Showcasing the excellence of Taiwan MICE

Herbalife’s Taiwan Country manager, Ms. Kang-Chi Lu pointed out that this event was hosted in Macau last year with 8,000 participants. However, the Taiwan event attracted close to 16,000, which set a record high in attendance. The event provided opportunities for the accommodation, transport, catering, marketing and promotion and tourism industries of Taiwan, contributing to unlimited economic benefits.

Managing Director of Herbalife Asia Pacific, Mr. William M. Rahn, said that there were several reasons behind choosing Taiwan as the host of the event. One of the missions of Herbalife is to give back to the community and so Taiwan was chosen because of the value which Herbalife places on the Asia Pacific market as well as to reward the excellent performance of Taiwan Branch. The second reason was the active support of the BOFT and Taiwan’s MICE professionals. At last, but not the least the scale of the Taiwanese economy and market potential was also a critical factor. Herbalife Taiwan generated the top sales performance of the Asia Pacific region and ranks third globally. For the last 5 years, Taiwan maintained an annual growth rate of 20%, placing Taiwan among the top 5 markets for Herbalife globally. Such market potential guaranteed Taiwan to be the definite choice for a large scale event.

Herbalife has always prided itself in the professional training it provides. The decision making process and preparation phase took Herbalife over a year, with the total budget reaching tens of millions of Taiwanese dollars and the involvement of 400 persons from 12 countries. Upon the successful completion of the event, Taiwan general manager Ms. Lu praised Taiwan for proving its capability of hosting large scale international events and said that Herbalife looks forward to the opportunity of hosting the 40,000 attendees for the Herbalife global conference in Taiwan in the near future.

To give attendees a full experience of Taiwan, Herbalife Taiwan collaborated with VISA, DFS, Taipei 101 Observatory, the National Palace Museum, and many others. These arrangements enabled the attendees to experience the wonderful scenery, shopping and cultural experiences that Taiwan can offer.

The BOFT successfully integrated local and central resources to support the success of “2009 Herbalife Asia Pacific Top Sales Executive Conference – Herbalife University”. The support from BOFT included financial support, flexible visa arrangements and Customs process for attendees, welcome banners, and tourism information at all venues. During the bidding phase, the BOFT provided the team with full support and services, including site inspection, a support letter from the Minister of Economic Affairs, event planning suggestions, and negotiation of event schedules with stakeholders in the sector.

The success of the Herblife event in Taiwan demonstrated the capability and professionalism of Taiwan’s MICE industry for mega events. At the pre-event press conference, the Director General of BOFT, Mr. Chih-peng Huang proudly announced that “Taiwan is your best MICE destination” - a fact later proven by the contented organizers and participants.

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