PENANG – Penang is safe and has been proactive in its response to Covid-19, and has the full compliance of event industry stakeholders and the public.

For the first time, Cvent Connect, the annual conference from one of the industry's largest event-technology providers, was held online this year. But the two-day digital event drew an attendance nearly eight times that of last year's in-person gathering, proving a prime example of the untapped power of virtual meetings.

SINGAPORE — The Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) is headed online this year amid the ongoing global impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the longstanding event, like in previous years, will continue to offer unequalled opportunities for Asia Pacific's hotel investment community to network, cut deals and strength existing relationships.

With management deals freshly sealed for three new hotels in Myanmar, Centara Hotels & Resorts now has a total of nine properties in development in the country.

SINGAPORE – The exclusive hosted-buyer event M&C Asia Connections (MCAC) Virtual wrapped up to resounding success on 26 August, garnering positive feedback from regional delegates and also, keen interest for the upcoming global meet in October.

KUALA LUMPUR – Hybrid and virtual events will be part of the MICE landscape for the foreseeable future, according to industry stakeholders at this year's Malaysia Business Events Week (MBEW). The event itself was a hybrid event, with international speakers participating online.

While most hospitality companies have released their own protocols aimed at ensuring visitor safety, event planners now have a general resource that distills and builds on those practices.

CANBERRA — The Business Events Council of Australia (BECA) appeared before the country's Senate Select Committee on Covid-19 earlier this month, represented by Dr Vanessa Findlay, BECA chair, and Andrew Hiebl, CEO of the Association of Australian Convention Bureaux, to reinforce the case for ongoing support for Australia’s AU$35.7 billion (US$26 billion) business events industry and the 229,000 people it employs.

The majority of travellers are now ready to consider booking domestic and international trips, but only if travel suppliers collectively implement 10 different safety measures throughout their journey, including fully flexible or refundable flight tickets.

Asia Pacific's first Mondrian hotel has opened in a lifestyle district of South Korean capital Seoul, marking the fifth property worldwide to be launched following Los Angeles, New York, South Beach and Doha.

A hybrid meeting often comprises a physical meeting of a few people in a venue with other participants who connect virtually to the same event. The meeting is synchronised so that both groups have a similar experience. Online attendees can see a presenter’s slides, hear the presenter, and watch the presentation in real-time via live streaming video. Mostly, in-person and virtual participants attend the same session simultaneously. There are other versions of hybrid meetings which involve an all-audience, in-person meeting, followed by another session which is done virtually.

GENEVA — Global agency, MCI, has launched a new design-thinking product, known as D.I.V.E by MCI, to help brands 'redefine audience engagement' in the virtual world.

Singapore – Buoyed by a successful debut in 2019, the exclusive hosted-buyer event M&C Connections (MCAC) returns this week on 26 August, ready to wow regional delegates with a brand new virtual-hybrid events experience.

SINGAPORE — Hotel recovery will be U-shaped and varied across countries in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Colliers International's Hotel Insights Q3 2020 report, a quarterly digest of key trends in the hospitality sector.