The time has come — Singapore has announced that its air cargo hub is ready for the safe transportation of Covid-19 vaccines to Singapore and the region.

Company meetings and appraisals via video, virtual site inspections,communications solely via email and webchat, remote working... welcome to the ‘new normal’ of the event agency office. But just how challenging is this in practice and what lessons have been learnt thus far?

The Italian Tourist Board, Enit, has inked an exclusive year-long partnership with IBTM Events, which includes four global events: IBTM World Virtual 2020; IBTM Asia Pacific 2021; IBTM Americas 2021, and IBTM World 2021.

The wait is finally over for Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre (MCEC), which has been given the go-ahead to welcome delegates back for live events, subject to the Victorian Government’s Public Events Framework.

A new report produced by IdeaWorksCompany and sponsored by CarTrawler predicts airline travel for business purposes will be permanently down at least 19% and as much as 36% compared to pre-pandemic levels, as a portion of trips are replaced by technology.

The Meetings Mean Business (MMB) coalition has launched the Meet Safe platform to showcase the value that face-to-face meetings can bring to the economy and to assert that restarting the events segment is essential to economic recovery. To become the robust resource MMB has envisioned, the site needs planners, destination representatives, and venue and hotel executives to provide details about the meetings they've held successfully. The platform is currently in a building-out stage.

As the global business events industry embraces a shift towards hybrid and virtual event formats, Kaohsiung, home to Asia’s New Bay Area, is perfectly placed to lead this transformation.

Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) and Thailand Incentive and Convention Association (TICA) have raised the idea of an alliance between key regional convention bureaus, to revive international conventions in Asia.

A fourth wave of Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong has further deferred the launch of the air travel bubble with Singapore to 2021, while several planned events for the festive season have also been cancelled.

Despite Hong Kong’s continued battles against Covid-19 outbreaks —the SAR’s health department declared an official fourth wave in late November — the hospitality industry is gearing up for 2021 and beyond, and hotel groups with plans to open new properties in December are forging ahead.

In a post-Covid world, agility is the name of the game as a survey by the Malaysian Society of Association Executives (MSAE) has shown.

Global exhibition organiser Informa Markets has announced a leadership reshuffle following the departure of M. Gandhi, who will be stepping down as group managing director & senior vice president of the ASEAN business. He helmed this position for more than 20 years.

Business events are officially back in Sydney, with the New South Wales Government easing state-wide social distancing requirements.

Scoot will soon be launching a new inflight portal, ScootHub, to serve as a one-stop shop for all customers' needs inflight.