 Christchurch has further added to its reputation for successfully staging large international government-hosted conferences, with the recently-completed UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting. The 31st session of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) World Heritage Committee involved some of the world’s most respected experts on world heritage sites, 850 delegates and media from 21 committee member countries, two official languages and many translators working across several sessions and meetings at any one time. International business development manager for Vbase, Jo Robinson, said the Christchurch Convention Centre and the Christchurch Town Hall for Performing Arts worked seamlessly as one, with every single millimetre of both needed to accommodate all the requirements. “As well as several large meeting room requirements, UNESCO planners had very specific requests for different smaller rooms, so we re-configured some of our meeting rooms into a total of 45 offices. In some cases, it meant making one room into four separate offices, complete with furniture,” she said.
The GCB German Convention Bureau is leading the way in environmental sensitivity staging its first climate-neutral general meeting in July. The greenhouse gases caused by the event were offset by GCB investments in a wind park project. The delegates received a personal certificate confirming that both their attendance and the event itself was climate-neutral. For implementing this project the GCB drew on the support of ClimatePartner (www.climatepartner.com), a specialist in the development of business models for voluntary climate protection.
White Island Tours has achieved Green Globe Certification under the worldwide Green Globe Certification Program, becoming the first tourism operator in the Bay of Plenty to gain the world’s highest environmental standard for travel and tourism. To attain certification White Island Tours had to successfully benchmark against a number of key environmental performance areas, including water usage, waste management and energy efficiency. The company scored best practice in 15 out of 16 areas. It then proceeded to the final and highest level of the program, Green Globe certification, which involved a rigorous assessment of the company’s sustainability practices.
Leading events industry software company Parrimark Technology has extended its operations with existing client Tottenham Hotspur to provide technology solutions to the football club’s sports charity. The Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, launched earlier this year, uses sport as a vehicle to improve the quality of life and outcomes for children and young people. Parrimark, who currently supply booking and event solutions to the football club, will be involved with providing electronic services that can manage all liaisons and the integration between the foundation and the community. CEO and founder of Parrimark Technology, Michael Scroop said “we have worked with Tottenham Hotspur for a number of years now and it is great to be able to supply services that can play a vital role in the success of these community initiatives.”
Tourism Auckland is pleased to announce the appointment of Anna Hayward as general manager of the Auckland Business Tourism Bureau. Ms Hayward has extensive management experience within the hotel sector and joins the bureau from Accor Hospitality New Zealand, where she has been in the role of director of sales & marketing corporate sales – Northern Region for the last six years. She joined the bureau team on July 30.
Queenstown’s five-star Millbrook resort has been named for the third year among the top 25 hotels in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Millbrook is one of only four New Zealand properties to make the list in the prestigious Travel & Leisure annual World’s Best reader’s poll. In the magazine’s 12th annual poll, published in the August edition and online at www.travelandleisure.com, Millbrook ranked 12th behind world-renowned Huka Lodge, which came top of the list overall. Millbrook moved up from 14th position last year and ranked ahead of top properties in Auckland and Christchurch.
Wellington has just confirmed its status as the country’s film capital, beating international cities to win a major global film industry conference. The city has just been confirmed as the host for the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI) Cineposium in 2008, against competing offers from Spain, Korea, South Africa, China and France. “This is a real win for Wellington,” says Positively Wellington Tourism CEO Tim Cossar. “The Lord of the Rings films took Wellington to the world, showcasing the city’s amazing scenery as well as its creative-edge. Winning this conference is testament to the world-leading work that happens here in Wellywood.” The conference will bring up to 300 film industry executives from 30 countries to Wellington, for a week-long industry conference.
Air Vanuatu has launched the first direct international 737 service between Australia and the exciting island of Espiritu Santo. On Sundays, Air Vanuatu will operate direct from Brisbane to Santo at 10.00am arriving at Santo’s Luganville Airport at 1.40pm. On Mondays, Sydney passengers can fly to Santo via Port Vila departing at 10.50am and arriving at 5.00pm, without a change of aircraft. A direct return service to Brisbane will operate on Mondays and a same plane service to Sydney on Sundays via Port Vila.
One of Australia’s leading event design and management firms Off-Site Connections Event Management (OSC) has just opened an office in Singapore. The OSC Singapore office was established just two short years after the opening of OSC’s operation in China, with an office in Shanghai. Over the course of the last 12 years, OSC has experienced great success in the international business events market within Australia and Asia. Regarded as a leader in producing and staging events for the Asian corporate market in Australia and China, the establishment of OSC Singapore has been a seemingly natural progression to continue OSC’s growth in Asia.
Chief executive of the Bruce Mason Centre in New Zealand, Gillian Houser CFE, has accepted an appointment to the Certified Facilities Executive Accreditation Board of the International Association of Assembly Managers (IAAM) based in the USA. Ms Houser was invited to represent the Venue Management Association (Asia & Pacific) on the Certification Board and commenced a three year appointment in July at the IAAM Annual Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. She is the first non-American to be appointed to this prestigious position. The Certified Facilities Executive (CFE) accreditation program was introduced by IAAM in 1976 to recognise excellence in the professional development and competence of managers of public assembly facilities. She is the only CFE in New Zealand. Facility managers who earn the CFE designation are recognised by those inside and outside the industry as experts in their profession.
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