Asia for Asia

The 1st ASIA for ASIA: Meetings Industry Leaders’ Summit which was held in conjunction with the 46th ICCA Congress at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Pattaya, Thailand on the 26th October 2007 was indeed a resounding success with attendance by representatives from national tourism organizations, conference centers, and a host of industry suppliers.  The first summit was moderated by Gary Grimmer of Gary Grimmer & Company with prominent discussants and let to a communiqué  that called for cooperation from all sectors of the meetings industry in Asia – the call of which subsequently led to the revival of the Asian Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus (AACVB) in 2008. 

The 2nd ASIA for ASIA: Meetings Industry Leaders’ Summit which was held in conjunction with the IT&CMA tradeshow at the Centara Grand and Bangkok Convention Centre (BCC) at Central World, Bangkok was themed Professionalism of the Asian Meeting Industry.  Attendance at this 2nd Summit was fortunate enough to see the rebirth of the Asian Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus and thus another chapter of the history of the Asian meetings industry in the making.  The communiqué at this Summit called for the development of a new Asian Mindset instead of relying totally on the old models of the West, Asia should now be ready to create its own platform for future development of its meetings industry.

The 3rd Summit was once again held at the same venue in conjunction with IT&CMA on 5th October, 2009 and was themed the Impact of Global Economic Recession on the Meetings Industry in Asia: Challenges and Opportunities.  Discussants at this summit comprised industry leaders such as Ismail Khalil from the Web Applicants & Services Society, Patrapee Chinachoti of the Thailand Exhibition Association and Robin Lokerman of MCI, Nancy Tan of ACE Daytons, Bobby Ong of Kempinski and Sumate Sudasna of Creative Destination Management.  This Summit called for an online platform for Asian Meetings Industry Community, a stronger Asian branding, stronger focus on IT & Innovation and a focus on Asian talent development and sustainable practices.