Manchester City Council leader, Sir Richard Leese will deliver the opening welcome address at legendary Manchester Town Hall to delegates attending the World Youth and Student Travel Conference (WYSTC).

Youth, student and educational travel industry professionals representing more than 80 countries will attend the three and a half day WYSTC conference being held in Manchester, UK, 22-25 September.

The Seoul MICE Academy 2009, a Gateway for Global MICE Professionals

In order to further develop the convention industry as one of the future strategic growth industries of Seoul, the nine-day Seoul MICE Academy 2009 will be held from August 17th to 25th at Kyung Hee University. In the convention industry’s recent paradigm shift towards the broader MICE industry, including the meetings, incentives, and exhibitions sectors, the former Seoul Convention Academy (SCA) was re-launched as the Seoul MICE Academy. During the application period last June for this year’s Academy, more than 150 applications were received, but only 54 applicants made it through the fiercely competitive selection process.

By Roy Graff, ChinaContact, please see also www.chinacontact.org.

I am asking this question because since I started advising on market entry to China, I have come across many examples of destinations throwing money at the Chinese market with useless campaigns and ineffective marketing. So many new destinations became ‘approved destination’ (ADS) in the last few years that there was a scramble to prepare Chinese language information, Chinese brochures, websites and go on public and trade road shows in China. Inevitably a host of agencies and companies started offering their services and charging rates that were decided by how much the client was willing to pay rather than how much the service was actually worth.

Planning for AIME 2010, 18th Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo, is well underway with a new look AIME website now online (www.aime.com.au) and a new advertising campaign soon to be launched.

Featuring a fresh new colour palette the campaign is the third in a three year strategy, using the themes aime higher (2008), aime for more (2009) and aime for the best (2010).

“Our marketing strategy positions AIME as the leader in the region, using themes that reflect the high standard of AIME substantiated by its hosted buyer program and audited results,” said Event Director, Rosemarie Sama. The advertising campaign and website will feature the new tag line ‘aime for the best’ which aligns the campaign with the RTE meetings and incentive exhibition portfolio branding of ‘best for business, best for education and best for networking’.

The magical city of Jaipur has a charm of its own. The history of each brick inlaid in the Pink city can be traced back by generations, and unveils an enchanting legend. About thirty-three kilometres North-west of this historical wonder lies the magnificient fort of Chomugadh.

Established by Thakur Karansinghji, the fifth generation of the legendary Prithviraj Chauhan, this ancient wonder represents a unique time-portal into the age of the Maharanas.

Up to 48% of all new hotel developments in Phuket are experiencing major construction delays triggered by the global economic downturn and concerns over Thailand’s political stability, an authoritative report has found.

According to the Phuket Hotel Market Update Mid-Year Report (download the full report here) released by respected hospitality consulting firm C9 Hotelworks, the slowdown on hotel construction sites has however not dented developer’s enthusiasm for entering the accommodation market on the island.