ITE HCMC 2012 – Day 7 – 17 September 2012

Vietnam House Restaurant

An early morning start to pack my bags ready for departure, then down to the Cliff Resort restaurant for breakfast, again sitting outside enjoying the weather and views.

Back on the bus again for our return to Ho Chi Minh City and farewell to the ocean.  Once again we drove past many tropical; fruits plantations, homes, shops, schools and market stalls.

Spring Hotel

On arrival we went to the Vietnam House Restaurant for an enjoyable lunch. Most of our group were flying out of Vietnam that afternoon, so they dropped me off at my hotel for the next two nights, the Spring Hotel before they were taken to the airport.

ITE HCMC 2012 – Day 6 – 16 September 2012

fishing boats

I awoke from my slumbers and saw the rising suns rays glistening on the oceans waters. A few fishing boats were still scattered in the distance, but most had returned to shore with their evenings haul.

After a shower and soak in the bathtub, I ventured downstairs and enjoyed the buffet breakfast sitting on the balcony under the shade of a beach umbrella.

Phan Thiet Markets

The bus picked us up for our mornings sightseeing trip. First stop was a brief visit to the Phan Thiet Markets. Here hundreds of market stalls sold clothing, tropical fruits and a wide assortments of other goods.

Takou Mountain gondola ride

We then drove to Takou Mountain, about one hour’s drive from Mui Ne. Rather than hiking up the mountain, we took the gondola ride high above the beautiful tropical rain forest full of birds and wildlife to the Mountain Pagoda at the peak. Here we saw tomb towers and the largest reclining Buddha in Vietnam, measuring 49 meters in length.

Mui Ne’s sand dunes

The bus took us back to a delightful beach front restaurant for lunch. We then went to see the edge of surprisingly Saharan-like sand dunes located not far from Mui Ne’s important beaches. The child in me wished to go sliding down the sand dunes on a plastic toboggan. There are more than 60 different colours of the sand, and talented artists use the various colours to create amazing sand art pictures. 

fishing village

We then returned to the Cliff Resort via a fishing village and inspected another amazing resort, which I will detail in a separate article.

That evening we dined at another resort restaurant before heading back to our Cliff Resort for our last nights rest at the beach.

ITE HCMC 2012 - Day 5 – 15 September 2012

The Cliff Resort & Residences

We left the wonderful Legend Hotel this morning for our three day Phan Thiet Beach Tour.  

The journey took about 4four hours in our mini—bus, with a rest stop midway. The further we drove the building denisty decreased, and we started to see glimpses of the countryside with various plantations and tropical fruits in profusion.

The Cliff Resort & Residences

We arrived and went for a beautiful lunch at a local restaurant then went and checked in at our hotel for the next two nights – The brand new The Cliff Resort & Residences, Some of our group rested, some went swimming at the beach, and others swam in the large pool. We were then picked up to be taken to our evening meal.

Located on Nguyen Dinh Chieu street, the main road leading to Mui Ne, The Cliff Resort & Residences terrain is simply unique with a slight slope towards the sea. On the right The Cliff is the immense ocean, on the left is the famous Sealinks golf course. From the balcony of your resort room  can you visually capture the beauty of spectacular oceanfront scenery that blends in with the nature.Each night I looked out and saw the hundreds of fishing boats in the ocean lit by their lights.

The Cliff Resort & Residences

The Cliff Resort & Residences

Address

Zone 5, Phu Hai Ward
Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Vietnam
T (84) 62 371 9138          F (84) 62 371 9333
Email: reservation@thecliffresort.com.vn

Website: www.theholidayandtravelmagazine.blogspot.com.au

Website: www.DestinationMekong.com

Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office
c/o 3rd Floor, Department of Tourism, Ministry of Tourism and Sports, 154 Rama 1 Road National Stadium, Wangmai, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Web: www.mekongtourism.org
Tel: +66 2038 5071-1

ITE HCMC 2012 – Day 4 - 14 September 2012

Majestic Hotel

A later start this morning for the short bus ride to the Majestic Hotel for the Ministerial Press Conference. The Luncheon was held at the “Quan Ngon” Vietnamese restaurant.

Labour Culture Place HCMC.

Later in the afternoon we saw the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Show at the Labour Culture Place HCMC. This was a wonderful performance of puppets on a water stage controlled by long rods under the water by people behind a screen. A live band performed the music.

Golden Dragon Water Puppet Show

During the performance it poured with rain and temporarily flooded the streets, footpaths and car parks. Instead of walking the short distance to a local restaurant for dinner, our bus picked us up and slowly drove through the water. After the meal the bus picked us up once again and drove us to a theatre for the “Non la” traditional music and dance performance which featured colourful costumes.

“Non la” traditional performance

Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre
55B Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St., D.1
T: (08) 3827-2653
W: www.goldendragonwaterpuppet.com

ITE HCMC 2012

Rather than writing this article in the the familiar surroundings of my home in Muswellbrook Australia, I am writing this in Ho Ch Minh City in Vietnam. I am fortunate to be  invited to attend the 8th International Travel Expo being held here. I arrived on Monday 10 September after an enjoyable flight with Vietnam Airlines and quickly settled into the Legends Hotel.

On Tuesday I enjoyed a River Tour to visit an art/craft village and the studios of several internationally famous artists. Pottery, painting and lacquer ware  were a delight to see. A Welcome Dinner was held at the Continental Hotel that evening, which provided an opportunity to get to know some of the other delegates.

Wednesday was a busy day with a City Tour in the morning to visit the Re-unification Palace and War Remnants Museum.  Lunch was at the venue of ITE HCMC 2012, the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Center. In the afternoon I attended the Seminar featuring presentations of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. It was then off to the White Palace for the opening Ceremony and Vietnam Night Gala Dinner, which included food, singing and dancing floor shows. The Tourism Alliance Awsards were a part of this evening.

Thursday was another busy day, with arrival at the SECC in time for the Welcome Ceremony and viewing of all the Exhibits. After lunch a Seminar was presented by various Key  Tourism Markets including Australia and India.  It was then off to the Rex Hotel for the City Mayors Tourism Conference and the Cambodian Night Gala Dinner, which was a rich feast of food, dancing, singing, martial arts, and fashion parades highlighting the culture of Cambodia.

The program continues today with the Ministerial Press Conference, luncheon at the "Quan Ngon" Vietnamese Restaurant, and in the evening the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Show and "Non la" art performance.

As time permits in the busy schedule I intend to post more articles about ITE HCM 2012.

ITE HCMC 2012 - Day 3 - Thursday 13 September 2012

We were picked at early for the dive to the SECC Exhibition Hall for the Welcome Ceremony and ITE HCMC 2012 Exhibition. The large exhibition hall was filled to capacity with many stands featuring tourism in Cambodia, Laos, Mynamar and Vietnam, other Asian countries and other countries around the world. hotels, airlines, and provinces were all represented by colorful displays, music, dancing, crafts and clothing.

Lunch was enjoyed on the upper level foyer, then it was into the Ballroom for a Seminar on Key Tourism Market Perspectives. It was interesting that one of the speakers was from Australia, though Australia was not represented at the Exhibition.

Rex Hotel

It was then back on the bus for the City Mayors Tourism Conference in the city. This was followed by the Cambodia Night held in the Ballroom of the Rex Hotel. The meal and entertainment of dancers, singers, fashion parades and martial arts gave an insight into Cambodian culture. 

Luxperience 2013 to Return to Sydney with Exciting New Format

Luxperience, the exclusive new high-end experiential travel trade event, has concluded after three successful days of meetings and eight networking events with the announcement that next year's event would be held in Sydney from September 2-4, 2013 in a stylish new format.

The show, which has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the 100 suppliers and 300 buyers who attended, will return next year to the Overseas Passengers Terminal, superbly located along the Sydney Harbour waterfront with stunning views of the Sydney Opera House.

Next year's show, in a radical departure from the traditional trade show format, will see the exhibition booths replaced with a stylish "business class lounge" environment for buyers and sellers to meet in.

"It will essentially have the look and feel of a very glamorous airport lounge, which as well as being more relaxed, will also enable a much more cost effective entry price to the show for suppliers.  Suppliers will still be able to have their branding on display and various upgrade package options will be available," said event creator Rosemarie Sama.

At the same time, she also revealed that next year's show would target the meetings and events industry. "We really feel that an 'experiential dimension'  to meetings, events and incentives is where the industry is headed. So you can expect next year's show to have more unique event venues, luxury meeting locations and experiential event experts included as exhibitors, and more top events and meetings planners invited among the buyers," said Rosemarie.

"We've met lots of really interesting people that we wouldn't have met otherwise and I was particularly pleased that most of the buyers I met were the owners of the businesses so we went straight to the right people," said Chris Sturgeon, General Manager of Hapuku Lodge & Tree Houses, New Zealand.

"We've had a lot of positive interest from a broad range of countries," said Wolfgang Hees, Managing Director of Brilliant Tours Australia.

"It's been brilliant," said Tansy Tomkins, Trade and Events Manager at Tourism New Zealand. "Some of our exhibitors have said that 70% of the buyers they've met were totally new to them."

"Huge business, amazing, couldn't be happier," says Mark Harris from Huntley Lodge in New Zealand. 

"You are amazing - this has been an absolutely incredible experience and I could not ask for more. The organisation was superb," says Earl Starkey from Sophisticated Travel, New York.

"It was incredible and an amazing job done by all.  It was wonderful to be a part of it and I cannot thank the organisers enough" says Luigi Bajona from Onirikos, Italy.

Commenting on the show's mission, Rosemarie Sama added: "Flat screen TVs in the rooms and several hundred thread count Egyptian cotton bed linen is no longer a luxury, it's a given. Luxury now is all about bespoke, unique adventures and experiences, the opportunity to see places and experience things that few others have - in a way that is not only comfortable and well, yes 'luxurious' but also authentic, inspiring and potentially life changing."

"Our vision with the show was not just to put together an event, however fabulous. It was to create a community -- one that will continue well beyond these few days."    

ITE HCMC 2012 - Day 2 - Wednesday 12 September 2012

Unification Palace

This morning I woke to the alarm and went down to the buffet breakfast served in the Legend Hotels restaurant. There was a delightful selection of Asian and Western dishes.

I then boarded the mini-bus with the other people in our group staying at our hotel for a tour of the city.  We first saw the Unification Palace which has had an interesting history.  In another post I will give a fuller history if this interesting Palace which was built reflecting Vietnamese, Western and French design ideas. . The Palace Guide showed us through the many official and private rooms decorated in 1960’s style reflecting the era when it was built.  The ground floor consisted of the Banquet Room with yellow carpets to help promote feelings of happiness, and the Cabinet Conference Rooms and ceremonial hall.

The first floor, housed the map room, Presidents room, National and International Reception rooms. It was interesting to see that The Presidents Chair was raised from the floor to symbolize power, and has dragon arms on it. Other rooms included the Advisors Reception room, and the Ambassadors  Reception room, which had a 14 panel lacquer work of art on one wall.

The 2nd floor houses the ladies reception room, movie theatre and gambling room. The third floor housed the presidents and guests living quarters. On the Fourth floor the dancing room was established.

The basement and Sub-Basement housed the war rooms - the map, radio communications, tele-printers rooms and kitchen.

War Remnants Museum

We then went to the War Remnants Museum which showed another perspective of the Vietnam War. I can not say that it was an enjoyable visit, as it was mere disturbing than anything else.  It just reinforced my view of how cruel human beings can be to each other and that love is more important than hate.

In the afternoon we were taken to the Saigon Exhibition and Conference Center (SECC) for lunch in the Upstairs Foyer, then a 4Code Presentation Seminar where a person from Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam gave an overview of tourism in their country. (Unfortunately the person from Laos was unable to be present.).

In the evening we attended the Opening Ceremony, Vietnam Night, Gala Dinner, & Tourism Alliance Awards Evening. This was held at the White Palace where we sat at round tables of 10 people and enjoyed an evening of speeches and entertainment of singers and dancers highlighting Vietnamese culture.

It was like a United Nations gathering with people from many countries around the world in attendance.  I sat at a table with people from Vietnam, Switzerland, Russia, Malaysia, and Germany. Apart from the official speeches there were performances of Vietnamese dancers and singers on stage for us to enjoy while we ate.

I ate everything on the menu which  consisted of -

APPERTISERS
Vietnamese Spring Rolls
Deep Fried Squid Ball Wrapped Egg
Marinated Lotus Stem Salad with Prawn and Pork

MAIN COURSES
Scrampi Currie
Braised “Thai” Style
Grilled Chicken
Steamed Sticky Rice with Coconut Sauce

White Palace

Deep-fried Crsipy Seabass
Fried Ruce with Seafood and Lotus Salad

DESSERTS
Grilled Casssava cake
Grilled Banana Cake
Green Leaf Cake

BEVERRAGES
Heineken Beer, Wine, Soft Drink, Mineral water

Then it was back to the hotel for a nights rest, as I passed over the late night function

Sheraton On The Park Named Australia's Best Meetings & Conference Property At The HM Awards 2012

Sheraton on the Park named best "Meetings and Conference Property" at the 2012 HM (Hotel Management) Awards for Hotel & Accommodation Excellence, held in Sydney on Friday 7th September. These are the leading awards for the accommodation industry in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region, judged by a selected panel of 50 industry experts and leading travel editors and writers. This win cements Sheraton on the Park's reputation as the hotel of choice for meetings and events.

The award recognises the hotel's commitment to providing a superior product with flawless delivery through the hard work and dedication of each and every one of their associates. According to Mr. Sean Hunt, Managing Director Sheraton on the Park and Regional Vice President Starwood Pacific Hotels. "Meeting Planners can take comfort in the flawless delivery of their function at Sheraton on the Park. Our commitment to providing personalised meetings with the latest in Hi-Tech facilities is one of the Hotels key differentiators. This (award) is testament to our commitment to customer satisfaction and the professionalism of our associates. It is a real team effort."

With 16 flexible function rooms, meeting planners are spoilt for choice at Sheraton on the Park. The pillar less Grand Ballroom, complete with natural light, seats up to 900 guests and boasts integrated high definition audio visual equipment. The executive style 'Meetings On 5' houses luxurious boardrooms, an outdoor terrace, innovative catering and Meeting Concierge services.

Now offering the fastest wireless internet connection in Sydney with 120MB connection at all times and throughout the entire property, the hotel is ahead of the competition by at least 60MB. On request, the property is able to offer up to 1,000MB for high caliber meetings and events. The
installation was one of the latest improvements the hotel has undergone as part of a six million dollar renovation project. The use of the internet in all public areas is free of charge.

Meeting Planners can take comfort in the fact that the hotel has on site event specialists to take care of their every requirement. From intimate events to corporate functions, Sheraton on the Park can provide the tools you need to plan the perfect gathering.