HSMAI Charters New Asia Pacific Chapter

Christine Toguchi, Managing Director of HSMAI Asia Pacific in Singapore

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. October 14, 2008

MCLEAN, VA, November 2, 2006. The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) announces the official chartering of the Asia Pacific chapter. As the world's leading association providing information, networking opportunities and educational resources to the travel, tourism and hospitality industries, HSMAI's new sanction signals expansion into a new and burgeoning market.

The charter was officially launched along with HSMAI's 2nd annual Asia Connect strategy conference at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore, a two-day event attended by 90 hospitality and travel sales and marketing professionals.

"As an international organization of sales and marketing professionals in hospitality and travel, this Asia Pacific initiative is in keeping with our long range goals to expand globally," states Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHA, president and CEO of HSMAI.

The value that chapters bring to a region are wide-reaching, ranging from educational and informational benefits to networking opportunities and overall unification of an industry for those engaged in sales and marketing for hospitality, travel and tourism.

The Asia Pacific chapter features:

---|Comprehensive offerings and presentations of educational programs, including industry forums and workshops

---|Development and implementation of Special Interest Groups (SIG) in Revenue ---|---|---|Management, Internet Marketing and Resort Marketing;

---|Strategic relationships with other leading industry associations, organizations, or schools that will enhance and accelerate the position of the chapter in the market;

---|Opportunities to expand with additional chapters throughout the region.

Participating in the chapter chartering were:

--Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHA, president and CEO of HSMAI,

--Christine Toguchi, managing director of the new chapter based in Singapore,

--Carmen Lam, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Inter Continental Hotel Group (IHG) Asia Pacific;

--Gerry Oh, Senior Vice President - Global Sales & Marketing - Millennium & Copthorne Hotels;

--Michael Meade, Senior Vice President - Sales & Marketing, Jin Jiang International Hotel Management Company Ltd.;

--Bernadette Dennis, Vice President of HSMAI Asia Pacific Chapter & Vice President Asia Pacific Global Sales Organization, Marriott Int'l Inc.;

--Craig Fong, Vice President - Non-Air Content Associates, ABACUS; and Arthur Kiong, Director - Hotel Operations, Far East Hotels.

--The founding chapter president was Judy Siguaw, Founding Dean of Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management.

"In less than a year, we organized and delivered three conferences that addressed special interest areas for our members and the industry in the region and pulled together a dynamic team of talented and dedicated individuals who make up our board of directors. HSMAI Asia Pacific is a young chapter operating in a vibrant marketplace. These are exciting times for our industry, as the opportunities for hospitality professionals in the region are boundless and hold great potential," says Christine Toguchi.

The hugely successful Asia Connect conference focused on topics including Identifying Lifestyle & Travel Trends, Marketing & Managing For Profit, and The Online Travel Space.

Among the plenary sessions were:

---|Keynote Presentation: 'Inside the Affluent Space - A Journey Into the Changing Lifestyle Attitudes and Expectations of Affluent Consumers'

---|CRM: A Powerful Business Strategy NOT Just A Piece of Software

---|Future Trends In Tourism & Travel by PATA

---|Creating A Name For Yourself - Best Practices in BRANDING

---|Changing Tides - Trends Impacting the Meetings Market & Global Business Events

---|What's Hot in Online Travel?

---|Marketing to the Resort, Spa and Wellness Enthusiast

---|Case study-led workshops were presented by leading consultants and trainers on:

---|Revenue Management For Group & Event Sales

---|Create Impact & Build Loyalty through TM eMail Marketing

---|Key Account Management - Techniques at Work

The title sponsor of the event was American Express International. Additional sponsors were Abacus, Hospitality Marketing Concepts (HMC), MacroVision Network Pte Ltd, Singapore Tourism Board, TravelCLICK and Wiley & Sons.

For more information on HSMAI's Asia Pacific Chapter, contact Christine Toguchi at HSMAI Asia Pacific via e-mail at [email protected], phone (65) 6278 2401, or visit www.hsmaiasia.org.

HSMAI is an organization of sales and marketing professionals representing all segments of the hospitality industry. With a strong focus on education, HSMAI has become the industry champion in identifying and communicating trends in the hospitality industry, and bringing together customers and members at annual events. Founded in 1927, HSMAI is an individual membership organization comprising nearly 7,000 members worldwide.