David Blansfield, executive vice president and group publisher of Northstar Travel Group, which owns the event, described TMS APAC as “a watershed moment for the MICE industry”.
It is Northstar’s “largest organic event launch ever, featuring over 160 exhibitors from a wide range of destination bureaus, meeting venues, hotels, technology providers and suppliers”.
There were almost 5,000 hosted buyer business appointments. The program included education sessions by industry presenters and panellists, a technology ‘campfire’ and networking receptions.
TMS APAC also stood out for international association backing: the Global MICE Collaborative – Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) and the the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) – the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) all participated in the education program and exhibition, along with the Singapore Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers (SACEOS).
Australia and New Zealand were strongly represented, occupying larger spaces than usually seen at Asian MICE and tourism trade shows. The favourably located pavilions attracted a steady stream of buyers and trade visitors.
Business Events Australia had nine Australian destinations at its pavilion comprising nine convention bureaus and two convention centres.
“As Asia is a key focus for the business events industry in Australia, we were excited to attend the new show which targeted APAC planners, and the team saw great interest in all our key destinations from hosted buyers,” said Tourism Australia’s executive general manager of commercial and Business Events Australia, Robin Mack.
“The show facilitated connections with new and existing decision-makers for ‘Team Australia’ across incentive, corporate meeting and association buyers from APAC and around the world, and has already generated some leads.”
Meanwhile, Tourism New Zealand’s general manager for New Zealand and business events, Bjoern Spreitzer, said: “TMS APAC has proven to be a great platform for us to build on and enhance our relationships and connections, whilst growing our presence and share of conferences in the region.”
While pursuing Asian association conference business – partners included the Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington convention bureaus with new convention centres – the pavilion also featured unique attractions like the Hobbiton Movie Set, new experiences for Asian incentive groups by HQ New Zealand and RealNZ, and Millennium Hotels and Resorts.
Besides host Singapore, other big exhibitors were Macao, Taiwan, the Philippines, Jeju in South Korea and Sands.
