In a play on the old Deanna Durbin song “Love is Where You Find it”….as you travel around the world, Christmas is also where you find it.
Definitely, one expects to find Christmas in countries with a Christian tradition. As Christmas has become more and more of a secular holiday, you’ll even find celebrations and blockbuster holiday decorations in countries with other religious traditions.
Malaysia – A Kuala Lumpur Christmas
I was in Kuala Lumpur a few weeks ago and saw no sign of Christmas (nor did I expect to see it). Suddenly, on December 1st, Christmas decorations went up in malls stores and streets all over the city, transforming it into a Christmas fairyland.
Here is a very elaborate Christmas display that I saw at the Pavilion KL shopping centre across the street from my hotel. It was so spectacular that I had to capture it on film.
As a Jamaican, I found it kind of cool that they included a traditional Jamaican Christmas carol in the musical mix.
I chatted with a number of Malaysians who told me that many Malaysians are going all out and decorating stores, homes and lawns with elaborate Christmas displays. This has been a recent trend and it is growing. Two years ago, one mall delighted oshoppers by making is snow. Take a peek.
When I was at Pavilion KL, I ran into a visitor from Australia. He asked ”Have you seen the Gingerbread House at the Grand Millenium Hotel yet?” I headed over there and found this life-size gingerbread house straight out of Hansel and Gretel. Yes, that’s real gingerbread.
Now I’ve never seen that in Toronto…but wait, more surprises are in store.
Christmas in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Last Wednesday (December 14, 2011), when I checked into the Mayden Hotel in Dubai, there was an even bigger surprise. Yes an even bigger gingerbread house, also with real gingerbread.
My stay was too short to visit any malls but there were Christmas decorations and a number of elaborate Christmas trees at the airport.
Fortunately, others captured Christmas the magic at Dubai malls for your viewing pleasure including what has got to be the tallest Christmas tree in the world.
Toyko, Japan (Ginza)
Another country with a religious tradition other than Christian has a number of Christmas celebrations including German Christmas markets. This year, a store in the heart of Ginza has gone all out this year with a golden Christmas tree…pure gold that is.
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Finally, also in the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi, the Emirates Palace Hotel had the world’s most expensive Christmas tree last year trimmed with over $11 Million worth of jewelry.
Talk about going all out for Christmas. I guess that’s what happens when Christmas becomes a secular holiday.
So next year, if you’re looking for a special place to take your team for a pre-Christmas incentive trip, you’ll find Christmas in more places than you can imagine.
I’ve travelled to about 23 countries and worked in 11. It’s not too often that one gets to visit a place where everything is sparkling shiney and new but that’s a perfect description of Dubai. Dubai is a futuristic Arabian nights fantasy that has emerged from the sand dunes during the past 5 years so there are always new things to see and do. I’ve been going there since December, 2000 and there is always a fresh adventure or attraction awaiting the visitor. I make a point of building these adventures into the incentive trips and team building retreats that my company, Executive Oasis International, designs and facilitates for its clients. I just got back from Dubai. What changes did I notice? What new adventures have we added to our line up?
New & Old Landmarks
When I first went to Dubai, the clock was the most prominent and recognizable landmark in Dubai.
Then it was the Burj al Arab.
Now it’s the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. I blogged about it and and shared photos when it was under construction a few years ago. I finally got a chance to see it. For days I could not get a clear snapshot, everything was hazy. On my last day, just before I boarded the bus to go to Abu Dhabi for my Etihad Airways Flight, there it was gleaming, sparkling and new.
Sparkling New Hotels
I stayed at this brand new Jumeirah property on the Jumeirah Palm Islands last week. They hosted my clients before we all headed off to the luxury Bedouin camp for an overnight desert safari.
Here is the opening ceremony from just a few months ago.
Here is another property that has opened since we were last in Dubai:
Luxury Desert Team Building
Executive Oasis International has een offering desert team building in Dubai for some time now. We just offered our most recent team building retreat a week ago for one of our client’s from Saudi Arabia. Come, take a glimpse at what goes on during a team building retreat at a luxury Bedouin camp. I’ve just blogged about it.
We’re always looking for something new to add excitement to our desert team building sessions. So, when a Saudi Arabian company engaged us to design and faciltiate their team building retreat, we put our heads together, did some brainstorming. The client came up with some ideas and we came up with some ideas. We built a number of adventures into their time in Dubai.
Other Great Dubai Incentive Travel Experiences
World’s Most Luxurious Dhow Cruise
Outdoor Paintball
The team loved it so much that they stayed twice as long as they were originally scheduled. Everyone agreed that it was a highlight of their trip.
Target and Skeet Shooting
Keeping Your Cool in Dubai
We’ve all heard about Ski Dubai, a place where Emiratis, expats and visitors can cool off and enjoy some winter fun. Now you can kick things up a notch and have more fun in the snow:
You can also chill out by heading over to the Middle East’s only ice cafe. Take a peek:
Incentive Travel & Charity Team Building: After Disaster Strikes
Just when the global economy seemed to be on the upswing, 2011 has ushered in a fresh set of natural disasters and societal turmoil. They have the potential to derail the global economic recovery.
Fresh in our memories are the BP crisis in the Gulf, the natural disasters in Australia and Haiti, Hurricane Katrina, and the boxing day tsunamis in south east Asia. It isn’t news to anyone reading this that there has been an earthquake followed by a tsunami, aftershocks, and instability at a nuclear complex in Japan, the world’s 3rd largest economy.
It is also not news that there have been a wave of protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Bahrain. This is already creating a spike in oil prices and intermittent shortages in some areas.
When disaster strikes, the knee jerk reaction is “Oh, we can’t possibly consider taking our team there for a sales incentive trip or team building retreat”. Naturally, no one would be wise to take their team into an area during a period of instability, combat, or a pending nuclear meltdown. Unfortunately, long after calm has been restored and a crisis has subsided, there is usually a lingering fear of particular destinations. It always astonishes me that so many Canadian and American companies are afraid to take their sales teams to Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Oman because they have read about a crisis in the Gaza Strip, Yemen or some other area that is far away. I am orginally from Jamaica. It also baffles me when companies are nervous about booking incentives and retreats on the north coast because there has been a disturbance 2 to 2 1/2 hours away in a area of Kingston that is smaller than many suburban plazas in North America. I don’t get it but some companies have a tendency to avoid destinations that have gone through a crisis or period of turmoil like the plague. For a number of reasons, this is not a prudent strategy.
It is no longer a cliché that we live in a global village. Around the globe, waves of turbulence are likely to increase rather than decrease. No one knows where they will hit next. If every time a destination experiences a crisis companies cross it permanently off their list as “undesireable”, you’ll end up with fewer options for travel and a shrinking circle of influence. How will the economies of countries that have gone through a crisis ever recover if companies avoid doing business with them?
How is this relevant to incentive travel and foreign team buiding retreats? We are interconnected. If one area of the world does not do well, there will be a ripple effect. It may not be obvious but, ultimately, there will be an impact on the demand for your own products and services. For example, Japan is one of the largest oil consuming countries in the world. If the Japanese economy goes into recession and Japan’s demand for oil drops sharply, this will have an impact on the economies of all oil producing nations.
turbulence is the new normal – I can’t take credit for that, Porter said it first
it is important to connect the dots as what happens in one part of the world has a ripple effect and may have an impact on your business
tunnel vision thinking and the not invented here syndrome are to be avoided at all costs as they can blindside you to changes in your market and untapped areas of growth
when one area of your community is hurting, it reduces the potential of the entire community so it’s important to give those in need a leg up
We are now seeing these themes reflected in newspaper headlines daily. In spite of this, many companies still resist those messages. They are stuck in the “not invented here” paradigm, dismissing anything that does not originate in their own industry or country as irrelevant. A news items that scrolled across my television screen on the TV listings channel really hammered this home for me. I am paraphrasing:
“There will not be immediate lay-offs at Japanese automobile factories in Ontario due to the halt of production in Japan”.
Ouch! Talk about connecting the dots. A tsunami that hits Japan on the other side of the world CAN potentially lead to lay-offs closer to home and have a negative impact on your local economy. If your company avoids certain destinations and their tourism industries go into a slump, it will have an impact on their economy and potentially ricochet and hit you in your own backyard.
Instead of permanently crossing certain destinations off your list, when disaster strikes, make them a priority. Clearly, it may not be prudent to hop on a plane and take your team there tomorrow but monitor the situation. Get status updates and re-entertain the possibility 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months down the road.
In the meantime, for your next team building session or corporate event, have a fundraiser or assemble packages with clothing, blankets, diapers, thermoses, canteen bottles, bottled water, non-perishable foods, flashlights, surgical masks, band-aids, bandages, disinfectant, toiletries, medical supplies, chainshaws, tools, nails, and school supplies.
It’s not practical to travel to deliver them at the height of a severe disaster or with a potential nuclear nuclear meltdown pending. In those situations, dispatch the supplies through a respected charity or the local consulate for that country. The information with this video has a list of organizations that can quickly get aid to areas that have been struck by disaster:
If travel to the area is possible, arrange for members of your sales team to personally deliver the supplies you have collected during a sales incentive trip and do it sooner rather than later.
Companies that really have heart can use disasters to transform their incentives and foreign retreats forever. If your team has special skills and expertise, why not dispatch a group to help with the clean up? The skills of construction workers, firefighters, medical professionals, mdeical social workers, helicopter pilots, and search and rescue professionals are all needed during periods of disaster.
What about snow plough operators, architects, landscapers, chefs, waiters, dieticians, and caterers. Food and beverage companies can send a team to a foreign destination to distribute some of the non-perishable items they manufacture. The team can spend part of its time at a resort and most of its time clearing debris, assisting with agricultural projects, digging wells, planting vegetable gardens, delivering supplies, distributing food, repairing local schools, and houses.
Making a difference when disaster srikes will be a truly rewarding experience for your team. It’s definitely a paradigm shift worth making.
Corporate Incentive Travel: Giving Your Team a Sense of the Local Culture
by Anne Thornley-Brown, President,
Executive Oasis International
Specializing in escorted Incentive Travel and sales incentive trips.We provide one stop shopping and will help you plan and organize your next incentive trip to any of our featured destinations.
Anne is @executiveoasis on twitter.
Stop: Even if you don’t have the budget for international travel this year, here is how you can still give your team an international experience without getting on a plane:
I’ve often wondered why companies fly their sales and executive teams halfway across the world just to lie on the beach and get drunk at the bar. Particularly in these challenging economic times, companies can do that at home at a fraction of the cost. A foreign incentive trip or retreats provides an opportunity to give your team a rich, unique and memorable experience. All you have to do is build a few experiences into your itinerary that provide a glimpse of the local history and culture of your incentive travel destinations.This is easier to do than you may think and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time.
Before your trip, you can use social media to provide an orientation to the destination. During your sales incentive trip, visit one of the many cultural centres, heritage villages and museums that are designed to give visitors a glimpse into the history and culture of your chosen destiation. Here are a few ideas:
Take a 2 night trip to Kuching in Malaysian Borneo. Spend an afternoon at the Sarawak Cultural Village. You’ll explore the 7 major ethinic groups that have influenced Malysia’s culture and visit traditional homesteads.
Take a day or overnight trip to Malacca, a virtual time capsule into Malaysia history with traditional Malay, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, British, and Japanese influences. There is even a full size replica of a historical Sultan’s Palace.
Explore the Edo-Tokyo Museum with replicas of traditional buildings and interactive exhibits that provide insights into Tokyo’s rich culture and history.
Stay at a traditional Ryokan for 1 or 2 nights.
Be mesmerzied as you take in a traditional Kabuki performance at the Kubuki-za in Tokyo
Contact the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto and arrange for a cultural showcase and a cultural officer to familiarize your group with the history and cultures of Canada’s First Nations people.
Visit one of Canada’s oldest Black communities at the Buxton Settlement.
Even if you have to extend your sales incentive trip by half a day or a full day to make time to build a cultural excursion into your itinerary, it will be time well spent. You’ll broaden their horizons and provide your team with a truly memorable and meaningful experience of a lifetime that they would never be able to have back home.
In a play on the old Deanna Durbin song “Love is Where You Find it”….as you travel around the world, Christmas is also where you find it.
Executive Oasis International has een offering desert team building in Dubai for some time now. We just offered our most recent team building retreat a week ago for one of our client’s from Saudi Arabia. Come, take a glimpse at what goes on during a team building retreat at a luxury Bedouin camp. I’ve just blogged about it.
