Shanghai to Welcome Stronger Business Events Week

 

Shanghai

The Second Shanghai Business Events Week will welcome a larger audience and showcase a stronger line-up of anchor events when it takes place from April 16 to 20.

Anchor events this year include Incentive Travel & Corporate Meetings (IT&CM) China, Fundamentals of Business Travel Management Course and ICCA Association Database Workshop.

Patrick Chen, deputy director-International Tourism Promotion Department of the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration (SMTA), which had initiated and inaugurated the business week last year, said that the first edition had created a stronger demand in Shanghai for improved MICE education, business opportunities and networking.

Patrick Chen

“The Shanghai Business Events Week last year generated many business leads for Shanghai in 2012 and 2013,” he added.

While SMTA was unable to provide a total attendance projection for the business week at press time, the Fundamentals of Business Travel Management Course has reported a 100 per cent increase in attendees. The course, to be conducted in English and Mandarin to cater to locals, will have 32 participants this year, up from 16 in 2011. Attendee profile also saw a marked change – while attendees last year were primarily from Shanghai, this year’s turn-out will include participants from other Chinese cities such as Nanjing, Wuhan, Shenzhen and Hunan.

As well, the China (Shanghai) International Meetings & Conferences Forum (CIMCF) – another anchor event under the umbrella of the Shanghai Business Events Week – has a stronger backing with the presence of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development. The latter joins SMTA in organising the forum this year, which will feature a high-profile panel of speakers comprising MICE industry leaders such as Martin Sirk, CEO, ICCA; Aloysius Arlando, CEO, Singex Group; and Li Jian’an, vice chairman-cum-general secretary, Chinese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine.

Shanghai

Chen said the cooperation between Shanghai and Beijing in hosting the forum offered a “great opportunity for both tourism authorities to work together in promoting China as an ideal destination for global MICE events”.