Macau Festival to be the event highlight for 2013 in Malaysia

By Anthony Tan | email: anthonykhtan@yahoo.co.uk

The Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) representative office in Kuala Lumpur will organise its annual Macau Festival from 5–7 April 2013. This promotion, to be the main celebration highlight of the year in Malaysia, will give an opportunity for consumers to discover Macau’s attractions, activities and entertainment.

 

(Left - 25th Macau International Music Festival performance at St. Dominic Church) 

It will also be an opportunity to snap up special deals on Macau packages offered by the Amigos Macau, comprising travel agents who specialise in Macau tours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Right: Tunku Iskandar welcoming new Macau Amigo Datin Melissa Ong from Borneo Tours Sdn Bhd) 



 

The Newly Appointed Macau Amigos - more ladies than men

 

 

“Looking forward to next year, we are eyeing 354,363 visitors from Malaysia to set foot in Macau, which is a 4% increase of our 2012 target,” Tunku Iskandar Tunku Abdullah, who heads the MGTO representative office in Malaysia, said in his welcome speech to thank the travel trade partners and the media at its annual MACAU Appreciation Dinner recently.

 

 

Cherrie Lee from MGTO (second from left) with

members of the media at the appreciation dinner 



Cherrie (centre) posing with editor of Corporate Events magazine

Laura Lee(left) and Dian Herly - Corporate Events magazine (right) 

at the appreciation dinner



Its Party Time, let's dance to the funky music

The MGTO had chosen the auspicious date, 12-12-12, to hold the appreciation dinner for over 120 Malaysian travel industry partners and media friends at Grand Hyatt Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
 

Tunku Iskandar continued, “We do expect some challenges ahead but with your full support, I strongly believe that we will be able to attract more visitors but more than that, I hope you will be able to persuade these visitors to stay more nights in Macau. After all, there is now so much more to do in Macau.”

 

The MGTO will be celebrating two major events in 2013. Firstly, the Macau International Fireworks Display Contest, to be held from 7 September–1 October, will also be celebrating its 25th anniversary with a Trophy Design and Photography Contest.

Secondly, the Macau Grand Prix will be celebrating its 60th Diamond Jubilee celebration from 14–17 November 2013. To increase public awareness for this, Poster Design Competition and "Souvenir Design Competition have been launched.

 

Reviewing 2012, Tunku Iskandar said the MGTO continued to promote Macau with various promotional activities and campaigns by focusing on events and festivals through aggressive above-the-line and below-the-line promotional campaign in the print and electronic media.

They include Golden Screen Cinemas’ video advertisements, television ads, outdoor billboards, online contest campaign, magazines, newspapers to support the Amigos in their efforts to promote Macau.

With all these promotions, it had produced a positive result in Malaysian arrivals into Macau, accounting for 229,706 visitors for January – October this year, which placed Malaysia as the seventh largest market for Macau.

“It is still a good a show. Of course, we would like it to be better,” remarked Tunku Iskandar, who described 2012 as a challenging year for the MGTO especially in Malaysia.

 

He also updated on the hotel developments in Macau such as Sands Cotai Central’s recent launch of three hotel brands: the Conrad, Holiday Inn and the largest Sheraton Hotel.

These integrated resorts, which will have a total of 6,000 rooms, are equipped with business facilities which, state-of-art MICE facilities, a variety of entertainment and great cuisine.

 

Tunku Iskandar said the MGTO had launched the free Audio Guiding Service (AGS) to cater for visitors with different needs and to increase visitor knowledge about Macau’s tourist attractions and its World Heritage sites.

 

The AGS is free of charge. Available from 9am to 5pm daily and in six languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Portuguese, English, Japanese and Korean, it also provides information on wine in the Wine Museum and the Macau Grand Prix in Grand Prix Museum.

(Top and bottom right picture shows the racing cars used to race at the Macau Grand Prix in Grand Prix are now on display at the Macau Grand Prix in Grand Prix Museum)

 

Also launched in 2012 was the iPhone App, Experience Macau, with the latest and popular travel information. It is equipped with the augmented reality (AR) and trip planner functions to enable users to experience Macau freely and easily anytime.

 

Check out its What's On, Plan Your Trip, Game, Map and AR View features. Selected attractions have been provided with audio introduction and 360 degrees panorama photos.

A dragon dance performance at the ruins of Saint Paul's

 

The App provides information on Macau World Heritage, Museums and Galleries, Shopping, Shows and Entertainment, Hotels and Guest Houses in English as well as traditional and simplified Chinese.

It can be downloaded from the App store in the MGTO website, www.macautourism.gov.mo/en/ezone/apps.php. The good news is the apps in Android version will be launched soon.

From 1 November, Tunku Iskandar said the MGTO had introduced the Wedding Incentive Scheme targeted at couples, wedding planners and companies as well as the enhanced version of the Student Excursion Incentive Scheme.

The amount under the enhanced Student Excursion Incentive Scheme has now been increased from MOP 200 to MOP 300 for each foreign student for their activities in Macau with a minimum of 50 students and two consecutive nights’ stay.

He told the audience the Incentive Travel Stimulation Scheme for organisers and incentive planners would continue.

 

Penang to have the second international standard convention centre

By Anthony Tan | email: anthonykhtan@yahoo.co.uk

Penang is taking a big bite into the MICE industry with another international convention centre when IJM Corporation Bhd announced the Penang Waterfront Convention Centre (PWCC) costing RM346 million.



Artist's impression of IJM The Light Project and Penang Waterfront Convention Centre  

 

It will be built within their ongoing integrated Phase Two development project on reclaimed land project sited near to the Penang Bridge and is expected to complete by 2017.

 



Datuk Teh
 

Overall, The Light project, with Phase One consisting of a mixture of residentials and Phase Two comprising the PWCC, hotels, shopping malls, retail lots, a marina and international shopping districts on 152 acres of waterfront land with Green Building Index certification with a RM5 billion investment.

IJM Corporation group chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Teh Kean Ming said the construction work on the project will start next year at the signing ceremony between Suntec International and IJM Land.  

 

“This partnership with Suntec International on PWCC will leverage on their experience and expertise in managing convention centres.”

The project will be helmed by world renowned architect firm Vx3, which designed the Nato headquarters in Brussels and the Hong Kong Convention Centre in Victoria Harbour.

Suntec International CEO Arun Madhok said, “We are determined to establish PWCC as a world class MICE venue.

“With our proven track record of 17 years in managing Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre, we will be bringing our experience in marketing, managing and operating of Convention and Exhibition Centre to ensure the overall successful operation of the PWCC.
 

“The PWCC will have a 10,000 sq m column-free multi-purpose hall that can be sub-divided or used as a single space and in a matter of minutes or even entirely converted to a 9,000-seat arena for world class concerts.”
 

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who witnessed the signing ceremony, said PWCC will add another MICE venue for business tourism to the state.
 

Artist's impression of the under construction  Subterranean Penang International Conference and Exhibition Centre (sPICE) 

“It will be in addition to the Penang International Sports Arena (PISA) which is currently under construction to develop into the Subterranean Penang International Conference and Exhibition Centre (sPICE),” he said.
 



The interior of the present PISA

PISA, which is originally built as an indoor stadium and turned for multi-purpose use, is being booked almost throughout the year. When the Penang state government took the initiative to address the demand for an international conference and exhibition centre, there was a lot of protests by some group of distracters but such a centre was welcomed by event organisers and the tourism industry players.

“Even now, PISA is always full of events the whole year round and bookings have to be made a year ahead. So, it is good to have two international standard convention centres in Penang to cater to more international business events,” Lim said.

He also envisaged the two centres to not only serve Penang but also the Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) that has grown in scope to encompass more than 70 million people, 14 provinces in southern Thailand, eight states in Malaysia and 10 provinces in Sumatra, Indonesia.

"Malaysia sees MICE as lucrative sector, thriving with international business tourism visitors and (this sector) has grown by 132% since 2003."

Lim added that the income generated from convention attendees, who are considered big spenders could amount up to RM7,000 per trip, almost triple that spent by a leisure visitor."