IACC CEO, Mark Cooper, has been appointed 2021 chair of the board for the Events Industry Council (EIC), the global association focused on advocacy and research.

While the pandemic has left the hotel industry limping, Accor has been steadily branching towards new project signings, resulting in 37 new hotels launching across Southeast Asia (SEA), Japan and South Korea in 2021.

If the recently concluded CPhI & P-MEC China 2020 is any indication of things to come, then the world should take note: In-person events will be back with a vengeance. In the meantime, however, hybrid or omni-channel formats are the way forward.

Hotels and resorts have been somewhat slow to adopt Covid-19 testing protocols for guests, but as the pandemic stretches toward the one-year mark, the concept of testing as an amenity is starting to gain traction.

The Covid‐19 pandemic will no doubt drastically change the way business gets done moving forward, especially when it comes to travel. Microsoft co‐founder Bill Gates has even predicted that over 50% of business travel will go away permanently now that remote work and virtual meetings have become the norm.

Organisers of Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) announced 25 January the cancellation of the 2021 show, only the second nixed in the events calendar this month, following similar news of IMEX Frankfurt's event originally slated for May.

The Singapore FinTech Festival x Singapore Week of Innovation and TeCHnology (SFF x SWITCH) 2020 was the world’s first week-long, round-the-clock, hybrid event — ushering in the future for meetings and conventions.

While hopes for a speedy recovery may be dimming, global medical and security services firm International SOS says companies can start planning for the resumption of business travel — by ensuring they have robust risk assessment frameworks and monitoring capabilities in place.

As Macau continues to ride the momentum since reinstating tourist visas for all Chinese travellers last September, hospitality and meetings players are adding more incentives — chief among them is Sands Resorts Macao.

Event professionals and MICE industry stakeholders in Thailand have urged the Thai government not to make a difficult situation worse by charging a "tourism fee" to all international visitors, after a proposal was announced earlier this month.

Hong Kong’s homegrown Ocean Park has suffered months of hardship following back-to-back closures as a result of the ongoing pandemic and the previous year’s civil unrest.

The convening power of Singapore has come into sharp focus in recent months. While the pandemic continues to wreak havoc across Asia — with start-stop lockdowns and growing uncertainty about the future of events — Singapore has been beavering away, trialling and testing new ways to travel and meet safely and future-proofing itself (and its MICE industry) against future crises.

One year after Pan Pacific Hotels Group (PPHG) unveiled more details on the rebranded ParkRoyal Collection Marina Bay, the group's garden-in-a-hotel property has officially opened in December.

Marriott International is pushing ahead with its expansion plan in Asia Pacific, with another 100 new properties set to open in the region in 2021.