Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME) has cancelled its 2021 event, which was scheduled to be hosted in-person at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre as well as online in March, due to continued concerns brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Event organizers Talk2 Media & Events have shared that, like many other event organizers, the event faced challenges brought about by international and domestic travel restrictions despite healthy interest for the event from exhibitors and buyers.

To start the new year, Kempinski Hotels is launching a new global MICE campaign, which includes more flexibility in bookings and cancellations compared to previous offerings, as well as improved benefits for bookers.

Lima, the capital of Peru, has announced the development of a long-term strategy that will revitalize its tourism and business sector. In partnership with the Global Destination Sustainability Movement (GDS-Movement), Lima will co-create a sustainable and regenerative strategy to guide and enable Peru toward a new future, where the well-being and quality of life of residents and visitors are in balance and economically inclusive. 

Abbie Michaelson has been named the new COO of MeetingPackage, a Finnish SaaS technology company established in 2014. Michaelson, who has a long background in the hotel, hospitality and travel industry, has worked in executive leadership positions in companies such as Lanyon, Cvent and HRS.

Event planners increasingly expect hybrid events to be more common in future and fewer think that the popularity is temporary, according to recent research by etc.venues. In fact, 73 percent of event planners now think hybrid events will continue to be more common in the future—up from 67 percent when asked in May—while those who think this is just a temporary trend have gone down accordingly by 6 percent.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) has closed on its transaction to acquire the assets of the Las Vegas Monorail Company, preserving an important transportation option in Las Vegas and ensuring it can operate in the coming years.

Meeting Spotlight spoke before the holidays with Deborah Dickerson, director of operations at East West Connection (EWC), a full-service meetings and events agency. She said she expects virtual events and small, face-to-face meetings to continue midway through 2021.

How has your segment of the industry changed since March? 

As part of ongoing steps to help instill confidence for meeting professionals and attendees, Marriott International will be offering COVID-19 testing, which meeting professionals may select for group meetings at certain Marriott-branded hotels in the United States, beginning in January 2021. The optional health protocols build upon initiatives already in place as part of the recent launch of Connect with Confidence.

The optional health protocols for meeting professionals to consider include:

The Fort Worth Convention Center (FWCC) and the Will Rogers Memorial Center (WRMC) have received the STAR Facility accreditation status from the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC), an outbreak prevention, response and recovery accreditation for facilities.

The U.S. Travel Association has announced that it will coordinate with the trade show company Connect Travel to co-locate several events around IPW 2021 (September 18-22 in Las Vegas) in order to maximize value to attendees and provide travel marketers with cutting-edge tools and intelligence to promote their destinations and products in a post-COVID environment.