Business Travel News - July 28, 2008 - (Page 57)

DESTINATIONS Conference Centers Eye Asia ing lots of research and some dialogue in China, in Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere in the country, since September 2007 and very seriously for the last six months. As hungry as the Chinese are for management education, we see real opportunity in China because interest is high and there isn’t a lot of meeting space there.” Conference centers can stimulate genuine interest and take hold in Asia in just five to 10 years, said Dolce, adding that due to the influence of multinational companies operating in Asia, not too much education about conference centers’ value will be needed. Cabañas and Dolce agreed that before anything concrete happens, connecting with local partners is key. “We need a local partMADE IN JAPAN ner who can bring deThe Tokyo Conference Center Shinagawa could have company. velopment and capital expertise to the table, opened in 2001 in the city’s Minato- and we need to be able to make mulku district with 20,000 square feet tiple deals for multiple properties in of meeting space, is the only Inter- a particular region,” Dolce said. national Association of Conference Ideally, Dolce would build a fourCenters-certified conference facili- star, 300-room conference hotel with ties in all of Asia. 30,000 to 40,000 square feet of The Woodlands, Texas-based meeting space, he said. “When the Benchmark’s vice president of cap- opportunity is right, Broadreach, a ital markets Alex Cabañas said he private equity investment REIT believes it will take 10 to 15 years based in Palo Alto, Calif., is prepared for the conference center concept to invest capital,” Dolce said, but to get going in earnest in Asia, but added development and construcJapan is ready for more supply. tion costs are rising in China, as the “In Japan, receptiveness has been cost of labor has increased. tremendous,” said Cabañas. “Under As for market sources, Dolce said, our Benchmark Japan plan, an- “we can’t rely on the U.S. as before, nounced this year, we will develop and, as we learned in Europe, we with our Japanese partners as many need to build a regional and nationas four or five new conference cen- al base, and we’ll rely on the Middle ters in the next five years in Tokyo East as a feeder market.” and Nagoya for sure, and possibly “There’ s no doubt that the volume in Tokyo and Yokohama as well.” of meetings in the U.S. has declined,” Meanwhile, Montvale, N.J.-based said Neil Pompan, president of IACC conference center chain Dolce In- North America. “However, conferternational is studying China for pos- ence centers typically thrive in down sible openings, said chairman and economies as they cater to small- and CEO Andy Dolce. “We’ve been do- medium-sized markets.” ■ Suppliers for years have enthusiastically discussed the notion of bringing the conference center concept to Asia, particularly to Japan, but development and implementation of the idea in the Far East lags far behind its potential. Conference centers are a key part of the corporate meetings landscape in the United States and Europe, but Benchmark Hospitality’s Tokyo Conference Center Shinagawa, which BY FRANK ROSCI http://www.newotanihotels.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - July 28, 2008

Business Travel News - July 28, 2008
Contents
Inside Track
Profile
Newsmaker
BTN Research
Forum
Aviation
Lodging
Ground Transportation
Meetings Today
Travel Management
Expense/Payment
Destinations
Executive Dashboard
Washington Wire

Business Travel News - July 28, 2008