Northstar

On The Ground 8 NOV-DEC 2018 MEETINGS & CONVENTIONS MCMAG-ASIA.COM CruiseWorld Asia 2018 Creating waves of change Themed 'Cashing in on Asia's Cruise Tourism', the conference invited cruise specialists who shared their expertise in areas such as cruise marketing, river cruises, fly-cruises, themed cruises, halal cruising, MICE and more. Among the senior industry executives who spoke at the conference were Angie Stephen, associate vice president & managing director, Asia Pacific, Royal Caribbean Cruises (Asia); Michael Goh, senior vice president - international sales, Genting Cruise Lines; Annie Chang, director of cruise, policy & planning group, Singapore Tourism Board, and Steven Ler, executive director, head of travel, UOB Travel Planners Pte Ltd. This year's conference attracted a 20% increase in delegates, with participation from new markets such as India and Myanmar. Participants from overseas markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines have also increased in this second edition. Following the successful editions of CruiseWorld Asia, the inaugural CruiseWorld Hong Kong will be held December 10 at The Ritz- Carlton, Hong Kong. WORDS MEETINGS & CONVENTIONS ASIA (TOP LEFT) ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES Industry leaders at CruiseWorld Asia 2018 will increase and non- traditional venues will grow in popularity. It also offers recommendations to planners looking at each area. In the Asia Pacific region, BCD sees flat pricing as strong demand is met by a growing supply of venues. There are some exceptions, among them, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Australia and New Zealand. In Europe, the Middle East and Asia, price increases are highly likely, barring a crisis. And European hotels may follow the North American practice of cutting planners' hotel booking commissions. As for other trends, the growing use of technology at meetings and events will provide more data, and the opportunity to use that data to achieve objectives and show return on investment, as well as streamline the event planning and management process. Talking a high-level view of the attendee experience will enable planners and event organisers to look at MICE events more strategically, with a "bird's eye view of the overall experience." And while demand for the outcomes of a strategic meeting management programme are more essential than ever, funding for SMM is under pressure, especially in North America where commission cuts are pressuring budgets. Industry report Price hikes for planners BCD Meetings and Events has released an in-depth report on the trends facing the meetings, incentives, conventions and events industry in 2019, and no surprise, price hikes are in the offing in most places. The report, What's Trending 2019, looks at all four regions of the world individually and then focuses on three broader trends: using the growing amount of data coming from increasingly digitised events; aligning event experience design with attendees; and concern for funding of strategic meetings management programs. The report explores all five regions of the world individually, noting that in many areas, prices

• Cover