< PreviousThe Singapore Expo venue, which has 32 meeting rooms and ten pavilions, showcased the various services available for events. The MICE venue features digital promotion solutions; incorporates festivalisation; uses food trucks for versatile event applications, such as selling food, merchandise, check-in or sponsor activities, for example; and has the Expo Advantage programme, which offers exclusive services with local partners. Maria João Leite *The journalist travelled at the invitation of IT&CM Asia event spaces. Macau and Hengqin have their own particularities and attractions, but they feel that together they are stronger in the MICE industry. ‘Stay longer, explore more’, they emphasise. The strategic location, advanced infrastructure and diversity of experiences available make Hong Kong an attractive destination for the industry. In addition to reporting on the various projects under development and the diversity of offers, the Hong Kong Tourism Board presented the Hong Kong Incentive Playbook, which brings together more than a hundred team-building activities and personalised experiences for incentive travel. WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 20 REPORT “MICE COMPANIES SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN DISCUSSIONS WITH GOVERNMENTS” WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 22 INTERVIEW CATHERINE CHAULET WARNS THAT OVER-TOURISM ALSO THREATENS THE MICE BUSINESS Over-tourism in cities is a threat not only to leisure travel, but also to the MICE segment, warns Catherine Chaulet. ‘The fact that people are so against tourism in cities like Barcelona is much talked about in the media and it scares meeting planners,’ said Chaterine Chaulet, CEO of Global DMC Partners, in a statement to Event Point. ‘Normally, in the MICE [meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions] industry, programmes are developed two years in advance. If meeting planners start to hear about problems in a destination, they start to move away from that destination,’ she warned. For Chatherine Chaulet, ‘the governments of the countries suffering from over-tourism are not paying enough attention to the municipalities that are suffering from this problem, especially on the financial side of the issue’. ‘Countries love tourism, it brings them money, they want to receive more and they welcome low-cost airlines, which bring people, but the infrastructure of the cities is not prepared to manage these flows,’ she warned. ‘Local residents are suffering from the expansion of tourist accommodation, which increases the cost of living, but there is also something we call the invisible burden, which is waste management, water management, protecting and respecting culture. This is not taken into account in many cases,’ emphasised Catherine Chaulet. ‘The money goes to the governments and not necessarily to the municipalities. If we did a PnL [profit and loss analysis] of municipalities in terms of tourism, it would probably show losses,’ argued the CEO of Global DMC Partners. Catherine Chaulet believes that MICE companies should be involved in discussions with governments to resolve the issue of over-tourism. ‘Countries still want tourists, but they need to manage the flow,’ and Destination Management Companies can help in this process. ‘We have the ability to promote other destinations in the countries. In Portugal, it doesn’t have to be all in Lisbon, it can be in other places. And it can be at different times of the year.’ Luís Canto“THE FEEDBACK HAS BEEN PHENOMENAL” Gonçalo Castel‑Branco © Joana Freitas WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 24 EVENTS “THE FACT THAT WE HAVE SO LITTLE HAS SHAPED OUR ABILITY TO DO A LOT” The internationalization of events is beginning to take firm steps in Portugal. Brazil was the obvious destination for some initiatives, but with Chefs on Fire taking place in Madrid, Spain, the path seems to be one of no return. We spoke to Gonçalo Castel-Branco, the event’s producer. Chefs on Fire is based on an innovative concept that invites the best national and international chefs to cook exclusively with fire, smoke and wood, to the sound of emerging bands and artists, celebrating different forms of talent. The event’s debut was in Cascais, where it has been held for six editions. After a pop-up edition in the Maldives, the event was held in Spain for the first time this year. “We sold in the first year what we had in our third year plan; the feedback from audiences, chefs and stakeholders has been phenomenal (many calling the festival the best ever in Spain); and the learning has been enormous. We can’t wait to start producing the second edition,” says Gonçalo Castel-Branco, executive producer of Chefs On Fire. Holding an event outside Portugal naturally brings challenges. But is it so different to organise an event in neighbouring Spain? “Very different. Not only is the production culture dramatically different, but the costs are 100 to 200% higher for a similar quality of delivery. The market is bigger, more vibrant and more competitive, and that’s good, but this experience has confirmed what I’ve long said about Portugal and the Portuguese: the fact that we have so little has shaped our ability to do a lot,” says Gonçalo Castel-Branco. In this return to their origins and to cooking over hot coals, the event’s organiser says they used a “mixed team” of suppliers. On the one hand, “our Portuguese team and our heritage” were at work, with “more than six trucks traveling directly from Cascais to Madrid”; on the other hand, the organization also used “local suppliers, particularly in key positions”. © Joana Freitas “Our goal is for it to be the best festival in the world by 2030” In Portugal, Chefs on Fire has already been to several cities, from north to south. A decentralization that, according to Gonçalo Castel-Branco, is set to continue. “We’re going to continue to use the pop-up model to reach new audiences, showcase new talents and highlight the enormous gastronomic wealth of our country. But we’re going to stick to just three a year (despite having more than ten requests annually), so that we can focus on improving Cascais and international events more and more.” As far as out-of-doors events are concerned, after the Maldives, Madrid made its debut at the beginning of October. A choice that wasn’t made for nothing. He explains that the team “analyzes multiple countries based not only on the size and interest of the gastronomic market, but also on the laws that impact us logistically (for example, the use of fire), as well as on specific opportunities (a city that has expressed interest in hosting the project, or a local player with experience with whom we are comfortable), in order to prioritize the countries that interest us the most.” “Fundamentally, what we want is not only to deliver a product with the quality of the original in Cascais, but also to continue to create versions with local relevance,” stresses the event’s organizer. Internationalization is a commitment that Gonçalo Castel-Branco has no doubt will continue. “Chefs on Fire is currently the best gastronomic festival in Europe, but our goal is that by 2030 it will be the best festival in the world,” he says. © Joana Freitas WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 26 EVENTS THE EVENT TOOK MONTHS OF PLANNING WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 28 CASE-STUDY BEST OF BELRON 2024, A SUPER-PRODUCTION AT MEO ARENA Every two years, the Belron group, a vehicle glass repair, replacement and recalibration company, holds the Best of Belron event, attended by technicians from all over the world. Produced and organized jointly by Meo Arena Corporate & Congress Centre and the Belron team, this year’s edition was held at Meo Arena in Lisbon, which welcomed more than 1,700 people from 34 countries. In addition to the competition itself, there were a number of side events: the Leadership Meeting (which brought together 200 executives from the sector), a gourmet dinner, the Belron Client Conference (which was dedicated to the theme ‘Today to Tomorrow’ and brought together various speakers to discuss trends and analyze current challenges), the Partners’ Dinner (which brought together all the partners from the Belron universe) and even an arraial (which gave a taste of what Lisbon’s parties are like). The Best of Belron 2024 featured 30 contestants and their teams, as well as more than 60 judges. At the Meo Arena, 30 competition stations were set up so that the technicians could carry out the various challenges proposed. Canadian David Chester was named the best glass repair, replacement and recalibration technician at an awards ceremony that was part of the event’s closing gala dinner. The gala took place in the same space as the competition. The transformation, which was carried out by Europalco (a provider of solutions for events and shows), involved moving from a space with 30 car racing stations to one with 1,300 dining tables. And all in just over two hours. After the awards ceremony and the closing ceremony, the evening continued with plenty of entertainment from the New Amsterdam Collective and DJ João Garcia.Next >