18th 19th JULY 2014

Email: [email protected].
au
Ofcial Exhition Sponsor Sponsors
CO-LOCATED
WITH THE AFTA
NATIONAL TRAVEL
INDUSTRY AWARDS
18th ~ 19th JULY 2014
ROYAL HALL OF INDUSTRIES SYDNEY
REASONS TO VISIT
Experience the latest travel products
Fantastic prizes, including overseas holidays
Travel industry seminar program
TO REGISTER CLICK HERE
Gain industry knowledge and insight
Compare products and services
Network with travel industry professionals

travelindustryexpo.com.au
thetravelindustryexhibition @thetravelexpo
Media Partner Co-located with
18 ~ 19 JULY 2014
business events news
14th July 2014
Editor: Jill Varley
[email protected]
www.businesseventsnews.com.au
1300 799 220
business events news Page 1
Beware,
take care!
WHEREVER you
tread
No matter
how
experienced
you are at travelling, beware!
Needing a visa for an upcoming
India trip, I applied online.
I put India Online Visa into my
search engine and a website,
India Visa Services (www.india-
visas.com), came up.
I flled in the three page form,
paid the requested fee and
the following day went to the
India Consulate in Pitt Street to
present the form and my photo.
Not only was I told I was at the
wrong ofce (the Visa Ofce is in
Kent Street), but that the form
was on a bogus site, to which I
had paid a visa fee of $100!
For the unwary, the form and
the questions are virtually the
same except it requests that you
pay the fee online and submit the
form to the Visa ofce.
Please note, the real India Visa
site is www.vfs-in-au.net.
But wait, theres more.
At the Visa Ofce in Kent Street,
I told them my story and asked
if they had a form I could fll in.
No, I was told, it had to be done
online and without a laptop or
printer it meant coming back
another day.
Fortunately I knew of industry
colleagues in the same building
who graciously gave me the use
of a computer and printer.
Form duly completed, I
returned to the Visa Ofce, took a
ticket and waited my turn. There
were 14 people ahead of me in
the queue.
Ten minutes later a large
clanging noise was heard it was
the fre alarm and everyone was
evacuated from the building. As
it was past lunchtime I went to a
local caf and an hour or so later
returned to the now open Visa
Ofce, to be fourth in line.
Finally after four hours of to-ing
and fro-ing, I submitted the visa
request.
I swear, I thought I was in a
Month Python skit.
Jill
Three pages today
BEN has two pages of
editorial plus a full page from
(click):
The Travel Industry
Exhibiton
www.clubmedgroups.com.au
1 800 258 263
A unique event deserves a unique location
Take your conference to breathtaking China.
Marriott re-imagines
WHEN Marriot Hotels started
navel gazing about the future of
meetngs in its more than 4,000
hotels around the world and
more than 160 in the Asia Pacifc
region, it recognised that what
lay ahead was very much in the
hands of the upcoming X and Y
generatons.
Marriot global sales South Asia
regional director Avril Northridge
(pictured lef), speaking at Water
at Pier One Sydney last week said
the company asked the queston,
Are we keeping up?
So in 2012 we went out
in North America to conduct
research from the point of view
of corporate meetng planners,
the decision makers, the people
who do all the heavy work on a
day to day basis and the actual
end users.
What Marriot arrived at was
a new online platorm for event
planners, Meetngs Imagined.
Marriot Hotels also
implemented the re-imagining
of traditonal meetng spaces
to service a growing demand
for more inspiring and creatve
work environments, including
re-thinking everything from
boardrooms, breakouts and
pre-functon spaces, taking a
holistc approach to meetngs
and integratng service, mobile
technology and contemporary
design.
It also introduced the app
Red Coat Direct for meetng
planners (BEN 19 Feb) which is
now available for use in Australia
at hotels such as Sydney Harbour
Marriot Hotel.
Ta ta Taj BLUE
WITH just one Taj Hotel in
Australia, the sale of BLUE Sydney
has been announced by Samsara
Propertes Limited, an ofshore
wholly owned subsidiary of The
Indian Hotels Company Limited.
The buyer is the Hong Kong
based Hind Hotels & Propertes
Group, which operates hotels and
serviced apartments under the
Ovolo brand.
The transacton, valued at
$32m, is subject to conditons
and is scheduled to be completed
by 31 Oct.
The Taj Group said the sale did
not refect any diminuton of the
groups interest in the Australian
market but had been undertaken
as part of its strategy to focus
on markets which were core to
operatons and to create liquidity
to fund the companys ongoing
expansion in such markets.
Asia Pacifc and partcularly
China have been identfed as
targets for expansion.
Taj Hotels said it was proud of
its record managing BLUE Sydney,
which it acquired in 2006 and
had operated with excellent
occupancy rates.
ACB targets health
THE Adelaide Conventon
Bureau (ACB) has said it is upping
its push to atract conferences
from the health sector to
capitalise on the governments
investment in health industry
events.
ACB ceo Damien Kito said
it was working with the state
governments HealthInSA to
identfy natonal and internatonal
conference opportunites.
Adelaide is set to host 37 events
through to 2017.
This was projected to generate
about $97.4m for the state
economy, he said.
A further 15 conferences with a
combined 12,000 delegates have
already been identfed with the
bidding processes currently in the
pipeline.
Health Industries Minister Jack
Snelling said the government
was pleased to support the ACB
to assist in atractng events to
Adelaide.
Indigenous Champs
TOURISM Australia (TA) has
acknowledged the Indigenous
Champions in its joint initatve
with Indigenous Business
Australia that looked to build the
reputaton of Indigenous tourism
operators internatonally through
the Champion product.
About 14% of internatonal
visitors took part in an Aboriginal
cultural experience to , worth
$6.5b annually, Tourism Australia
said.
The number of Champions had
more than doubled at 51 this
year, md John OSullivan said.
business events news Page 2
business events news
14th July 2014
CONTACT US:
Publisher Editor Contributor/Coordinator
Bruce Piper Jill Varley Alex Walls
For advertising enquiries email Sean Harrigan & Katrina Ford:
[email protected]
P: 1300 799 220 F: 1300 799 221
PO Box 1010 Epping, NSW, 1710
Business Events News is part of the Travel Daily group of publications
which also include: Travel Daily, Cruise Weekly & Pharmacy Daily.
Disclaimer:While every care has been taken in the preparaton of Business Events News no liability can be
accepted for errors or omissions. BEN takes no responsibility for the opinions of its contributors/columnists.
Informaton is published in good faith to stmulate independent investgaton of the maters canvassed.
...and you thought the
fat bed, sleep seat wasnt as
comfortable as its cracked up to
be, especially as you sleep with
your seatbelt done up.
Think again - its pure luxury
in comparison to the idea of a
vertical passenger seat.
With fight ticket costs getting
beyond the pale, Fairuz Romli, an
aerospace engineering professor
at the University of Putra
Malaysia, came up with the idea
of the vertical seat.
In a report published in the
IACSIT International Journal of
Engineering and Technology,
Romli said the vertical passenger
seat, or standing cabin, may be
the next big cost-cutting move in
aviation and could be here within
fve years.
He says his motivation is to
lower the cost of air travel to a
level competitive with buses and
trains.
I stumbled across the idea
when I was looking into ways to
reduce the fight ticket price, he
told CNN.
A frequent fyer, Romni used
the popular Boeing 737-300 as an
example and his study calculates
that a standing cabin would lead
to a 21% increase in passenger
capacity while dropping ticket
prices by as much as 44%.
Still, its nothing new.
The idea has already been
researched most notably by
Airbus, Spring Airlines and
Ryanair, while a perching saddle
developed by Aviointeriors S.p.A.,
was unveiled in 2010.
crumbs!
Las Vegas targets biz ev
THE Las Vegas Conventon and
Visitors Authority has set its
eyes on the meetngs and events
market, unveiling two advertsing
campaigns aimed at showing Las
Vegas stuf as a premier venue
for hostng memorable and cost
efectve business events.
One campaign fosuses on
the business to business
market of meetngs and events
professionals, called Neon Signs.
The campaign aims to show
these professionals that Las Vegas
can add sparkle and life to events
and meetngs, with a two-fold
approach.
The frst part of the campaign
uses the tagline Las Vegas Makes
Every Meetng Excitng and
features digital and print ads with
boring sounding meetngs jazzed
up, Las Vegas style.
The second part of the
campaign, launching in 2015,
uses the tagline Las Vegas
Makes Events More Eventul and
again uses digital and print ads
featuring common meetng items
that have been Las Vegas-fed.
The other campaign targets
high level executves who make
the fnal decision on corporate
meetng venue selecton and is
called Entertain You.
The print and digital ads
emphasise return on investment.
The Centre said the meetngs
and conventon industry was
critcal to Las Vegas economy
and a key growth market, with
more than 22,000 meetngs,
events, conventons and trade
shows a year.
A Blu in China
AN AGREEMENT has been
announced between Carlson
Rezidor and resort developer
CUTC Chongqing Easpring
Hot Spring Development for
the development of Radisson
Blu Resort Chongqing BeiBei
in Chongqing, China, Carlson
Rezidors fourth hotel in the
Southwestern metropolis of
Chongqing.
The 280 room new build hotel
is scheduled for completon in
2015.
Part of a 222,000 sqm mixed
development called Yishang
Mountain Hot Spring Town, it
includes a hot spring and spa,
high-end residences, commercial
space and leisure facilites.
Radisson Blu Resort Chongqing
BeiBei will have three restaurants
and a variety of meetng spaces.
Thai visitor #s up
DESPITE the recent politcally-
actvated unrest afectng
Thailand and in partcular
Bangkok, the Tourism Authority
of Thailand reports that visitor
arrival statstcs for the period
January to May show there has
been litle impact on Australian
visitor numbers.
Visitor arrivals from January
to May are reported to have
increased 0.29% year on year to
353,044 for the period.
Tourism Authority of Thailand
director Australia Numfon
Boonyawat said the situaton had
now calmed across the country.
USA in Aus events
DESTINATION marketng
organisatons NYC & Company,
New York State, Destnaton DC
and VISIT FLORIDA have kicked
of the East Coast USA Mission,
a series of events including
b2b meetngs and agent expos
designed to beter package and
showcase the East Coast USA
destnatons to the Australasian
market.
The mission starts in Sydney
today, hits Melbourne on 16 Jul
and fnishes in Auckland on 17
Jul.
A virtual BridgeClimb
IF YOU have been considering
a BridgeClimb as part of a
conference actvity but have
people with issues about heights,
theres a soluton at hand.
BridgeClimb has launched
a responsive version of
bridgeclimb.com, taking users
on a voyage from the desk to
the top of the Sydney Harbour
Bridge through a series of images,
inspiring video content and social
interactons.
CLICK HERE for more.
Ngamoowalem EOIs
REGISTRATIONS of interest
are open for tourism operators
to develop new visitor
experiences on Aboriginal land
in Ngamoowalem Conservaton
Park, as part of the Naturebank
program.
Tourism WA said many diferent
ventures could be developed -
CLICK HERE for more.

18th 19th JULY 2014

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

18th 19th JULY 2014

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

18th 19th JULY 2014

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Email: [email protected].

You might also like