ITCM interviews

Velas Resorts aims for global MICE business

Details: Category: ITCM interviews; Published: Monday, 09 November 2015 12:30

The 5-star Mexican group has all-inclusive rates

The Mexican hotel group Velas Resorts was founded 25 years ago by Eduardo Vela. An entrepreneur with a big stake in the construction industry, he moved into hospitality when he decided that a condominium project would work well as a hotel. He was proved right and now there are four luxury hotel properties offering different choice locations around Mexico, with a fifth on the way in 2016.

Sri Lanka is all ready for high-end corporate events

Details: Category: ITCM interviews; Published: Monday, 09 November 2015 10:30

Ajith Dias, Chairman of SriLankan Airlines, talks to Sydney Paulden

If you specifically wanted to design a senior executive for a top job in the hospitality industry that person would look very much like Ajith Dias. He became Chairman of SriLankan Airlines eight months ago and also chairs SriLankan Catering Services.
Previously he headed the company that owned the Colombo Hilton and he had already established the global coffee-house franchise, Barista, in Sri Lanka.

Don’t forget Nicosia

Details: Category: ITCM interviews; Published: Tuesday, 14 July 2015 16:30

Lillian Panayi suggests a visit in a Cyprus leisure programme

When I walked onto the Cyprus stand at The Meetings Show in Olympia, Lillian Panayi of the Cyprus Tourism Office in London was talking to a visiting buyer about Nicosia. What she said attracted my interest so I later asked her for more details.
Cyprus is a small island in the Eastern Mediterranean and yet it can offer a remarkable variety of landscapes and activities. It is mainly known for its string of beach resorts, but then a group can swim and sunbathe in the morning, take lunch in an ancient mountain village and end the same day ski-ing in the Troodos mountains.

Milan is a prime European destination

Details: Category: ITCM interviews; Published: Monday, 22 June 2015 12:30

Riccardo Pilati, of Hotel Principe di Savoia, talks to Sydney Paulden

If you think of the top hotels in cities such as London, Rome, Los Angeles, Paris, Geneva and Milan you will almost always include in your list members of Dorchester Collection. There are ten of these and they refer to themselves as ‘Iconic properties in iconic places’.
The Milan member is the Hotel Principe di Savoia and ITCM was able to interview its Senior Director of Sales on his recent visit to London.

How IBTM straddles the world

Details: Category: ITCM interviews; Published: Thursday, 28 May 2015 12:30

Graeme Barnett, Senior Exhibitions Director at Reed Travel Exhibitions, talks to Sydney Paulden

EIBTM is now known as IBTM World. One of the most notable exhibitions in the MICE sector, it has been not only going but growing since 1988. ITCM asked Graeme Barnett to clarify the reasons behind the change of name. Graeme, who was one of the founders of the exhibition, is now Senior Exhibition Director at Reed Travel Exhibitions.