 IT&CMA and CTW Asia-Pacific is partnering ICCA, IMEX, PCMA, and SITE – four of the industry’s biggest associations and trendsetters for its brand new learning festival DDFI.
Slated as the first knowledge segment of the 3-day doublebill event, the inaugural festival features four parallel themes close to the hearts of industry professionals, each helmed by one of its content partners. Themes will run concurrently over 3 hours - across different locations at official venue Bangkok Convention Centre from 0900 to 1200 hrs on 22 September 2020.  The Harmony World Puppet Channel Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand has boosted its mega-events industry, with the completion of online events derived from successful festivals.
“The Harmony World Puppet Channel” and “Bangkok Music City” demonstrated that resilience and innovation are well and truly present in the Thai events industry with an in-depth understanding of global audience behavior of Thailand’s festival organisers, when they both took place in April and May.  Source ICCA (Infographics from AACB) The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Statistics Report for city and country rankings in 2019 has been released on 12 May 2020. The country rankings show strong regional competition with China-PR move to 7th place (539 meetings), Japan 8th (527 meetings) and Republic of Korea 13th (248 meetings). Australia has moved up from 13th to 12th position with a total of 272 international association meetings held in 2019. For the city ranking, the total number of international association meetings held in Taipei City reached 101, raising Taipei from 6th to 5th place among Asian international meeting cities, after Singapore, Tokyo, Bangkok, and Seoul. The city’s international ranking improved from 20th to 19th. The report ICCA examines the global association meetings market. It recorded a total of 13,254 rotating international association meetings taking place in 2019 – an increase of 2.5 per cent compared against the same time in 2018. “This is a fantastic result for Australia against strong regional competition and is reflective of the progressive work that convention bureaux are undertaking across the country in partnership with their State and Territory Governments and the industry operators they represent. It also recognises the strong support offered nationally by the Australian Government through initiatives such as Tourism Australia’s Business Events Bid Fund Program.  Limit the number of attendees (1 person per 2-sqm space), Photo courtesy of TCEB TCEB has developed the MICE Venue Hygiene Guidelines in collaboration with its stakeholders, which include Thailand Incentive and Convention Association (TICA), Thai Exhibition Association (TEA), Event Management Association (EMA) and Thai Hotels Association (THA). The Guidelines aims to help MICE entrepreneurs be well-prepared for the resumption of businesses under the new normal environment, where hygiene and health safety will be key concerns and when more relaxation of lockdown measures is on the way. This follows positive signs of COVID-19 pandemic situation and the gradual easing of lockdown by the government.
The Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) has delivered a set of strategic principles to Government that instills confidence in Australia’s business events industry so that COVID-19 restrictions can be safely lifted and the industry can rapidly restart.
The news coincides with the unveiling of the three-step plan to lift COVID-19 restrictions by the Government last Friday. While welcomed by BECA, the peak industry body and its Safety and Hygiene Subcommittee are now seeking to work closely with officials to ensure a robust and sustainable distinction can be made between highly organised and managed business events in controlled settings from mass gatherings – to further expedite the industry’s recovery.  Changi Airport's Terminal 4 suspends operations. (Photo courtesy of Changi Airport Group) Following the suspension of operations in Terminal 2 (T2), Singapore Changi Airport’s terminal operations will be consolidated further to optimise resources in tandem with the sharp decline in flight movements because of the global Covid-19 pandemic. This move will enable Changi Airport Group (CAG) and its airport partners to continue to save on running costs such as utilities and cleaning.
From 16 May 2020, Terminal 4 (T4) operations will be temporarily suspended in view of the small number of flights still operating in the terminal. Airlines currently based in T4 will operate out of Terminals 1 (T1) or 3 (T3) instead. With this, the stores and restaurants in T4 will close and the shuttle bus service connecting to T3 will be suspended until operations in T4 resume. The timing of this will depend on when air travel demand picks up and on the requirements of airlines seeking to relaunch flights at Changi Airport. “The challenges before us are great and there is no quick fix, which is why we have embarked on a process that will be extremely thorough and will address the concerns that communities and authorities expect to see us confront,” Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and its cruise line members have begun creating a new health framework to uphold the safety of guests and prepare for future operations in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
CLIA Australasia & Asia Managing Director Joel Katz said the industry was working with medical experts and health authorities internationally to lay a new foundation for the cruise sector as it prepared for its long-term recovery.  Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, President of TCEB Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has announced two projects focusing on digital-based MICE services and health safety standard.
The first called “Virtual Meeting Space” (VMS) will help MICE entrepreneurs run business events online and re-skill their employees via virtual platforms. The second, called “Simple Ways to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 in Your Meetings and Events”, offers MICE venue owners and operators an incentive to upgrade their safety and health standards. The two projects are in response to the business disruptions brought about by COVID-19 and lockdown measures worldwide. Singapore Changi Airport handled 1.65 million passenger movements in March 2020, a decrease of 70.7% compared to the same period last year. Aircraft movements declined by 49.9% to 16,200 landings and takeoffs, while airfreight throughput dropped 19.1% to 149,000 tonnes for the month.
Air travel demand remained significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, with all regions recording steep declines in March. For the last seven days of the month, passenger movements at Changi Airport were 98% lower than they were a year ago. Flight movements similarly declined sharply during the same period, by 87% year-on-year. The fall in airfreight throughput during the month was impacted by the decrease in bellyhold capacity on passenger flights. Both import and export flows have also seen contraction. For the first quarter of the year, Changi Airport registered 11.0 million passenger movements, a decrease of 32.7% year-on-year. Aircraft movements declined 20.1% to 75,900 while airfreight throughput fell 8% to 453,000 tonnes. Due to stricter travel restrictions put in place by countries around the world, airlines have cancelled many flights. For the month of April 2020, the number of scheduled flights at Changi Airport is about 96% fewer compared to what was originally scheduled.  ITE Hong Kong 2020, comprising the 34th ITE (Leisure) & 15th ITE MICE, has been postponed to August 6 to 9, 2020. Designated as the Recovery Edition, ITE will be the first travel fair held after outbreak in Greater Bay Area, which includes China's top cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, other Guangdong cities and Macau with a combined GDP comparable to the world's 13th largest economy.
|
About MICEreviewMICEreview provides features, reviews and news on destinations and venues for meetings, incentives, conventions, exhibition and business travels. Archives
June 2020
A Media Affiliate of:
To register:
|
