Destination report
In June, KINTEX, near Seoul, held an
exhibition with 30,000 attendees and a
week earlier 20,000 visitors attended
three separate exhibitions, held
simultaneously at the venue.
KINTEX convention sales and
marketing coordinator, Hyo In Son, said:
“We are no longer facing any mass
cancellations on the organisers’ side. So,
while we will be facing an inevitable sales
deficit this year, I believe we can overcome
this difficult situation together.”
At Seoul’s COEX, manager of
convention sales, Heather Lee, explains
that the Seoul International Dental
Congress, SIDEX 2020, which took place
in June, welcomed 5,000 delegates in
person, emphasising that two weeks later
there was not a single case of Covid-19
linked to the event.
‘Untact’
Hotels have remained open and continued
to receive guests throughout the
pandemic, high touch areas were cleaned
frequently.
Korea calls the contactless approach,
‘Untact’. Beyond cashless payment,
mobiles not only track and trace but, with
QR readers and more, facilitate to eat,
meet, and enjoy. Hotels were quick to
employ this. From Korea’s own
international Chain Lotte Hotels &
Resorts, to global brands, visitors check
in, unlock hotel rooms, choose and order
from a menu, safely.
Grand Hyatt Seoul held an
International Chambers Gala dinner for
450 people in July and the organiser was
delighted to report that no Covid cases
occurred from the event. Again, hygiene
processes were similar to those mentioned
above and included rearranging table
seating (reducing from 10 to 6 people per
table) and placement (reducing 81 to 72
tables with 1.5 metres of space)
Sadly, no dancing was permitted at the
event, which involved staggered arrival
times and liberal distribution of masks
and extensive placement of hand
sanitisers.
After the event the hotel managed and
monitored attendance list for 14 days and
stood ready to share information about
any symptomatic attendees.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Hyatt
has moved to set up new hybrid event
spaces in its Korean properities, all with
the required bandwidth.
New hotels openings include:
• June 2020 Lotte’s Signiel Busan
opened
• July 2020 Wyndham Ramada Plaza
Yeousu opened
• October 2020 both Grand Hyatt Jeju
and Ramada Gumi due to open.
The national bureau, KoreaMICE
Bureau, under the Korea Tourism
Organisation, is offering meeting
planners ‘enhanced’ support to overcome
the challenges posed by Covid-19 as the
events industry gets back on track. Until
the end of June 2021 additional funding is
available to organisers for safety measures
such as thermal imaging cameras, face
masks and hand sanitisers.
Anne Ridyard, the representative for
the bureau, confirms there are
‘considerable’ subsidies for very large
meetings on a ‘sliding scale’ as well as
support from the regional bureaux where
the event will be held, including extra
resources to support hybrid meetings.
5G has been in Korea for two years,
and tech related events are certainly
Above:
Xpace, photo
courtesy:
@stillm45 | @j.woo.
kim (instagram
account)
Top left:
COEX is bringing
the latest Korean
technology to
bear on its events
hygiene measures
COEX convention center is
Seoul’s largest and Korea’s
busiest convention centre with
over 30 years of experience
and recently installed Xpace,
an indoor digital media space.
Xpace is composed of 22
digital media in the indoor
lobby and entrances of the
centre. 11m high big bridges
have been installed in two
locations; edge columns in six
locations; with 4.5 m high
bridges in five locations. The
new media transmit clear
images and sound by using the
highest specification 2mm pitch
LED module developed with
domestic proprietary
technology.
For corporates Xpace
enables new revenue to be
created through advertising
products without having a
facility expansion. There is also
a big saving on waste with
digital signage.
strong, however there are many business
reasons for convening in Korea, from
automotive, manufacture, R&D, life
sciences, as well as architecture and
design, fashion and the arts (don’t forget
Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite won Four Oscars,
including Best Picture and Best Director
at this year’s Oscars). Korea is certainly
demonstrating its leading role on the
events stage in many ways.
ISSUE 108 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / 49