Northstar

Feature • Increase in hotels at major exhibition venues Novotel Hyderabad and Convention Centre in India and Novotel IMPACT Bangkok in Thailand are two good examples of hotels specially dedicated to the Meetings and Exhibitions. Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre is located in the Hyderabad IT and business district and connected to the state of the art Hyderabad International Convention Centre. It is just 45 minutes from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and offers a comfortable environment for business guests and features 287 guest rooms. The hotel is connected to Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). A new convention centre and Hyderabad's only world-class, state-of-the-art venue, and the fi rst of its kind in South Asia. HICC offers you facilities that can be compared to the best convention centres around the globe. HICC has been conceived, designed and created to handle small meetings of six people to large scale events for 6000 people. The newly built 380 room Novotel IMPACT Bangkok features modern architecture and the latest design of Novotel's new generation guest rooms. Facilities include state-of-the-art meeting facilities for small-to-medium gatherings, Novotel's signature fi tness centre and spa, "In Balance", a rooftop lounge and two restaurants – all day international cuisine, The Square, and Prego, the best Italian restaurant in the area. It is the only hotel at the IMPACT exhibition centre, currently the largest MICE facility in Thailand. IMPACT occupies a total fl oor space of 160,000sqm. The 4,000sqm IMPACT Arena can accommodate up to 11,000 people. IMPACT Challenger (which spans from Halls 1 to 3), has the area of 60,000sqm, making it very suitable for large-scale conventions and large exhibitions. ------------------------------------------------- • Integrated Resorts as MICE magnets City resorts have are luxury enclaves that have redefi ned the resort experience. The two Integrated Resorts in Singapore provide world class meeting experiences so unique, they have upped the ante of Singapore's proposition as a MICE hub. Besides providing rooms, both Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) are venue owners in their own right. RWS offers an unparalleled experience for meeting and incentive travel groups. Besides the region's largest column-free ball- room that seats up to 6,500 guests, there are also 30 function rooms and over 20 indoor and outdoor events venues for conferences, corporate retreats, or the town's hottest party. Premises can be confi gured and customised to suit groups for any event. The possibilities are endless, limited only by the imagination, with the Resort being able to host more than 35,000 delegates at any one time. Furthermore, Compass Ballroom is the region's largest column-free ballroom, offering 6,000m2 of unobstructed space. MBS has clinched over 1155 deals sealed so far, which will bring around 670,000 participants till 2012 to Sands Expo and Convention Center. The biggest MICE facility in Singapore has hosted 2 of the most popular events in the fi rst half of Singapore's 2011 Events Calendar - World Gourmet Summit 2011 and CommunicAsia 2011. -------------------------------------------------- • Meetings go online Hospitality fi rms such as Accor, Hilton Worldwide and Starwood Hotels and Resorts all have their respective online meetings bookings sites for MICE bookings. These cater to two different genres of meetings planners. Those who are comfortable with booking online and those who use these websites to 'window shop' for the most suitable meeting venues. -------------------------------------------------- • The advent of budget airlines This has increased the number of business trips made for MICE related reasons. Besides AirAsia, Jetstar Airways and Tiger Airways, the latest to join the fray is Singapore Airlines. It has created a new airline, which will be wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, will operate under a no-frills, low-fare model serving medium and long-haul routes. Budget airlines have a positive impact on the average number of business trips made in the region. They have also given rise to fi rst time business travellers, with the cost of airfares relatively more affordable. Events 7 August 2011

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