The "Hangzhou, Inspiring New Connections" event at this year's IT&CM draws in crowds at the Hangzhou booth, while the city's success as a MICE destination leads to a surge in tourism to the city
SHANGHAI, Mar. 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Business Events Hangzhou, the city government agency responsible for promoting Hangzhou as a destination for conferences and exhibitions, led a delegation of 14 MICE services providers to the 2017 Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings China (IT&CM China) that took place in Shanghai between March 21st and 23rd. This move was the first step in the committee's promotion plan for the 2017 Hangzhou International Tourism Exhibition, the city's own event, and the delegation came away much satisfied with the results. Since having established "Hangzhou, Inspiring New Connections" as a brand, the government agency has been putting quite a bit of effort into enhancing the brand's visibility.
Vision + Technology + Platform
A multi-dimensional interpretation of the new "Hangzhou, Inspiring New Connections" brand
The new and highly visual design of the Hangzhou booth includes the new logo, which has the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, the instantly recognizable famous landmark located in Hangzhou's West Lake, circumscribed to the left by a giant letter "C". The light green shading of the design embodies the serenity of the city of Hangzhou, an element and feature of the city that was noticed by many attendees to the event. The letter C simultaneously represents the event itself, which is the first letter of the word "conference", the abbreviation for the Celsius temperature designation C, which is also the annual theme of Hangzhou as a MICE destination, as well as the new "connection" between Hangzhou's MICE resources and international markets.
The application of VR technology to the branding has created a new visual experience. One of the highlights of this year's event turned out to be the immersive experience that was delivered to attendees through the application of VR technology to field resources including hotels in Hangzhou. At the exhibition, attendees were able to put on the VR goggles and get a real sense of the overall perspective of Hangzhou as a conference destination. Some of the attendees commented that they look forward to seeing more applications of the new technology when it comes to simulating the experience of travel.
LinkedIn has been added as a new channel for promotion both in and outside of China, with Business Events Hangzhou creating company pages on the US-based social networking platform, in addition to presences already established on Facebook and several Chinese social media platforms including Weibo and WeChat. The combination of social media outlets created a comprehensive matrix for the promotion of the event and provided international conference organizers many options for learning and getting more information about Hangzhou MICE, the expo for promoting the city as a destination for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. The interactive photo area that was specially set up at IT&CM China proved successful in drawing in attendees, many of whom asked for more information about Hangzhou MICE, including MICE products, the MICE roadshow and other aspects of the promotion.
The organizer on duty at the Hangzhou booth said: "MICE is at the high end in terms of tourism-related offerings. It is an area we need to constantly explore and try new technologies and new platforms in a move to meet international standards and to bring more international conferences to Hangzhou."
The G20 Summit that took place in Hangzhou continues to make an impact
Hangzhou is becoming a preferred MICE destination
Since the G20 Hangzhou Summit, the number of incentives that are available in Hangzhou has notably grown and continues to do so. During this year's IT&CM, the Hangzhou exhibition group brought to the event a delegation of 14 well-positioned MICE services providers led by Business Events Hangzhou, drawing a lot of attendees into the booth, with the result that more than 600 one-on-one negotiations took place, and with the delegation walking away with more than 50 signed agreements in their briefcases.
In addition to the ongoing process of attending exhibitions and events in China and many countries worldwide, Business Events Hangzhou, in the early half of 2017, rolled out a series of brand promotion events, including the CEO Fam Trip and Hangzhou MICE Promotion Season, alongside the launch a preferential policy, the 2017 Hangzhou Special Offer Year Campaign, as vehicles for attracting more domestic and international conferences. In line with the messaging around the newly launched "Hangzhou, Inspiring New Connections" brand, the work to position Hangzhou as an international MICE destination has begun in earnest.
Hangzhou is becoming distinctly more international since the G20 Summit. An important task for Business Events Hangzhou is to continue enhancing the reputation behind the brand, as well as to continue and build on what has already been started: transforming Hangzhou into a truly international city through the build out of a complete infrastructure capable of supporting an end-to-end platform for high quality conference and travel services on a level that would put the city on a par with international cities with a long tradition in the sector. Hangzhou has become distinctly more international since the G20 Summit. An important task for the Business Events Hangzhou is to continue enhancing the reputation behind the brand, as well as to build on what has already been started: transforming Hangzhou into a truly international city through the build out of a complete infrastructure capable of supporting an end-to-end platform for high quality conference and travel services. The organizers' international perspective and their many years of accumulated experience, as well as the unique advantages of the city of Hangzhou, will come together to redefine Hangzhou as an international conference and exhibition destination.
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