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News British Airways urges you to sleep SINGAPORE – For travellers crossing time zones, jet lag can be the biggest challenge, but British Airways has found that whilst most people understood how they get jet lag, 67 per cent of people surveyed don't know how to manage it. The airline's study on passengers' inflight sleeping habits is the first research of its kind. So what exactly is jet lag? According to Dr. Chris Idzikowski, one of the UK's leading authorities on sleep and British Airways' appointed sleep advisor, light is one of the primary cues that the internal body clock uses to maintain a link with the outside world. Flying across time zones puts the body into new patterns of light and activity more quickly than the body clock can adjust to it. Confusing the body clock like this is what causes jet lag. Travel fatigue is also something travellers experience on a regular basis, but it is different from jet lag. Travel fatigue is a combination of the stress of travelling and the sleep debt accrued whilst travelling. If a traveller is suffering from travel fatigue, his or her attention span can be reduced by 75 per cent and the ability to make normal judgements and decisions can be reduced by 50 per cent. Experiencing jet lag or travel fatigue is certainly no way to start a holiday or business trip, so British Airways has developed some helpful tips and advice to minimise jet lag. To find out useful tips on handling travel fatigue and jet lag, visit: www.travelweeklyweb.com. Events Thailand unveils MICE Strategic Plan at IMEX 2012 THAILAND – With challenges aplenty, from the Eurozone crisis to the economic downturn in the United States, Thailand is not alone in facing these challenges that affect the meetings and tourism industry. Pressed further by the internal issue of flooding that the country faced late last year, the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) moved beyond this and put together a MICE strategic plan that was unveiled at IMEX 2012; the worldwide exhibition for meetings and incentive travel. In the plan, TCEB identifies five key market segments with high growth potential and these are; the "Businessmen on the Go", "Women in Travel", "Young and Adventurous", " Art and Culture Lovers" and "Happy Family". In targeting these demographics, TCEB has executed a two-pronged approach which focuses on location selections and priorities catered to individual group, to better suit specific needs of each MICE market via four MICE cities – Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai while extending to other potential cities such as Kanchanaburi, Hua Hin, Samui and Had Yai. "Last year, Thailand welcomed 86,800 European MICE travellers, earning revenues of Euro 136 million. TCEB has set a target of 10 per cent growth for its European market in 2012, and expects 95,500 MICE visitors and revenues approaching Euro 150 million. Overall, in 2012, Thailand's MICE industry is expected to attract 750,000 MICE visitors and generate more than Euro 1.5 billion from group meetings, international conventions and incentive travel," said Vichaya Soonthornsaratoon, acting director, meetings industry department of TCEB. Events PATA hub city forum explores innovation in quality tourism SINGAPORE – Key issues affecting the hospitality industry in Singapore were discussed with active participation from the floor, giving constructive feedback on the current state of the industry, at the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) hub city forum, held at the Marina Bay Sands on May 22, 2012. Notable speakers such as Manoj Menon, managing director for APAC, Frost & Sullivan, Michael Issenberg, chairman and chief operating officer, Accor Asia Pacific, Patrick Imbardelli, chief executive officer, Pan Pacific Hotels Group and Michael Sengol, chief executive officer, Meritus Hotels & Resorts shared some useful insights. Among the highlights was active discussion on emerging markets, manpower issues, customer and staff engagement and how to drive efficiency correctly to change the landscape of the hospitality industry's labour force. In light of technological advancements including the common use of smart phone applications, Imbardelli commented; "Instead of using a technology to look for a problem, we should use technology to find a solution." A snapshot on how the Generation-Y perceives the industry was seen from guest speaker, Theresa Au, double degree scholar from Nanyang Technological University. Au spoke on how she feels connected to the hospitality industry due to its constantly evolving nature in the second session of the forum which also saw speakers such as Mohd K Rafin, senior vice-president, Park Hotel Group and Evelyn Goh, director of human resources, St. Regis, share on 'Attracting and Retaining Talent'. Events 3 Photo: TCEB Photo: British Airways May 2012

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