Pacific World to Close

By
Barbara Scofidio
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pacific world
Hong Kong at night

The closure of Pacific World, a DMC leader around the globe including in 15 countries in Asia, is another blow to the beleaguered meetings industry.

TUI Destination Experiences, parent division of Pacific World, has announced that it is moving to a “digitalization strategy” and has decided to stop participating in the meetings and events market.

A written statement reads: “TUI Destination Experiences will stop operating the meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) business under the Pacific World brand in November 2020. This change impacts Pacific World globally.”

Pacific World has been serving the MICE sector for 40 years and operates in 30 countries and 100 destinations around the world, including 15 in Asia. Ruby Serra, director of global sales, is an industry leader who joined the company in 2015 after a long career with the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau and then Destination Asia. She has been an active member in SITE for many years, both globally and with its Chicago chapter.

“It’s been great to have the opportunity to work with such a very professional, respectable, world class DMC,” said Serra. “I will miss working with such an amazing team worldwide whose creativity, delivery of service and overall performance is beyond par.”

She remains optimistic that the Pacific World team will remain in the MICE market and will come back stronger. “Meanwhile, I am planning to expand my DMC representation to the Caribbean, UAE and LATAM countries. I am humbled to be approached by top DMCs in these destinations needing representation in the North America market.”

And it’s certain her clients and partners will follow her.

“I did my first FAM trip with Pacific World 20 years ago and was so impressed with the professionalism,” said Debbie O’Brien, director of global sales at Belmond. “I treasure the relationships we’ve built over the years and hope that we will have the chance to work together in some capacity in the future.”

“The team in China was the best at keeping our transportation flawless and so fun to work with!” said Michelle Senn, manager, learning and development at Walmart International. “I hope to come together again!”

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Barbara Scofidio
Barbara Scofidio is Editor of Prevue and heads up the Visionary Summits, our exclusive conference series targeting senior-level meeting and incentive planners. In her 30 years in the industry, she has become known for her passion around greening meetings, growing awareness of human trafficking and promoting CSR activities as part of business events. She is currently a member of SITE's Women IN Leadership committee and the media liaison for FICP's Education Committee. She was the first member of the media ever to be invited to sit on a committee by GBTA, where she spent three years on the Groups and Meetings Committee. She has also been an active member of SITE for 30 years, chairing its Crystal Awards committee and acting as a judge. Before joining Prevue in 2014, she served as Editor of Corporate Meetings & Incentives (MeetingsNet) for more than 20 years. She has a BA in Literature/Rhetoric from Binghamton University. Barbara is based outside Boston, in Groton, Mass.

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