Meetings & Exhibitions Hong Kong (MEHK) – the MICE division of the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) honoured TOP 10 Indian MICE agents at the Top Agent Awards Programme (TAAP). The travel trade partners were awarded on the basis of their contribution towards the incoming Meeting & Incentive (M&I) groups to Hong Kong in 2015.
MEHK had announced its Top Agent Awards Programme (TAAP) in March 2015 with an objective to acknowledge the contribution of its valued trade partners in promoting the M&I segment between April and December 2015. The Awards ceremony held over a gala dinner saw the presence of the industry leaders of the travel fraternity and provided a networking platform to interact with the visiting trade delegation from Hong Kong comprising of hoteliers, destination management companies along with popular Hong Kong attractions.
Peter Hoslin, Regional Director – Europe and New Markets, HKTB said, “After an encouraging response to the first edition of TAAP in 2014, we extended the programme period by additional three months last year. The results were overwhelming, the number of participating agencies and M&I groups availing our value-add offers almost doubled up in 2015. Hong Kong is one of the leading MICE destinations connected to six Indian cities with non-stop flights, and offers visa-free travel to Indian passport holders for visit up to 14-days. We are sure that India will be one of the growth engines for the MICE tourism in Hong Kong.”
Thomas Cook placed 1st for their tremendous contribution followed by Akbar Holidays at 2nd place and Kesari MICE at 3rd place.
The Top-10 winners for 2015 included the following MICE agencies from India:
• Akbar Holidays
• Cox & Kings
• De Tours
• Guideline Travels
• Kesari MICE
• Kuoni SOTC
• Shah International
• Thomas Cook
• Universal Journeys
• VDOIT4U Event Management
Hong Kong Tourism Board has rolled out TAAP 2016 with enhanced elements by introducing new categories (Best New Comers & Best M&I Year-on-Year Growth) while expanding the review period to consider all applicable M&I Groups operating between January 15 and December 31, 2016.
In 2015, Indian visitor arrivals to Hong Kong reached a record high of 531,770 – ensuring India featured amongst the Top 10 source markets for Hong Kong in terms of numbers; and amongst the Top-5 in terms of the Year-on-Year Growth.
