The year started off strongly for the Malaysian Convention & Exhibition Bureau – MyCEB – with its seminar “What Matters Most”. 92 participants – from destination management companies (DMCs) to professional congress organisers (PCOs), and from hotels to venues – packed the seminar room at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Opening the seminar, Mr Zulkefli Haji Sharif, MyCEB’s CEO shared the bureau’s aspirations: to be Top 5 in ICCA rankings in Asia Pacific, or host at least 120 association meetings that meet ICCA’s criteria by 2015.

The annual pre-Christmas survey of the Russian MICE sector reveals interesting growth, despite a difficult year.

The Russian stock market suffered badly in the early days of the recession but has since shown a steady recovery. The shock of the virtually un-expected crisis led to many highly publicised companies having to re-schedule their debts for the first time. After many years of substantial and relatively easy growth, Russian business was presented with a new challenge of how to become competitive, creative and reduce costs in a very short period.

‘Southeast Asia: feel the warmth’ and SoutheastAsia.org to target medium and long haul markets

Ten Southeast Asian countries today launched a new tourism campaign built around the slogan, Southeast Asia: feel the warmth. A dynamic, new, interactive website, SoutheastAsia.org is being created as the primary marketing tool.

“Did she or did she not?” That is the big question surrounding the case of the former Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, TAT. Thought to have accepted bribes relating to the Bangkok Film Festival, former TAT Governor Juthamas Siriwan and her daughter Jittisopa Siriwan have now been indicted in the USA.

60 countries and over 100 Turkish provinces and towns hosted in 8 halls covering 45,000 square meters and attracting 42,500 visitors

The East Mediterranean International Tourism and Travel Fair (EMITT) opens for the 14th time on 11-14 February. 60 countries and over 100 Turkish provinces and towns will feature at the show, which takes place at the Istanbul TÜYAP Beylikdüzü Fair and Congress Center.

The VMAC Business Group will be the host of Asia’s largest medical tourism congress (GLOW 2010) on 13 -14 May 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The congress will be touching on three of the most highly rated topic in the medical and wellness industry, including medical tourism, spa & wellness and workplace wellness.