ITCM EIBTM Interviews

Fairmont and Raffles launch unrivalled facilities in the Philippines

Details: Category: ITCM EIBTM Interviews; Created on Tuesday, 18 December 2012 16:03

Meenaz Lilani tells ITCM that a new 30-storey building now offers luxury living and top-of-the-range MICE facilities

The Philippines capital, Manila, comprises 17 individual cities. ‘Fairmont Raffles Hotels International’, says Meenaz Lilani, Executive Director Global Sales - EMEA, ‘has chosen to launch in the city of Makati because it is the location of such a large proportion of Manila’s financial and commercial operations, as well as its prime shopping centres and cultural attractions’.

Easier access to the Great Barrier Reef for worldwide delegates

Details: Category: ITCM EIBTM Interviews; Created on Tuesday, 18 December 2012 09:08

Ross Steele, GM of the Cairns Convention Centre, tells ITCM that Cairns has just won better air connections

As the city of Cairns is about 2,700km (1700 miles) north of Sydney in the furthest corner of Queensland, one doesn’t often stumble across it. However, I did bump into Ross Steele at EIBTM 2012 in Barcelona. He is General Manager of the Cairns Convention Centre and, accompanied by Jenny Graham, his Director of Sales, he didn’t miss this opportunity to tell me that Cairns just got closer to Europe.

Giant pandas for a tiny country

Details: Category: ITCM EIBTM Interviews; Created on Monday, 17 December 2012 11:42

Jeannie Lim, Executive Director for MICE at Singapore Tourism Board, updates ITCM on the island’s attractions

I met Jeannie Lim on the Singapore Tourism Board stand at EIBTM 2012 I Barcelona. I asked her what was new on her island and her news couldn’t have been more up-to-date. ‘From this very day, today’, she replied, ‘Kai Kai and Jia Jia can be seen in Singapore’. This was what you might call big news, because Kai Kai and Jia Jia are giant pandas, kindly loaned for 10 years by China to add to Singapore’s visitor attractions.

Fairmont goes for gold in Kiev

Details: Category: ITCM EIBTM Interviews; Created on Friday, 14 December 2012 12:20

Christoph Ganster, General Manager of Fairmont Grand Kiev, the brand’s first East European property talks to Sydney Paulden.

Fairmont has entered Eastern Europe with a flourish. Christoph Ganster, General Manager of Fairmont Grand Hotel Kiev, was at EIBTM to tell the world about his new property, which opened in March in time to host some of the top people who attended the UEFA 2012 football finals. ‘It is of classical design’, he says – but that is putting it mildly. You have to look at these images to see how plush and classical it really is. Velvet, original Ukraine-made draperies, gold décor and crystal chandeliers set the style. And in the elegant Atrium Lounge drinks are served in glasses hand-painted in gold.

Charter flights enhance the EIBTM experience

Details: Category: ITCM EIBTM Interviews; Created on Tuesday, 11 December 2012 15:16

Tim Procter, MD of Air Charter Travel, talks to ITCM’s Sydney Paulden

The thought of travelling to EIBTM in Barcelona for two days is somewhat daunting – unless you are to be a passenger on the EIBTM Hosted Buyers charter contracted to Air Charter Travel.
Bob Jones, a veteran of decades of event management, was happy to express views that were typical of those of the 250 or so guests on the flight.