MICE Conversations: a podcast for the Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Events industry
MICE Conversations: a podcast for the Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Events industry
#6: 'MICE Conversations' - Karen Yue, Group Editor, TTG Asia Media
#6: 'MICE Conversations'. In this episode we talk with Karen Yue, Group Editor, TTG Asia Media in Singapore. Karen overseas 20 editors and writers across Asia-Pacific region. Karen is personally involved in TTG Asia, TTG Associations and the award winning. TTG MICE. Karen also produces the company’s annual Asian MICE Cruise Conference in Bangkok, which debuted in 2018 and was held for the second time in 2019.
More about Karen Yue and TTG Asia Media.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenyuesf/
https://www.ttgasia.com/author/yuekaren/
https://www.ttgasia.com/
https://www.ttgasiamedia.com/ttg_travel_trade_publishing/contact_us#editorial
Karen Yue, Group Editor, TTG Asia Media, email: karen.yue@ttgasia.com
Interview recorded Monday 19th April 2021 .
Topics and questions, timeline or video chapters.
00:00 - Intro
00:52 - How has this pandemic been for you this last year?
01:46 - How are things in Singapore?
03:22 - How does Singapore compare to the rest of Asia?
05:15 - I understand MICE events are taking place again in Singapore?
07:36 - Is it government or private enterprise leading the way?
08:50 - Health passports and travel corridors?
11:33 - How is confidence in Asia, to travel again?
13:38 - Trends? Live v hybrid? Networking v informational conferences?
16:11 - When do you see travel being permitted again between Asia and Europe?
18:20 - Where to final out more about Karen Yue and TTG Asia Media.
This pocast is also available as a video, on the TravelMedia.ie YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/SwKcoUH4f5E
TravelMedia.ie run Ireland's only outbound MICE networking event, the MICE Meetup Dublin.
https://www.travelmedia.ie/mice-meetup-dublin/
- (upbeat music) Hello and welcome to another session of MICE conversations. My name is Michael Collins, I ran TravelMedia.ie. I am based in Dublin. Today I'm delighted to be joined by Karen Yue who is the Group Editor of TTG Asia. And Karen is based in Singapore, but from Singapore she has a team of 20 plus editors and writers across the Asia Pacific reason, region rather and that of course gives us a unique insight to what's happening in Asia right now. Karen is personally involved in TTG Asia TTG Associations and the award-winning TTG MICE. Karen also produces her own conference which is the annual Asia MICE Cruise Conference in Bangkok which last took place, I think in 2019. Thank you very much for joining us. I'm delighted to have you with us. First I wonder if you could start on a personal level. How has this pandemic been for you in the Asia region personally, and from a work perspective?- Well, I've been well, thank you very much for asking that Michael, you know I'll be working from home and working from home has its perks. So I've been able to fit in an exercise routine finally and prepare proper meals for myself before lunch. Pre pandemic I used to travel for work at least once every month for an average of a week, each time. And that takes me away from my family quite a bit now without travel. The advantages that both my boys get to have me at home all day, and I'm enjoying this while I can. Work wise the newsroom has been very busy as is expected during times of crisis. We at least see our colleagues though, as we have moved into a permanent work from home arrangement. So I really miss the office buzz.- Yeah, I can appreciate that. And tell me, how is Singapore doing at the moment from what we're seeing in Europe where I'm based is that Asia seems to be ahead of Europe in terms of how it's handled the crisis, but also in terms of vaccine rollout, how are things in Singapore?- Okay, so we're currently now in progressive reopening. So Singapore actually entered a partial lockdown on April 7th last year. So it's about a one year anniversary now which required offices and schools to be closed. The rest of this stay at home. As things got under control. We started a progressive reopening since June 2nd, last year. So like I said, we are currently in phase three which really means that we can go out and do things as we used to do pre COVID but with the safe distancing measures in place and with tracing requirements inforce. So all Singapore residents carry a token a physical token that we need to scan wherever we go, we can also do a QR code scanning on our mobile phones basically allows the government to just trace and track our movement just in case we need to track infection, exposure tracing. So we also started out nationwide vaccine roll out which is free for all our residents that happened in January. So essential workers first got it. Followed by the vulnerable elderly progress has been quite good. And the government has recently offered free vaccination to residents aged 45 to 59. So I'm still waiting for my turn, Michael, because I'm still considered too young and too fit for the government to worry about.- Well, that's a good complaint. And I mean, so it's almost the exact opposite to what we're experiencing here. First of all, you've had a progressive unlocking since mid last year. Whereas what we've had in Europe is a see saw or a rollercoaster where we go in and out of lockdown and that is incredibly hard for business. And then also contact tracing has not been good in most of Europe. So it's interesting to see the difference but yet the the timescale of the vaccine rollout is very similar. I think, to a lot of Europe. How does Singapore compared to the rest of Asia? Because what we're seeing here in Europe is different countries moving at different speeds. I assume it's similar in Asia.- Yep. So Asia is very diverse. So yes, the progress has been at different speeds. here in Singapore we have been fortunate and you haven't had to reverse our faced reopening due to certain spikes in infection. So thank goodness for that. In fact, we have been able to move forward in resuming life as closely as it was pre COVID. So for instance, last October we established this set of safe meetings measures or protocols to bring back business events. So this protocol includes onsite rapid short tests on all in-person attendees delegate zoning for safe distancing altered F&B services. So nothing that's on a buffet line, even when food is served to you, it's covered for a safety precaution. So that was what has happened in the business events world. The state of pandemic management, the first across Asia, because this region is like I said, so diverse different political systems, different drug, different population size and distribution also. So I guess for Singapore being a small city state, you know with the population there's 6 million people kind of make it easier for enforcement of health and safety regulations.- And tell me, I mean from where I'm sitting in the MICE industry here in Europe I suppose we look with envy almost. We see that there are events taking place already in Singapore, two I noted or read about where the Singapore Tourism Industry Conference and then the GEO Connect Asia event 2021. What is it like? I mean, I understand that there are protocols in terms of obviously sanitization, mask wearing, but also testing. So is it the rapid antigen test that people take? And then I understand also that there are, you can get a pass if got your vaccine already you can skip that part. Is that how it's working?- Yes okay. So let me just go back to how we are reopening. So obviously everyone who I spoke to are excited to get back to live and to attend events. So the CBRE Tourism Industry Conference and the GEO Connect Asia were some of the events that happened this year, but even last year we were already trialing some of the safe meetings measure protocol that the governments are set up. So of course the more in-person events we host the more experience we gain the better we can get to rebuilding confidence bringing back public and business events. So the GEO Connect Asia was probably the third or fourth major hybrid event to be held in Singapore with a safe meetings measures in place. There have been about 60 smaller scale business events held post lock down and have altogether there were about 9,000 attendees and zero cluster infections. So this an antigen rapid antigen tests that you you were asking me about. It's a very quick process, actually. So I've been to a couple of in-person events. So you just get to the site. It's a very quick process. You queue up to get your turn you get swapped very quickly and no pain. You go into another room a nice room where everyone is safe distance. Then you wait for results that comes out in about 20 minutes. And then you can go into the pre-event foyer and you can meet with people within your own zone. Now, of course the latest development is from April 24th onwards vaccinated residents can attend events without undergoing onsite swab tests. So that really helps with massive events because can you imagine testing a few several thousands of people in one morning? Yeah.- [Michael] Interesting. And what I hear you saying there, correct me if I'm wrong but what I'm understanding here is that the government is leading the way here. So it's the government that are establishing the protocols. It's the government that are helping and managing this. Whereas in Europe, governments haven't gotten involved at that micro level of events yet they're more focused on the macro which is vaccine rollout and travel protocols, et cetera, is that correct? The government are leading the way here?- Yes. And this initiative is not just the government alone. The good thing about how Singapore has responded is that there's a lot of private and public partnerships. So the government is facilitating the process but also through conversations with industry leaders. So they've been working very closely with our local MICE association which represents all industry players in the MICE sphere. And also tourism representatives. So they all came together with to brainstorm ways to restart the tourism industry as quickly and as safely as possible. Now this is necessary for us because Singapore is a small city state and tourism is a big part of our economy.- Very interesting. And then on a broader view European or Asian level health passports it's a big topic here in Europe. And I don't think you'd call them passports. You call them green lanes, maybe, thinking about what's happening at that level in terms of passports or reciprocal air routes, et cetera.- Okay. Well, I'll just answer you your question about the air travel first. Now there are some essential green lanes and travel bubbles in Asia but these arrangements are quite fragile because you know conditions could change when there are new infection waves. So some of our neighbors have had to make the painful decision to go back to lockdown again and again because of sudden spikes in infection. So the most recent was actually in Thailand and travel between high risk provinces require mandatory quarantine. So Singapore was also incredibly close to establishing a travel bubble of Hong Kong last November. So under that program travelers from both points would come and go without restrictive mandatory quarantines. They only needed to clear the pre-arrival COVID test but the bubble was burst just a day before I take off because of a spike in cases in Hong Kong. So that really emphasizes how fragile that arrangement is. But beyond Singapore, we did have some good news also. Taiwan and Palau recently launched on April 1st what was said to be ages first COVID travel bubble. And also you know that on April 19 Australia and New Zealand took off the travel bubble successfully. And there were a lot of happy family reunions at the airport. You also asked about vaccine passports and certificates. Again, developments around. This is also very, varied Micheal, you know in March the Chinese government establish a vaccine possible that it hopes could be accepted globally. And then following that in April Japan is also looking to the same by issuing vaccination certificates to citizens and hoping that having that document put on an app would allow international travel to restart. So as for the vaccine passport for Japan I've not heard any further development. So I'm still watching that how it will unfold. Meanwhile, in Singapore our leaders are still deciding how to show proof of inoculation, but for all this vaccine and health passports to work, they must be recognized at many borders not just within the country. And that requires a willingness among governments to share information and a commitment to ironing out data privacy concerns. And those are huge obstacles to overcome.- Yeah, I mean, in Europe I think, we see Asia as being ahead of us in terms of much more open when it comes to sharing data with government and in particular health passports. For example, I think we're split here in Europe but if I look at, go the other way and I look at the U.S. Joe Biden has said, that they won't enforce health passports with travel. And I can understand that on a local level national level but when it comes to international travel it could be problematic because people will want passports or proof as you say of inoculation. Yeah it's gonna be interesting to watch. Can I ask kind of on a much more simplistic level in terms of just confidence? We've been all told to stay at home for a year to wash our hands at the virus is incredibly dangerous. And I see, local friends and peers and colleagues and I see a 50 50 split. Some people want to travel, can't wait to travel and others are afraid to travel and I've no intention of traveling and have changed their opinion towards travel completely. How is confidence in Asia towards travel?- There have been a lot of travel intention studies in this region, and all I found in an intense desire to get back to overseas vacations. So most recently travel platform AGODA you probably would be familiar with that name. A recently published a study that showed a growing optimism by travelers across Asia that international travel will restart soon. So consumers in countries like Australia, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, all intensifying their search for all four international destinations and an even another research by booking.com found that 71% of Singaporeans are hopeful of traveling this year as the national vaccination program picks up speed. The same percentage, even express a desire to travel more this year because of last year's travel withdraw. So, you know Michael Asians travel a lot. We're so used to getting on a plane for a weekend break because there's so many wonderful options just within an hour or two away. And taking that freedom away from us I appreciate travel so much more, you know?- Well that that's good to hear. That's a positive message.'Cause we certainly look towards Asia from this part of the world for signs or indicators. Tell me one trend that I'm seeing. And I don't know if you would agree is that, we're in a hybrid world now and I've seen a hybrid and hub world and I've experienced a few conferences myself but I think there's gonna be a split in terms of people are asking, well if I continue to have a conference that is both live and also virtual, it's gonna cost me additional money because of all the AV, technical elements involved. But there are certain conferences let's say, for example an educational or information conference where it makes sense for one to experience that from home where you don't necessarily need to travel. But yet on the other side, there are trade conferences and trade shows where networking is so important. How do you see the world going forward in terms of hybrid, hub, live, et cetera?- You know the hybrid format has only showed the benefit of an expanded audience. So before this pandemic, right? To convince an event organizer to have a virtual version of the conference would take a lot of convincing. But when people started to move when event organizers started to move into hybrid conferences they realized that they could access a much wider international audience who could not tune in very easily on the desktop at home. So that exposed the program to a much wider audience which is beneficial for the event brand. Now going forward once travel is possible. I don't think that will disappear. There will always be people who cannot attend a conference because of time because of costs. And that hybrid model allows you to still capture those people who are not able to attend. But if you're organizing a trade show that requires people to interact in person, to see a machinery, to see product samples, to touch and feel, and to talk you can't replace that with a virtual version. It's just difficult to do business that way. So we can expect hybrid model to still remain but probably mostly around trade events with a bigger educational component compared to a trading component.- Yup, that makes sense. Agreed, and last question, Karen, travel between Europe and Asia, I see Europe opening up a little bit. There are plans now for Europe and the U.S. to open up again but Europe and Asia, I think, that's gonna take a little bit longer and to a certain extent, I see Asia almost operating by itself, it's such a big market that trade shows and conferences and events can almost take place by themselves. I mean, China by itself is so big that events will take place without a European input. Do you see that happening next year being a much longer process or what are your thoughts are or is Asia waiting and wanting to welcome Europe back again?- You know I need a crystal ball to answer that, Michael do you have one to two loans to me?- That's why it was the last question.- Most of the industry leaders I spoke to, you know have only dare to offer a very cautious guess, regional travel may begin sometime late this year regional travel, huh? But when it comes to international travel predictions are really really cautious. And many are saying much later, even as late as 2024, that's crazy. But it's important to understand. And remember that Asia may be one single region but the government operates in very different ways and very independently. So, India has bilateral travel bubbles with many countries including those in Europe, like Germany, France, and the UK. And China has only arrangements with select countries and none are in Europe. Asian governments are really watching how other countries are dealing with the virus. And the travel policies could change with the situation whether or not Asia wants to reopen links with long haul markets in the Europe for example, really depends on how those countries are coping with the virus. As long as a destination in Europe is able to have comparable control over the pandemic. There will always be the chance for a bridge to appear between Asia and Europe.- Okay very interesting. Hopefully so. Karen, thank you very much for your time. For people who've enjoyed this conversation and want to know more about you, where can they find out more about you personally and obviously also TTG Asia?- So I'm on LinkedIn. You can find me on LinkedIn. My name is Karen Yue and all my, all titles are on www.TTGAsia.com and also TTGMICE.com. You just go around, poke around and you can find even more titles that we do.- Excellent, we'll look I'll include all those links in the description here in this video and also on the LinkedIn posts that I brought up as well. So look, Karen Yue thank you very much for your time. I really appreciate it has been a really good insight and hopefully we'll get to see you in person in the future. Thank you again.- Pleasure Michael, take care.(upbeat music)