1 DAY AGO - Etihad Destination & Leisure Management and MCI Middle East have announced a partnership designed to offer travel management services and special rate MICE packages for programmes serviced by MCI in Abu Dhabi throughout 2021 and 2022. Etihad Airways becomes the official airline for MCI’s groups coming into Abu Dhabi where the airline can support internationally through their connectivity.  This new agreement enables MCI to offer clients Etihad’s conference package at a special rate, which includes event entrance, flights, hotel accommodation and ground transportation. Hareb Al Muhairy, senior vice-president destination and leisure management, Etihad Airways, said: “2020 has been a year like no other, and many conferences and events have turned to virtual formats over in-person conferences. We’re looking forward to working with MCI over the next two years as Covid-19 restrictions are eased and we begin to see events taking place on the ground in our home, Abu Dhabi. “Abu Dhabi has Collapse

1 DAY AGO - Australia’s business events sector came together to attend ‘The Turn of Events, Bringing Business Events Back’ in a nationwide hub and spoke format on 16 September. The collaboration aimed at kickstarting the business event sector in Australia and organiser Arinex’s CEO, Nicole Walker said she was proud to bring together 25 organisations to showcase business event readiness. Live and virtual events from six capital cities in Australia launched the process of reigniting the passion to 500 business event planners and associations in Australia and globally. Keynote speaker, Patrizia Buongiorno, vice-president of AIM Group International and co-chair of the International Conference Organiser Network (INCON), spoke on global readiness, sharing examples of recent European events and how they had innovated to enable safe and practical meetings and exhibitions. Dr Vanessa Findlay from Business Events Council Australia (BECA), provided details about the newly announced A$50m business events Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - Conventions and Incentives New Zealand (CINZ) has announced the appointment Ani Santos as communications and projects coordinator. Santos previously worked for The Conference Company, first as delegate services coordinator, and later as sponsorship and exhibition coordinator. CINZ chief executive, Lisa Hopkins said: “Santos is passionate about events, and has learned from the very best at The Conference Company. She will be a tremendous asset to CINZ and our members, and we warmly welcome her to our dynamic small team.” Santos begins her new role with CINZ based in Auckland on 21 September. The post Ani Santos moves to CINZ appeared first on CMW. Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - The French MICE event Heavent Meetings was able to open its doors in the Palais des Festivals Cannes at the beginning of September. (A)LIVE, the outdoor conferences which involved speakers from the event industry and the mayor of Cannes, was an integral part of an event that attracted 350 exhibitors, 500 speakers and 1,850 participants in person. In order to comply with French government health constraints, Heavent organisers put in place a number of health and safety measures, including a one-way system, social distancing, mandatory facemasks, multiple hand sanitiser dispensers and a dedicated waste disposal system. Franck Riester, the French minister delegate for foreign trade and economic attractiveness said via Twitter: “Heavent Meetings has opened its doors: this proves that tradeshows can be held when strict compliance with sanitary rules is respected, and thus contribute to the recovery of our economy.” The post Heavent Meetings: the first major MICE event held in France since Collapse

3 DAYS AGO - Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) has announced the formation of a new Business Events Stakeholders Committee. His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, director general of Dubai Tourism, chaired the committee’s inaugural meeting on 14 September at Dubai World Trade Centre, updating members on the latest progress in reactivating the sector in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and facilitating discussions around opportunities and challenges. Comprising of industry stakeholders, the committee, which will meet regularly throughout the year, aims to “provide a platform for two-way dialogue around the continuous strategic and operational development of Dubai’s position as a host city for international business events”. Among the participants in the inaugural session were senior officials from airlines, venues, hotels, destination management companies (DMCs) and professional congress organisers (PCOs). Organisations represented included Collapse

3 DAYS AGO - International event organiser and venue company GL events has released its (H1) approved financial statements, which show a big drop in revenues and a company strategy focused on preserving liquidity. Chairman and CEO Olivier Ginon (pictured), announcing the results approved by the GL events’ Board of Directors on 15 September 2020, said: “After a record performance in 2019, the Group entered the crisis with solid fundamentals. The health crisis, unprecedented in terms of its suddenness and severity, has significantly impacted our businesses. In this context, the Group responded very quickly and has adapted. We have significantly reduced our costs (€69m at 30 June 2020) and preserved our cash. We have also benefited from support measures adopted by the government (government-backed loans, a national furlough scheme). “All our offerings have been developed to comply with the most rigorous health regulations. And while visibility remains limited for the upcoming months, I’m Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - Colombia’s capital has long been known for its historic old city, La Candelaria, as well as being a gateway to the Andes. Now Bogota is preparing itself for the time when it can reopen again to the thousands of international visitors keen to experience one of the greatest Latin-American capitals. To allow a safe reopening, biosafety protocols have been established and are being tested in the service sectors related to the MICE industry. Of course, progress is dependent on Colombia getting the spread of the coronavirus under control. Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport is part of this effort -third ranked in terms of passenger numbers in Latin America. In 2020 the airport was a four Skytrax star rated facility and management has, since April, been implementing a range of biosafety protocols. While commercial operations have been on pause, the terminal has also been the main point of supply for medical devices and medicines, processing around 30,000 tons of cargo. The Colombian Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - Sarawak’s minister of tourism, arts and culture Datuk Karim Rahman Hamzah, has said the impact of business events on the state’s economy was RM1.6bn (US390m) since 2006. The minister was releasing new statistics at the Business Events Tribal Meet @ Sibu event. The industry gathering, organised by Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak), also highlighted the development of the corporate meetings and incentives segment and its power to generate business in future. In 2019, Sarawak had a bidding success rate of 94% by securing 99 business events worth an estimated RM122.71m in direct delegate expenditure. Corporate meetings and incentives will become one of the focuses in 2021 for the state’s economic development, with the aim being to increase the market share by at least 20% over the next five years in line with the objectives of the Sarawak Economic Action Council (SEAC). Datuk Karim Rahman Hamzah added that “the new development of our corporate meetings and incentives segment is to Collapse

5 DAYS AGO - Organisers of FIEXPO 2020, which had postponed the traditional June show this year until the end of November in Colombia, have now taken the decision to postpone again, until June 2021. “As professionals passionate about what we do and fully convinced of the importance of our industry to all countries economically, culturally and in terms of human development, until now we had tried to hold the FIEXPO event in person,” the statement from FIEXPO Exhibitions Group said. “Unfortunately, due to government provisions regarding events, we are forced to postpone it for 7-9 June, 2021 in Cartagena, Colombia. “These months have been full of uncertainties; a lot of efforts were made, and we worked hard looking for alternatives, studying protocols, re-designing spaces and analysing all the measures that needed to be implemented to ensure the health of all. The latter has always been a priority for us, and we take the task of protecting something as valuable as the safety of our collaborators, Collapse