BANGKOK The Asian Association of Convention & Visitor Bureaux (AACVB) has been reinvigorated by the input of several industry leaders. At October’s IT&CMA trade show in Bangkok, current AACVB and Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) president Akapol Sorasuchart announced the new agenda.
“The key to unlocking a lot of problems is the development of an Asian mindset,” he said. “There has been rapid development of the MICE industry in Asia and we must expand our mindset to favour regional collaboration and knowledge exchange. With this in mind, AACVB will now host the annual Asia for Asia Summit, which will rotate to all member countries.”
The 5th Asia For Asia Summit will take place in Singapore in October 2011 with the theme Asia Rising; the future of meetings.
The once-dominant association drifted into obscurity before a relaunch in 2008. One of the problems was the conflicting schedules and widespread locations of members, who will now meet at major trade events such as AIME, EIBTM IT&CMA and ITB Asia as well as at the annual assembly.
“We found it hard to meet regularly, but would often run into each other at trade shows and hold informal meetings, so it is a natural solution,” said Jacqueline Ng, director of industry development for Singapore Tourism Board.
Countries with voting members are China, Hong Kong, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.