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The Asian Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus (AACVB) announced a new membership structure to better engage MICE industry organisations across the Asian region. The new membership structure will stimulate greater collaboration in the MICE industry across Asian cities, raise the professionalism of MICE practitioners and boost the growth of MICE events in the region.
The AACVB was formed in 1983 to foster regional co-operation between Convention and Visitor Bureaus (CVBs) in the Asian region. The Association aims to promote the region as an ideal convention destination where member countries will have the ability to network, share business leads, best practices, market intelligence and raise industry standards to elevate the region’s appeal as a destination of choice.
The founding CVB members include Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. They were later joined by China and Macau to create the nine founding member countries of AACVB.
The new membership structure announced will extend membership opportunities to provincial and city-level CVBs to leverage on the combined expertise and network that AACVB offers to further bolster the MICE industry in the Asian region.
This new structure tiers membership into three groups – Full CVB Member, Associate CVB Member and Associate Industry Member to welcome industry organisations from all levels to be part of this dynamic Association.
With this new structure, membership into AACVB will now be available to MICE Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs), venue operators, Destination Marketing Companies (DMCs), Professional Conference Organisers (PCOs) and associations that want to be more involved in regional co-operation and develop more business leads.
“After 28 years of collaborating and building relationships with fellow CVBs at the country level, the time has come for us to open our doors to other professional organisations in the MICE industry in Asia. With the Asian economies growing at a steady pace despite the debt crisis that has plagued Europe and the U.S., this is a great opportunity for Asia to rise to the challenge and tap on the opportunities presented in the business travel segment. This is a timely development for us to grow our capability and strength to attract more MICE events to Asia’s beautiful shores and cities,” said Mr Akapol Sorasuchart, President, AACVB.
In addition to the updated membership structure, the AACVB also announced the line-up for this year’s Asia for Asia summit. The theme for the fifth edition of Asia for Asia will be “Asia Rising: Future of Meetings” and the summit will be held on 20 October at TravelRave, which will be held from 17 to 22 October 2011 at Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre.
Asia for Asia is an annual summit gathering heads of CVBs, National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) and convention industry leaders and experts to network and discuss innovative ideas and strategies to further the goals of the meetings industry.
This year’s summit will provide insights on the new generation leadership styles to generate understanding on how differing behaviours would shape their professional development. Delegates would also benefit from a session on how the MICE industry can embrace sustainability to cater to today’s event planners’ needs through sharing of best practices and case studies.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
