000 or more people. Smaller very recent gatherings have included an event for the Virtuoso luxury travel network, which saw one of the check-in halls decked out as a traditional Hong Kong marketplace.

The check-in and baggage halls double as events spaces. Most popular, however, is the apron which offers panoramic harbour views, and has hosted a number of fun runs and other big public events.

“The auto shows have been fantastic because they’re all about design, and the makers can juxtapose their new cars with the beautiful building and panoramic views of Victoria Harbour,” explains Jeff Bent (left), Managing Director of Worldwide Cruise Terminals, which operates the USD 1 billion facility. “This is true for other products that include design elements, and we expect to host more of these shows in the future.”

Audi A8 launch

Banquets are also part of the operators’ strategy. Those such as a recent banquet for an Audi A8 launch are typically set in the two check-in halls which cover 3,000 square metres each. Also on site is a large Chinese banqueting facility that seats up to 960 people, says Jeff. “This has played host to a number of fantastic dinner events, like the Operation Breakthrough charity boxing match and dinner and a Rugby Sevens dinner. We hold weddings and corporate meetings in this facility ten to 20 times a month.”

Bus services currently run to local MTR (subway) stations, and a new Kai Tak station is scheduled to open in 2019 at the end of the old runway, which will further aggregate interest and attendances. Ferry service from points around Hong Kong to the terminal is available on a charter basis. Meantime the government will auction a plot for a hotel with about 500 rooms directly adjacent to the cruise terminal later this year. Also planned is a sports stadium and water sports centre.

“The Kai Tak terminal truly is a unique venue, and Hong Kong is an outstanding location to hold events,” says Jeff.

“It provides visa-free access for approximately 170 countries and territories, terrific hotels and great air connectivity, with multiple daily direct flights to North America, Europe and around the world.”

More links with the mainland
Connectivity will expand further with the introduction of high-speed rail service to major cities in mainland China from 2017. The terminal can also serve as an excellent platform from which to launch meetings and incentive travel via cruise ships, he adds.

“MICE is a very nice niche for Hong Kong. The [visitors] are generally affluent, educated people, and they often stay for leisure. Events bring in a lot of business travellers, and it’ll be great to add another niche to the mix of affluent leisure travellers.”

Big step for the cruise industry

Jeff believes the terminal represents a huge step forward for the cruise industry in the region, because cruise lines for years have indicated they would like to deploy more capacity in Asia; now they’re getting the facilities allowing them to do so.

Passenger numbers at Kai Tak are growing – from over 100,000 in 2014 to an expected total of over 200,000 in 2015 and more than 300,000 in 2016. Eight lines called at Kai Tak in 2014, ten are calling in 2015, and 17 have booked calls in 2016.

More and more local people are discovering the complex. Its five restaurants and shops opened last September, and its leafy rooftop parks get 4,000 visitors a day on weekends and holidays. It featured in two movies released over the Chinese New Year holiday, and will be in more forthcoming productions. And more recreational events are coming up over the summer, such as the ‘White Party,’ a major social event in Hong Kong.

Web: www.kaitakcruiseterminal.com.hk

Email: jbent@worldwideflight.com.hk

By Derryn Heilbuth

We’re heading up the driveway of the 187-year-old Quamby Estate in the lush Tamar Valley. Built by convict Richard Dry who was transported to Tasmania as a political prisoner for his part in the 1804 Irish rebellion, it’s now owned by the Tasmanian Walking Company’s Brett Godfrey and Rob Sherrard (who conceptualised Virgin Australia on the back of a dozen beer coasters in a London pub) and is the starting point for the Bay of Fires walk. It is, as I’ve experienced once before, one of the most rewarding incentive experiences in the Apple Isle.

At the stables of the beautifully manicured estate we meet our two young guides, Louis Balcombe and Harley Tuleja (pictured making tea below). Over the next four days they’ll carry our food, tend to blisters, boil the billy, prepare our meals and share their passion for the coastal heathlands, marsupial lawns and sclerophyll forests of their island home. And all with such larrikin charm that it must surely be one of the requirements of the job.

“Keep it under eight kilos,” they say as they hand out packs, water bottles and raincoats. As a traveller who likes to pack for every eventuality, it’s a challenge. Having done this walk before, I know I’ll regret that extra jumper thrown in at the last minute. Still, you never know . . .

Back on the minibus, our six-strong group are introduced to two other couples (the groups are never larger than 10) and we settle down for the two-and-a-half hour journey to Stumpy’s Bay in the Mount William National Park.

Tasmanian tales

The route takes us across rolling green paddocks and through the old tin towns of Derby and Branxholm, where on the roadside above a few neglected looking weatherboard cottages, we notice a bright red sign.

It marks The Trail of the Tin Dragon, a recently introduced tourist route that’s hoping to reinvigorate this economically depressed and remote northeastern corner of Tasmania by retelling the stories of the 1,500 Chinese miners who battled floods, drought and racial hatred here in the 1870s.

We descend through rainforests of blackwood, sassafras and myrtle until we reach the entrance of the national park. Driving along the sandy track, Louis spots a group of forester kangaroos, the only large ‘roo found in Tasmania. “The first we’ve seen all season”, he says.

At Stumpy’s Bay we disembark, grab our packs, gather for a group picture and then set out on the nine-kilometre hike to the tented cabins where we’ll spend our first night.

Quixotic weather

In an essay that I will read two days later lying on a sofa in the sun at the Bay of Fires Lodge, academic and author Natasha Cica writes: “As quixotic as its weather, Tasmania is both a place of deliciously warm embrace and cold hard slaps to the face, often in the same day or hour.”

The last time I did this walk we meandered along white sands, swam in turquoise waters, waded chest-high across a creek and sunned ourselves dry on orange lichen-covered rocks. A warm embrace indeed.

Today Tasmania has opted for the cold hard slap. Sand whips our legs as we trudge heads-down into a southerly gale that hurls an angry sea against the granite boulders. It’s tough walking. But raw and elemental too. And since the wind makes it difficult to hear, a perfect time for the meditative state that comes from concentrating on putting one step in front of another.

Refuge for the night

In the late afternoon we reach our refuge for the night: six tented cabins (see top of main picture!) set unobtrusively behind the dunes, a central dining tent and two composting toilets. Water is carried in and waste carried out, so our footprint is light. A big tick for some. A challenge for others more comfortable with five stars. We arrange the blessedly warm sleeping bags and blankets we find neatly folded on the sleeping platforms in the wooden-floored tent, then make our way to the dining tent.

While Louis and Harley busy themselves preparing the camp’s signature dish of Atlantic salmon on a bed of soba noodle salad and Vietnamese nuoc cham sauce, we sit around the table, tired but contentedly sipping Tasmanian wines and sharing stories with old and new friends.

Nature lessons

The second day’s walk is a solid 14 kilometres. The wind is still our constant companion, but like yesterday, it’s not enough to dampen the enthusiasm of our walking party or take away from our guides’ imaginatively delivered nature lessons.

Alongside an Aboriginal midden they draw time lines in the sand to place the ancient culture in the context of the relatively young Pyramids.

On the coastal heathland they strip a banksia cone to expose the velvety core that served as firelighters for the island’s first people as they moved around this coastline, and crush melaleuca leaves under our noses so we can smell the ti-tree oil they used as an antiseptic.

Back on the beach they pass around a shark egg casing they’ve spotted, lug a massive piece of string kelp across the sand (“they can grow to 30 metres”) and point out the shore birds: gulls, terns and migratory species like the bar-tailed godwits that fly 11,000 kilometres non-stop from the Arctic to their wintering grounds in Australia.

My favourites are the red-beaked hooded plovers that dart in Chaplinesque fashion around the sand foraging for food before returning to their nests on the soft sands above the tideline.

Around lunchtime we reach Tasmania’s most easterly point, Eddystone Point, or Larapuna in the local Aboriginal language. It’s home to a 1889 lighthouse and a collection of keeper’s cottages that are being restored now that the land has been returned to its traditional owners.

From there it’s on to the Bay of Fires proper, stretches of magnificent beaches, so named by Captain Tobias Furneaux, commander of HMS Adventure, the second of Captain Cook’s vessels, after he sighted Aboriginal fires burning on the shore.

Eco-luxury

Last year Lonely Planet named Tasmania one of the top ten regions in the world to visit in 2015. Arriving at the Bay of Fires lodge it’s not hard to see why. A timber and glass eyrie sitting 40 metres above the sea, this is ecotourism at its finest. The multi-award-winning lodge has solar power, rainwater tanks (and timed showers), composting toilets, louvered windows to capture the sea breezes in the simple but comfortable bedrooms, and home-cooked meals designed to show off Tasmanian produce.

As we sit soaking our tired feet in hot foot spas, a glass of wine in hand and the sun setting on a woodland setting of black peppermint and casuarina, all seems well with the world.

The sense of wellbeing stays with us over the next two days. We lounge by the fire and on deckchairs overlooking pristine Abbotsbury beach. We fall asleep in the library; and under the magical hands of Cook Islands born therapist Cecelia Ngavavia at the spa.

On the third day some of our party are too comfortably ensconced to join the kayak adventure. But for those of us who do, the rewards are great. We float serenely down the Anson River. The sunlight plays on the water, a sea eagle flies overhead and my kayaking partner throws a line into the water. On the two-hour walk back to the lodge along the beach the sun comes out and we explore the dunes of the Abbotsbury Peninsula before returning to another evening of good food and wine.

Sparkling finale

The walk ends on the fourth day with a 4.5-kilometre walk through eucalyptus forests, where again Louis and Harley stop to point out the bright green native cherries above us and the delicate coral lichen underfoot. They urge us to spread out so we can experience our surroundings alone and in silence. We eat our picnic lunch and board the bus for the two-hour drive to Andrew Pirie’s Apogee vineyard, 30 kilometres north of Launceston, where we hand in our packs and are treated to a glass of sparkling wine, delicious canapés and a demonstration of how the wine is bottled.

The first Australian to be awarded a PhD in viticulture, Pirie is a towering figure in the Tasmanian wine industry. Having successfully built the Point Piper and Ninth Island vineyards, he’s now concentrating on producing what he hopes will be the finest sparkling in Australia.

All strength to him. It is people like him, the Museum of Old and New Art’s (MONA’s) David Walsh and Tasmanian Walking Company’s Brett Godfrey and Rob Sherrard who are providing the boost the island’s tourist industry needs. It’s an industry worth $2.4 billion a year to the local economy and directly and indirectly employs 28,000 Tasmanians. That’s an important statistic for a state that has a joblessness rate that’s a third greater than the national average and where over a third of its people derive their sole or primary income from a Commonwealth payment.

And if Lonely Planet’s endorsement, or the pristine beaches, or the hospitality of the young lodge hosts and guides, or the exhilarating walk, or the chance to experience one of the most remote and unspoilt places in Tasmania are not enough to persuade, it’s a very good reason to add Tasmania’s Bay of Fires walk to a list of must-do incentive experiences.

From $2,250

The Bay of Fires four-day walk runs from 1 October to 1 May. Prices are quoted on a seasonal basis:

1 October – 24 December $2,250

25 December – 31 March $2,400

1 April – 1 May $2,250

Pricing includes pick up and return from the designated collection and return point, transport to the start of the walk, twin-share accommodation, food and wine, national park passes, use of back pack and Gore-Tex jacket and two qualified guides.

The Siteseer was a paying guest of the Bay of Fires Walk.

Email: bookings@taswalkingco.com.au

Web: http://www.bayoffires.com.au

Tighter budgets and rising costs mean the business events sector is working harder to win work. Marissa Fernandez, managing director of widely respected company Destination Marketing Services (DMS), offers this salutary advice to incentive and events planners.

1. Is it good value – and different? When selecting a destination, consider: does it offer good value for money and quality service, and is there a strong point of difference when you compare it to where the previous conference or incentive event was held?

2. Have they ever done anything like this before? Seek to create an experience that’s superior to what people in the group would have experienced in their own travels. It should obviously serve to encourage and motivate participants to continue working hard so they can enjoy similar rewards again.

3. Don’t sacrifice quality for cost. In the current, increasingly competitive market, many incentive agents are having to tender for business against their competition. With this type of bidding process, a key criterion is the cost of the program. Incentive agents are often judged on bottom-line figures, so we’re seeing more and more programs designed to be as cost-effective as possible, and competition on all levels is becoming more fierce. This is a positive change in many ways, because it keeps businesses sharper and makes them work harder to turn out the best possible program to win business.But it does create challenges when designing the best incentive experience – putting pressure on the MICE agent to cut budgets to the bone while retaining the incentive elements that make a program distinctive.

4. Plan ahead. Pre-planning is key to ensuring you always get the best deal. Timing plays a huge part in pricing. This is one area in which a destination management company (DMC) can play an essential role, thanks to their buying power. Well-established DMCs supply business to venues and hotels around the globe so they’re able to negotiate very competitive pricing via bulk buying.

5. Consider Asia, South Africa and Europe. Look to countries that offer the best value for money for meetings and events. Asia, with its proximity and great service levels, will always be well suited to MICE clients from Australia. And with the Australian dollar strong against the rand, South Africa is now more affordable than ever. Though the Aussie dollar has declined against the US greenback, it remains quite stable against the euro and this is still helping to push business towards Europe.

6. Embrace the ‘unknown’. Organisers and their delegates should remember that while past experiences certainly count, the world is forever evolving so it pays to keep an open mind and explore the unknown. Destinations such as South Korea, Croatia and the Philippines have developed into dynamic destinations for conference and incentive travel. These are often not considered, because of unfamiliarity or experiences from 20 years ago. Good companies will maintain quality while offering value, and have the vision to source and propose new destinations and ideas. They’ll not only adapt to changes in the global marketplace, they’ll respond with innovative offerings.

7. Follow the new airline routes. Airline access and routing are affecting trends in the marketplace and opening up new opportunities. For example the collaboration between Emirates and Qantas has strengthened travel to Europe with stopovers in the Middle East. New direct air services to Sri Lanka start in November and major hotel chains are investing heavily in this destination. This has already sparked a rise in interest in this new incentive location.

MARISSA INSIGHTS

Marissa Fernandez joined Destination Marketing Services in 2005 and became owner of the company on 1 October 2013, taking over from founder and industry veteran Leila Bishara (formerly Fiedler). As managing director, Marissa prioritises high standards of customer service and ethical practice in her team. Her background spans more than 20 years in tourism and hospitality, and she has worked for multinational organisations in Australia and overseas.

Email: marissa@destinationmarketing.com.au

Web: www.destinationmarketing.com.au

As I step into the lobby of the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel in Bali (pictured above), the sound of traffic becomes muted and I find myself in a tranquil oasis, offering sudden respite from the island’s humidity. Smiling staff bustle about the airy space, which abuts a green-lawned courtyard.

A turtle dove is cooing somewhere and a female crooner is singing moodily over the PA system as Stuart Bolwell steps up to greet me, hand extended in welcome. The 47-year-old expatriate New Zealander has been with this hotel for 11 years, and GM for the past three years, and the focus and continuity he’s brought to the role helps explain why ratings for this property continue to head north.

Two-and-a-half years ago, the user-generated website TripAdvisor ranked the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel thirty-fifth in Bali’s busy coastal strip of Sanur on the southeast of the island. Now it’s sixteenth, says Stuart, and the good results are reflected in guests’ comments. Its sister property nearby, the Sanur Paradise Plaza Suites, is now ranked the second-best family accommodation in the country.

The largest four-star hotel in Bali focusing on meetings and events, the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel is half an hour’s drive from Denpasar airport and the busy tourist precinct of Kuta, and a few minutes away from good shopping and its own beach enclave.

One of nine properties strategically located throughout Indonesia and managed by Prime Plaza Hotels and Resorts, the hotel is set next to a verdant nine-hole golf course. It is quintessentially Balinese: everywhere, from the gardens surrounding the 110-metre-long pool to the private courtyards adjoining many of the 329 rooms, foliage sprouts in lush profusion.

Stuart Bolwell, pictured below, is a high-energy manager, as I can attest as I try to keep up with him on a brisk walking tour of the hotel and its 18 meetings and functions spaces, which include a ballroom, the ‘Griya Agung’. When all venues are full, the resort can accommodate 2,000 MICE guests, he says.

People expect more

“People’s expectations are much higher now,” says Stuart. “Those heading off for events or leisure are educated in travelling, and in what they want and expect. That’s why you’ve got to make sure you invest more in resources and energy to maintain standards and service these days. I keep reminding my teams of this.”

The strategy is working, as the hotel has a growing reputation for providing value for money and robust occupancies, he says. This dovetails with Stuart’s philosophy ‘to under-promise and over-deliver’.

“We don’t gouge in our pricing structure, so you’re never charged more than what you’d expect,” he says.

From USD85 per night

The rate for guest rooms, most of which have just been renovated, is USD85 per night for two people, including breakfast and wifi. Conference day rates are equally good value: USD35 per delegate, including lunch and two coffee breaks as well as the latest in AV and other necessary gear. A point-of-contact person is assigned to each event to take care of every request.

Roughly half of the resort’s events business is domestic, and the rest is mostly from Australia and Europe, says Stuart. “Our distinct advantage over competitors is that we’ve been here a long time and do what we do very well. Our staff are incredibly dedicated and we have long-established relationships with local companies and third-party contractors who supply us with their services.”

Recent events hosted here include those of international teachers’ and doctors’ groups and an Indian telco. For a recent Lions club conference, the hotel welcomed delegates from 33 countries. It lasted a week and many guests either arrived beforehand or extended their stay apres-meetings to explore the island, going on day tours to the central upland town of Ubud and to the ancient Tanah Lot temple, located on the coast, which has been part of Balinese mythology for centuries.

The ballroom, which can cater for 1,100 theatre style or 750 in banquet arrangements, is a spacious pillarless 950 square metres in area, together with its pre-function area. It has dedicated vehicle access and a 122 square-metre permanent stage.

The Siteseer was not a guest of the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel.

For more information, email stuart@sanur.pphotels.com or visit www.sanurparadise.com.

Asia’s a better deal than ever. It’s the only region in the world where the prices of hotel rooms dropped for Australian travellers in 2014. Admittedly, some of the falls can likely be attributed to the weakening of the Aussie dollar, which has hit a six-year low, but the results will doubtless be of interest to most organisers seeking to run an event offshore – and not just Australians.

The latest hotels.com index, which compares Asian prices, shows that they were in fact only slightly higher than they were 10 years ago, and fell for a second consecutive year.

In Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka prices paid for hotel accommodation in cities like Hanoi, Phnom Penh, Chiang Mai, Ho Chi Minh and Bangkok all fell – some quite substantially – in 2014. These ranked among the best-value cities in the world for hotel stays. The only exceptions to the slump were China, Hong Kong and Japan, where prices rose modestly last year.

Conversely, says Regional Director for hotels.com, Katherine Cole, hotel rooms in Rio, Honolulu, San Francisco, London, Dublin, Berlin, Madrid, Milan and Paris were all subject to double-digit price rises. Prices rose by 15% in New Zealand, 12% in Fiji and 11% in New Caledonia. The city where Australian travellers paid the most for a hotel room in 2014 was New York, where the average price was $317.

In Australia prices increased on average by only 1% in the past year. They rose slightly in Sydney (1%), Brisbane (2%) and Melbourne (1%). They fell in Darwin (-4%) and Perth (-3%).

Best-value hotel destinations for Australian travellers in 2014:

Destination	Average price paid in 2014 (AUD)
Cambodia	$73
Vietnam	$91
Thailand	$113
Poland	$116
Egypt	$117

Countries where hotel prices fell the most for Australians:

Destination	Average price paid in 2014 (AUD)
Oman	-18%
Russia	-7%
Sri Lanka	-5%
Croatia	-5%
Taiwan	-4%

Top five international destinations where Australian travellers paid the most for hotels in 2014:

Destination	Average price paid in 2014 (AUD)	% change on 2013
New York	$317	7%
Rio de Janeiro	$299	14%
Cancun/Riviera Maya	$282	19%
Honolulu	$281	10%
Boston	$272	10%

Top five international destinations with the highest growth in hotel prices for Australian travellers in 2014:

Destination	Average price paid in 2014 (AUD)	% change on 2013
Morocco	$169	41%
Mauritius	$277	25%
Greece	$196	18%
Qatar	$197	17%
New Zealand	$162	15%

Change in Australian hotel prices for domestic travellers in 2014:

Destination	Average price paid in 2014(AUD)	% change on 2013
Hobart	$176	6%
Adelaide	$153	6%
Canberra	$185	4%
Brisbane	$172	2%
Sydney	$200	1%
Melbourne	$177	1%
Perth	$184	-3%
Darwin	$200	-4%

It’s a tough, competitive but rewarding business, says Ian Stuart, a 35-year Australian industry veteran. And when you get knocked back, there’s only one thing to do. Try again.

Siteseer: What are the main business-events trends this year?

Ian Stuart: Keeping programs engaging. Coming up with something fresh and interactive that works for attendees and the objectives of the host. It will involve tinkering with formats, using more interactivity, more open space to engage people and departing further from the traditional, didactic plenary classroom format.

It’ll be about recognising that attention spans are short and that you can learn a lot more if you’re taken out of your comfort zone a bit. That way, ultimately, you absorb much more content than might otherwise have been the case.

Another trend will be the drive to attract younger attendees – people who want to engage in different ways. I’m thinking more of the association market when I say this, but these are people who don’t necessarily share the same set of values as the older generation about the need to associate, and who may prefer to get their content in different ways, perhaps pre- or post-event.

The industry must communicate with them that there’s value in coming to events, that we’re changing; come along, experiment, explore and give us a go! It’s facing a cynical younger generation with short attention spans. They believe they can get all the information they need off the Internet and social media, and don’t believe they need to be lectured to. That’s a challenge.

SS: What are events organisers’ top priorities and what are they most interested in?

IS: A major one is obviously to maximise revenue. Another is to stay abreast of new technology and apps, legislation and software. If you’re an in-house meeting manager, you’ll want to prioritise costs and meet your budget and, importantly, keep content fresh. So it’s all about grappling with money, technology and content.

And as a host or organiser you do have a responsibility to ensure that your community is safe. That’s a plus for Australia. Walk through central Sydney and you don’t need to worry too much about being mugged. That’s not the case in many other cities around the world.

SS: What are Australia’s main strengths?

IS: We have qualified independent meeting planners and experienced in-house meeting people, and we do it in a fiscally responsible manner, delivering a high-quality experience. We have conference organisers and professional bodies like Meetings and Events Australia and the Professional Conference Organisers Association, with high standards. We have a range of accommodation from six-star to backpacker. For events coming into capital cities with many thousands of attendees, you can put them up, particularly if they’re paying for themselves, in accommodation to suit all pockets.

Our infrastructure is good, though it must be said that sometimes the attitudes of the people who work in those places could be sharpened. Some of it has to do with the fact that in Asia where they also have good buildings and infrastructure, they can afford more staff. There’s a correlation there.

The touring possibilities in Australia are special. You can say that about Europe or Asia too, but often it’s the opportunity to come to a conference in Australia that’s the springboard. Right now the dollar’s dropping, which is an appealing factor to inbound groups considering Australia.

Our proximity to Asia is important. If you’re an international association seeking to build membership in China or another Asian country and you run your event in Australia, it means you stand a better chance of pulling delegates from those areas – which you can’t say about Europe or the US.

We have a successful track record in this country of hosting prestigious events outside the business world, like the G20, the Olympics and APEC. Every time you have one of those it’s splashed all over the world and it’s great publicity.

SS: What can be done about the service difficulties you mentioned?

IS: It’s incumbent on the properties’ GMs to understand what service needs to be provided and really drill it down to all levels. GMs strive to do that, obviously, but sometimes economic pressures force them to overwork people and compromise.

SS: What kind of additional support for the industry in Australia would you like to see?

IS: A few months ago [Minister for Trade] Andrew Robb said the government would, at federal level, provide more support to the sector. It came about because the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux was lobbying federal departments to point out that the events they host in Australia are significant drivers of business, impacting the economy and the knowledge economy. To win these events is challenging and competitive, and whenever and wherever they happen, they’re good for the country. So instead of relying only on our state systems to support these gigs, we suggested Canberra should be lending more support. Andrew Robb agreed.

SS: Hasn’t the industry been pushing this line for years?

IS: Yes but it needed to get its act together and systematically tabulate the impact, which has started to happen. Many millions of dollars are at stake. If Australia fails to win a big bid, it’s the same as a $50 million export order going off to another country.

So the government has indicated it will get more actively involved. At state level, others are getting to grips with aligning their state’s investment priorities with meetings that support them. For example, if you’re strong in advanced manufacturing or mining technology, you’ll sniff out more business-event opportunities that align with those goals. It’ll give you a stronger case when you pitch and try to get the government involved. We do this in New South Wales quite well.

SS: There’s still endless talk in the business about CSR. What are the opportunities here, do you think?

IS: Business events have a responsibility to conduct their events in ways that minimise their footprint. But the way delegates engage with local communities is equally important and has the potential to leave a lasting legacy. It could be as simple as raising money to support a local need, like buying wheelchairs or supplying sports equipment and teaching local kids the basics of AFL, with executives actually visiting and helping the kids to learn.

It doesn’t cost much, but neither the recipients nor the participants ever forget it. By actively getting involved we all learn and remember more.

SS: Are you seeing more of that?

IS: Yes. At the 2014 international Rotary convention in Sydney, for instance, delegates raised $120,000 for their End Polio Now campaign. Three hundred and forty people gathered on Sydney harbour bridge and with 278 flags broke the world record for the biggest number of flags flying on a bridge at one time. A silly thing but it hit the media. The delegates paid to do the bridge climb, and the bridge climb company also gave a percentage of the fees to the cause. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation matched the money raised. It was fun, with a nice CSR spin-off, and the money raised was used to buy polio vaccine for 240,000 children.

SS: What in your view are the other vital issues facing the events and meetings industry?

IS: Gaining recognition for the role meetings and events play in building knowledge, the morale of delegates, and international cooperation. Meetings can be used strategically for example to bring both sides together in the event of a merger, to explain what’s happening, break down barriers.

Other issues include, internationally, the impact of health scares like ebola, SARS, avian flu and so on, and threats of terrorism – think of the mammoth cost of security at G20 – as well as air travel after the AirAsia and Malaysian Airlines disasters.

SS: What will the most successful operators be doing differently in future?

IS: Getting to grips with what their members, audiences, delegates and event owners really want and finding effective ways to communicate with them.

SS: Australian venues are often perceived to be expensive. How do they counter that?

IS: If you’re running a big international convention using one of the convention centres, the rental cost is obviously a significant part of the budget. But increasingly there’s evidence that the city fathers in some places or landlords or operators of venues are willing to forgo the rental, or some of it, in exchange for the economic impact the event will have on the city.

It’s one way to make the Australian proposition more competitive and palatable. As you know accommodation is seasonal. Right now you’d be struggling to get a five-star room in some capital cities; at other times of the year it’s different. But we have initiatives to fill those gaps. Think of the festivals put on by cities to help fill accommodation. Room prices don’t go down if you’re hosting a cricket world cup or arts festival.

SS: If I’m an events organiser and want to find out where city fathers are offering support, where should I seek help?

IS: Contact the convention visitors’ bureau in that city. Every serious city has an agency whose job is to promote its business-events capabilities and credentials as they have the key relationships with the city fathers. You go to them and say you have an inbound group of a certain composition with hundreds, or thousands, of people. It’s economically important, and therefore you strongly recommend they look at the support that can be given. If you can’t put up a good case, save it for another time.

But it’s important to remember price is only a barrier at the initial, decision-making stage, provided you get good value and quality. When you buy expensive leather shoes and they fit like a glove, you tend to forget you paid 400 bucks for them. I’m not saying we’re in the 400-dollar leather-shoe category in Australia, but we do give memorable experiences, professional event management, good variety and a generally hospitable outlook. We hear it all the time. When we’re at trade shows internationally, people say: “I’ve always wanted to go to Australia, tell me more”.

SS: What lessons have you learned in your long and illustrious career?!

IS: Never give up. If you’re representing a convention bureau, don’t give up if you get knocked back, try again. If you’ve got a product you want to sell to an event organiser, keep chipping away. In the association world if you get knocked back by an association executive, remember his or her tenure may be fragile and short-lived! Sometimes your corporate memory outlasts their time in the role, or you know stuff about history that current incumbents don’t. You’ve gained by simply being around.

For me the actual delivery of a business event has a lot to do with theatre. It calls on the same resources as a theatre production. You need to come up with a story, script, cast of actors, set, director, venue, marketing and to weigh up the financial risk. There’s enormous satisfaction when you get it all right and you get the curtain call at the end. It’s often called business theatre for that reason.

That’s part of the deal from my point of view, having been closely involved in so many events and seen it all coming together like a well-cast show. It’s not just creative in an artistic or theatrical sense, it’s creative in a financial way, doing more with less or looking for new sources of income around the product. Exposing the opportunity to people who’ve never been to Australia before. Realising that if I take my people off to a luxury resort I’m creating an uncluttered mini marketplace where I might be able to get some of my expenses defrayed by my key suppliers. Or a supplier might like to shout us dinner . . . but tread carefully if you are in pharmaceuticals or medical devices!

None of this is easy. It’s very competitive, particularly the right to be the host venue destination or country. Competition around the world realises it of course and is sharpening its act. You have to fend off attacks all over the place. Event-management companies come up with keen and creative responses to briefs and the pitches burn up a colossal amount of man hours. It’s frustrating when you don’t make the cut.

You love what you do though?

I’ve been in the business events industry in one form or another for 35 years and I still get a buzz out of it, whether it’s trying to come up with the creative pitch to win the business, or seeing an event unfold successfully, and the smiles of the attendees and the host body afterwards. Especially when they say, “bloody good, you really shone.”

IAN INSIGHTS

Born in England, Ian Stuart came to Australia in 1974. He has more than 35 years’ experience in the management and production of major conferences, exhibitions and special events, giving him special insights into the demands of the industry as well as the challenges of winning bids and bringing events to a successful conclusion.

Since 2006 he’s consulted with Business Events Sydney promoting the city and New South Wales as an international meeting and conference destination.

Previously Ian was Joint Managing Director/owner of ICMS Australasia where he oversaw business development and provided hands-on management for high-profile conferences, some with turnovers exceeding $8 million. In 2012 he received the prestigious Outstanding Contribution Award from Meetings Events Australia acknowledging his many years of honorary service to the industry and in May 2014 he chaired the business program for the MEA national conference held in Kuala Lumpur.

Crystal Liu, communications manager at the Mandarin Oriental in Macau, is a bit like the hotel, and the former Portuguese colony, itself: energetic, welcoming and engaging.

“Macau is a beautiful experience,” says Crystal, whose enthusiasm for the city and hotel is matched by that of her colleagues. “It’s older than Hong Kong, and really easy to get around. It’s also foreigner-friendly; I know because I was born and raised in Taiwan and love it here.”

The smallness of Macau, one of two “special administrative areas” of the People’s Republic of China, is an asset, she says. The exotic city is just 29.5 kilometres in area, so you can easily see the main attractions in two or three days – and that helps events organisers focus on the activities they’d like business visitors to embrace while they’re there, and absorb everything the place has to offer.

With 213 rooms and suites, the four-year-old, five-star Mandarin Oriental is also tiny by the standards of the city, some of whose massive casino hotels have 3,000 to 4,000 rooms. (Five of the world’s 10 largest casino resorts are here). Classy, luxurious and understated, it’s more like a hostelry you’d expect to find in Europe. “If you have thousands of rooms it’s difficult to provide personal service,” says Crystal. “We differentiate ourselves by being small, and handling smaller MICE groups of up to 200, so we can provide personal service which makes guests’ experience more pleasant.”

This includes the best attentions of a team of smiling, obliging staff, in-room check-ins, treatments at a spa that’s won a “Grand Jury” award in one of China’s top spa recognition programs, and meals at a splendid French restaurant (Vida Rica). The latter is a place of shimmering glass and elegant furnishings and design that’s rated as the number-one eatery in Macau on TripAdvisor, and recently won a top service award from the Macau Government Tourist Office.

At lunch at the Vida Rica one day, I tantalised my tongue with one of French chef Dominique Bugnand’s signature dishes – onion soup (below) – and fresh rolls baked on site, along with lobster-, caviar- and truffle-filled dim sims. It was sensationally good. His signature dishes include “spider crab wrapped in lobster jelly, avocado and mango sauce with Sturia caviar” (above) and “carrot mashed with orange dust and grilled shallot banana”.

An epicurean sensation

The breakfast buffets, also served here, are an epicurean sensation, an eclectic fusion of East and West, with fabulous fresh fruit – all imported – and omelettes to order jostling with noodles prepared at a buffet, sticky rice, fresh sole fillets, dim sim, salads, delicate sausage tarts, quiches, and much else.

Guests can choose to sit in the main dining area or in one of the four semi-private rooms, useful for gatherings of up to 16. For those requiring yet more intimacy, the chef’s table provides a fully private option.

As you’d expect from a marque like the Mandarin Oriental’s, the food is just one highlight of a stay at the property, set in a narrow, black glass structure at the end of a point of reclaimed land, and linked to a swish shopping mall and MGM casino. My sprawling room is serene, spacious and comfortable with cream wallpaper and blonde wood panelling. I have my own coffee machine, the bedding is of goosedown and there’s a twice-daily housekeeping service. The window gives a panoramic view of a slice of the continental coastline and South China Sea, where ships of all sizes chug to and fro.

From the hotel it’s a ten-minute walk to the centre of town, with a swag of World Heritage Sites like the A-Ma Temple, a Taoist shrine built in 1488, the Dom Pedro V, one of the first Western-style theatres in China, and St Augustine’s Church, built in 1591. Macau became a Portuguese colony in 1557 and was eventually handed back to China in 1999. But the Portuguese influence remains widely evident – in the multilingual signage and street names (like “Avenida da Ponte da Amizade”), and smatterings of the language you hear being spoken by passers-by.

Macau International Airport and the China border are 10 minutes away by car, and the Hong Kong-Macau ferry terminal is a five-minute drive. You can directly access Hong Kong airport by ferry in 45 minutes and central Hong Kong in an hour. Cost: about AUD25.

Gambling hiatus

“Macau is the only place in the world where you get a mix of Portuguese and Chinese style,” says Crystal Liu, pictured above. “Around 70% of our visitors are from mainland China. We also get visitors from Australia, a key target market, the US, Europe and Taiwan, which is one hour and twenty minutes’ flying time away.”

Many visitors obviously come to Macau to gamble. Interestingly, the gambling sector’s winning run came to an abrupt halt recently when growth in its annual, USD44 billion earnings fell as a result of the Chinese government’s drive to cut corruption and over-the-top spending by public-sector employees. But this hiatus is widely expected to last a year at most.

In many ways Macau is a “weekend city”, says Crystal, with a huge influx of visitors coming across the border from the mainland and from Hong Kong on Fridays. A road link to Hong Kong in a year or two will make access easier still.

That’s why, she adds, if your schedule allows it’s better to organise conferences and events at the Mandarin Oriental during the week: you get a better rate. There’s also less traffic and the attractions like the temples and churches have fewer visitors.

“The number of hotels here is growing all the time, and with more new properties coming on stream and more competition, it can only be good for visitors.”

When to go

In addition to considering weekdays to get the best deals, some events planners may want to avoid September, when people crowd into the city for fireworks displays, and November when the Formula 1 grand prix is happening and rates are higher. But at any time there’s plenty to do, from bungy jumping to museum visits. “The cultural scene is very enjoyable, but it’s more than that,” says Crystal. “It’s a unique place; there’s nothing else quite like it.”

As the only non-gaming five-star hotel on the Macau Peninsula, the Mandarin Oriental Macau promotes itself as a useful venue for quiet, focused meetings and conferences. It has four dedicated event spaces including a 320-square-metre ballroom which can be separated into two smaller function rooms. These have large sea-view windows and a spacious pre-function area.

From HKD 2,288 (AUD 370) year-round, based on availability

The hotel’s website advertises “the best and most flexible rates” along with complimentary transfers for guests booking a suite, and a variety of other special deals. The “Ultimate Spa Escape Package,” for example, starts from around USD570 and includes a night’s accommodation in a guestroom or suite, buffet breakfast for two, a two-hour signature treatment for two at the spa and more. Another “Macau Cultural Discovery Package” deal offers tours of the city.

To find out more email momac-reservations@mohg.com.

The Siteseer was a guest of Mandarin Oriental Macau.

Industry planners seeking to organise engaging MICE events that come in under budget will have new options from November 2015. That’s when P&O Cruises Australia adds two ships with dedicated conference space to its existing fleet.

Events afloat, especially incentives, have been around as an option for decades now. But interest in meetings on cruise ships has surged in recent months since P&O began work on a new offer – with the theme of “leave earth for your next conference”.

It’s based on a key factor that appeals to events organisers, explains Rebecca Mutanen (below, left), Senior Sales Manager for P&O Cruises Australia: shorter cruises. Over 40% of the company’s business now consists of two- to four-night itineraries.

And it expects growth to accelerate when its new ships arrive, because the former Holland America vessels now re-named Pacific Aria (whose atrium is pictured, below) and Pacific Eden (immediately below) have dedicated conference facilities capable of handling up to 200.

P&O Cruises has catered for meetings of hundreds of people already on its existing ships by being flexible with the use of space on board and breaking up sessions to run sequentially, Rebecca says. “However we’ve knocked back a lot of business because of that, with organisers saying they actually need at least two full days of conference. With the new ships we’ll have formal conference space as well as plenty of room for break-outs so we can really knock their socks off.”

Staterooms, venue hire, main meals, entertainment and so on are all included in the price, she says. Other than beverages there’s no added cost, or any daily delegate charges on top.

Changing perceptions

P&O’s own research indicates that many organisers still don’t understand the conferences-afloat concept – or they think it’s hugely expensive – which is why its now focusing on combating the perception a conference on a ship is frivolous, or “not serious enough,” as Rebecca puts it.

One company that needed little convincing is an equipment manufacturer that took 350 delegates along with 150 partners and kids for a conference on Pacific Dawn in June. On this seven-night voyage to the Pacific Islands, the organisers arranged a product launch on board, and it also served as an incentive trip for suppliers. For such events, or for any group of more than 150, a head-office staffer from P&O sails with delegates to troubleshoot.

P&O has hosted technology, finance and pharmaceutical companies as well as associations in this way. Some organisations have tougher internal regulations for getting such events across the line than others, Rebecca observes, but as awareness grows, more and more are in favour.

Three- and four-nighters

From November most of the three-nighters on the two new ships will be from Sydney and Brisbane. They’re round trips, so the vessel itself is the destination, though some offer a port call. That includes a cruise from Melbourne which goes to Burnie in Tasmania and sailings from Brisbane to Moreton Island.

Some four-night cruises from Sydney also head for Moreton Island, with a full day at the resort township of Tangalooma where there are plenty of opportunities for team building, like sand tobogganing rides and dolphin-feeding. Other four-night options from Sydney include calls at the Mornington Peninsula, the Hunter and Sunshine Coast.

Whatever floats your boat

For the rest of the time, après-conference guests have the whole ship to enjoy, Rebecca says. “Go in the bars, or do any of over 60 activities a day; you can catch a show or just hang out with colleagues on deck. There’s a lot of added benefit in networking from having your delegates all in one spot, and the event planners don’t have to organise anything.”

In many cases where delegates want their partners to accompany them, organisers will choose a cruise that includes a weekend.

Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden will be in dry dock and undergoing refurbishment before arriving in Australia. P&O’s three existing ships, Pacific Pearl, Pacific Jewel (whose main theatre is pictured, left) and Pacific Dawn – which has just been refurbished – will continue to operate in Australian waters.

Less than $300 per day

P&O has done a breakdown of conference costs on board for a three-night conference/incentive cruise compared with a city four-star hotel. Given that, inter alia, function space is complimentary and there are no additional transport or logistical costs, the ballpark cost per delegate per day is $290 compared with $347 for the hotel.

“That’s being quite generous [to the hotel],” says Rebecca Mutanen. “You have all your main meals including a gala dinner for which we section off a part of the restaurant, venue space, state-of-the-art AV, technicians on hand and so on. There’s no better time in the MICE market to be offering such an experience that allows planners to come in under budget.”

Email:

Rebecca.Mutanen@pocruises.com.au

mice@pocruises.com.au

Watch the video below for more exciting images:

Wind buffets my body and raindrops patter against my backpack as I trudge along the Routeburn Track in New Zealand’s South Island. All around me are the towering grey peaks of the Southern Alps, including the distinctive wedged shape of Mount Emily.

Although this is midsummer, the mountains are flecked with snow and I’m wearing thermals to keep out the chill. In a valley below, a pair of keas – parrots that inhabit the high country – flick by giving shrill, piping cries.

My wife and I are into the second day of a three-day trek into the wild and wonderful alpine country of Fiordland National Park. On day one, in fine weather, we’d traversed mossy native beech forests before stopping for the night at a lodge at pristine Lake Mackenzie.

Today the weather has closed in, but it’s no surprise. This is one of the wettest regions of New Zealand. It’s no hardship as it happens; it all adds to the exhilarating experience. Moreover Ultimate Hikes in Queenstown has kitted us out with most of the gear we need before we left, from back packs to raincoats and sleepsheets.

While some of the ascents have undeniably been hard work, none of the tramping on the well-graded tracks has been too taxing. And we’ve been thoroughly looked after. One of our guides, Ryan Kelly, has stayed at the back of the party to make sure no one gets lost and to keep stragglers company. “No hurry,” he assures us. “We can take as long as we like.”

The Routeburn track is 32 kilometres long, though the walk spans 40 kilometres, including optional detours off the main path to peaks known as Key Summit and Conical Hill. It starts with a two-hour bus trip from Queenstown to the Great Divide, near the town of Te Anau. From here the first day’s walk includes an optional stop and climb to Key Summit, where we look down into three valleys from which water flows west, south and east.

On day two we tramp 15 kilometres along the Hollyford Face, skirting Lake Harris, a glacial tarn surrounded by an enchanting native garden of mountain daisies and edelweiss.

Then on day three it’s a relatively easy ten-kilometre descent through dense forests along the Routeburn river. The bus picks us up at a pre-arranged spot and ferries us back to Queenstown, stopping at the pub in Glenorchy on the way.

An especially appealing feature of the Routeburn walk is its accommodation. Each of the two lodges – at Lake Mackenzie and Routeburn Falls – sleeps 40 guests in a combination of private ensuite bedrooms and comfortable bunk rooms, four-to-a-room. Like ski lodges, they each have a common room where guests can buy beer and wine and where the staff miraculously whip up a first-rate meal with supplies mostly supplied by helicopter. The RT Falls lodge is pictured here. (Picture courtesy of Ultimate Hikes).

Like the other members of our group, we ended our journey leg-weary but well-fed and happy – and with our appetite for more high-country tramping well whetted.

NZD1,225

The price, as advertised on the ‘net, starts at NZD1,225. The 40km (24.4miles) trek takes three days, and departs every day of the week except for Thursdays and Saturdays, from November to April.

Call +64 3 450 1940 or visit www.ultimatehikes.co.nz. Email info@ultimatehikes.co.nz.

Madrid Fusión, the annual Spanish gastronomy congress to be held in Manila in April, represents a great opportunity for events planners, says Consuelo G. Jones, Australia and New Zealand Tourism Attaché for the Philippine Department of Tourism.

“More than ever, food is a vital component of the MICE business, and events and incentive organisers are increasingly making their plans and engaging their participants based on culinary considerations, Consuelo told The Siteseer. “By linking wonderful, inspiring meals to the purpose and themes of events, they can boost the value of any experience.”

Anyone in the meetings and events business who understands that food represents a great opportunity to build connections and inspire teamwork will benefit from attending the show, she adds. It also gives chefs, food aficionados, and food-and-beverage professionals a chance to pick up and share ideas and new products.

They’ll learn the latest culinary trends and techniques from Michelin-grade Spanish chefs and celebrity chefs from the Philippines and Asia, and discuss technological innovations and revolutionary techniques.

Organised annually since 2003, Madrid Fusión is the most important Spanish food congress, Consuelo says. This year it’ll incorporate three events: an international gastronomy congress for chefs, a trade exhibition where F&B companies showcase premium products, and a “Flavors of the Philippines” festival in which the country’s restaurants, hotels, bars, malls and weekend markets pitch in to feature special local food offerings, like the renowned Flipino adobo (pictured below).

The show will be held from April 24-26 at the SMX Convention Center in Manila’s Pasay City. It’s a joint partnership between the Philippines’ Department of Tourism and the Tourism Promotions Board, along with Madrid Fusión organisers Foro de Debate and Arum Estrategias de Internacionalización.

For more information, go to: www.madridfusionmanila.com.

Or email: flavorsofthephilippines@madridfusionmanila.com or call +632 832 5401.