Weekly Newsletter
Bangkok, 12th March: Last week, the Thai-listed subsidiary of Pico Far East Holdings, Pico Thailand, released its results for the quarter ended 31st January 2021. Revenues in the quarter were US$6.4 million, representing a year-on-year decrease of 39%. However, the company reduced its loss to US$53,000 in the quarter, down from US$271,000 in the same quarter last year.
Read MoreBeijing, 17th March: The NASDAQ-listed Baidu, the leading search provider in China, has announced the pricing of its secondary listing planned in Hong Kong. The company plans to raise US$3.1 billion from the listing. The global offering of 95,000,000 new Class A ordinary shares features an international offering and a Hong Kong public offering.
Read MoreLondon, 11th March: Tarsus Group, a global B2B events and media group, has appointed Dan O’Brien as Chief Operating Officer, and Mark Pennington as Chief Financial Officer, effective from 31st March 2021.
Read MoreChina, 16th March: The Alibaba Group, China’s largest e-commerce company, has been ordered to sell its media assets, including The South China Morning Post (SCMP). This appears to be more fallout from an incident that occurred late last year when Jack Ma criticised China’s regulators and infuriated China’s president, Xi Jinping.
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Read MoreChina, 4th March: GL events Group and Nexus Point Capital, a China-focused private equity fund, announced that the companies have closed a strategic investment and partnership agreement, collectively investing RMB 2 billion (US$307 million) of capital in GL events Group’s China operating company, GL events China.
Read MoreBinh Duong, Vietnam, 9th March: Korean International Trade Association (KITA) and the Korean Convention and Exhibition Centre (COEX) have signed a contract with Vietnam’s Becamex IDC to operate the World Trade Centre Binh Duong New City Expo in Vietnam’s southern province of Binh Duong. BSG notes that although it is referred to as an exhibition centre, it is essentially a convention centre.
Read MoreHong Kong, 8th March: Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Management) Limited (HML), the management company of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), have announced the launch of a brand-new facility, Harbour Studio, at HKCEC. The studio will facilitate online and virtual events.
Read MoreMelbourne, 10th March: The Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre (MCEC) has essentially been close since COVID-19 restrictions came into effect in early 2020. The venue, however, is now cleared to return to hosting physical exhibitions. The first will be the Gift & Lifestyle Fair running from 20th to 22nd March.
Read MoreWe need this to work and we need something similar to be put in place globally. The Chinese Government is testing digital passports which can be downloaded via WeChat.
And more initiatives like this are needed! Singapore Airlines will become the first airline to trial the IATA Travel Pass app beginning next week. The digital health verification app has been under development since last year. SIA will conduct a two-week trial of the app between March 15-28 for passengers travelling from Singapore to London.
This is an interesting initiative. A group of event organisers in Hangzhou, including EastBest (also known as Shanghai Donghao Lansheng), have formed a new company to promote Hangzhou as a destination for business events.
This article seems a bit optimistic given the restrictions currently in place in Singapore, and it is assumed that these are essentially domestic events given that the city-state’s borders are edging slowly towards a very tentative opening.
This annual observance is a platform to promote the value created by physical exhibitions. This year, the message will likely be focused on the importance of exhibitions in jump-starting economic activity after the pandemic.
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Read MoreLas Vegas, 3rd March: This week, the Las Vegas Sands Corp. announced plans to sell The Venetian, its flagship Strip resort, and the rest of its Las Vegas properties. The properties will be sold to private equity group Apollo Global Management Inc. and real estate investor Vici Properties Inc. for US$6.25 billion.
Read MoreMalaysia, 1st March: The Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) welcomed the decision of the Malaysian government allowing meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions to be held under the Movement Control Order (MCO) areas as of 5th March. Ongoing restrictions include a limited capacity of 25% and a maximum of 250 people.
Read MoreAustralia, 24th February: The Australian federal government has opened applications for business events in Western Australia under its A$50 million (US$39 million) Business Events Grants Program.
Read MoreMacau, 26th February: Last week, Macau’s Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released its MICE statistics for the full year of 2020. A total of 362 MICE events were held in Macau during the year. That is 1,174 events less than the previous year. The total number of participants and attendees dropped 55%, down to about 914,000. Although this is a very substantial drop, a 55% decline in MICE participants in 2020 makes Macau one of the better performing markets last year.
Read MoreManila, 24th February: Convention centres and other event venues in Metro Manila previously under the general community quarantine (GCQ) are now allowed to reopen, after several months of closure. Ballrooms, function rooms and venues within hotels, restaurants and mall atriums in GCQ areas are now allowed to reopen for “essential” meetings and events.
Read MoreA group of large international tourism companies in Thailand have launched a campaign to re-open the country’s borders as of 1st July. The #OpenThailandSafely campaign was launched this week with the support of 16 companies. They cite five reasons justifying the date 1st July including the progress of the country’s vaccination programme.
The industry is somewhat divided on this. Some think that the pandemic has changed business events and we are never going back. Others look to markets that have restarted, such as China, and expect that the global industry will follow that same path. This Forbes columnist falls into the “bounce back to business as usual” camp.
But surely someone will figure this out. The survival of quite a few industries and millions of jobs are relying on that. Web-in-Travel’s Yeoh Siew Hoon has a good summary of where we stand today.
Tiny Singapore has been throwing billions of dollars at key sectors of its economy. This week it was aviation’s turn. Singapore’s Ministry of Transport will spend US$660 million to support the country’s aviation sector, as part of its 2021 Budget.
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Read MoreJapan, 17th February: Messe Frankfurt has organised its first physical event in 2021 in Japan. Beautyworld Japan Fukuoka, while fully complying with hygiene and safety standards, ran from 8th to 9th February. The show was held at Fukuoka Kokusai Center. A total of 122 exhibitors showcased their products and services at the show and the event attracted over 3,800 trade visitors.
Read MoreJapan, 23rd February: The Japanese government has unveiled a new programme designed to provide up to ¥25 million (US$240,000) for venues and organisers cancelling or postpone events due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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