Japan has launched a campaign to consolidate its position as Asia’s leading international meetings destination. “New Ideas Start Here” will showcase the country and its cities to potential international clients. Japan is now undergoing a massive convention centre building programme, with nine new venues expected to open by 2021. From Association Meetings International…
Glasgow celebrated its busiest May on record with more than 22,000 event delegates visiting, bringing in an estimated £25.5 million to the local economy. The month started with 7,000 attendees at the All Energy Conference and Exhibition, followed by two medical meetings at the SEC attracting a total of over 8,000. From Meetpie.com…
Ottawa has won a clutch of major international association meetings as part of its ongoing campaign to target industry sectors with strong links to the city. This focus has netted more than a dozen big events held over the next two years, including the International Conference of Wireless for Space and Extreme Environments. From Association Meetings International…
Conventions and Incentives New Zealand has called for the removal of the Goods and Services Tax disadvantage the country’s international conferences face compared to other destinations like Australia. Currently GST is charged at 15 percent on registration fees in New Zealand regardless of whether or not attendees are residents. From CIM News Magazine…
A $1.5 billion expansion of Manhattan’s Jacob K. Javits Center is underway. The Las Vegas Convention Center is getting $1.4 billion, the Moscone in San Francisco $500 million, the Orange County Convention Center in Florida around $500 million, and the Miami Beach Convention Center $620 million. But how are decisions behind these projects made? From Successful Meetings…
Although it may seem dramatic, the eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has had little effect on meetings or incentives, the Big Island’s hotels and resorts being on the other side of the island. Meet Hawaii has said that there’s no need to change plans to visit the archipelago’s islands. Photo: Brocken Inaglory. From Successful Meetings…
Monaco is winning the argument that its principality is appropriate for conferences in general and medical meetings in particular. Monaco Convention Bureau revealed an increase in delegate room nights of 5.6 percent during 2017, while total share of Monaco visitors climbed to 26 percent. Overall, it was the second best ever year. From Association Meetings International…
Once this railway station was Melbourne’s favourite meeting place. Now the Union International des Transports Publics Global Public Transport Summit 2021 is the first event win supported by Australia’s new national bid fund. The four-day meeting will bring 2,000 delegates to the newly expanded Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Photo: Adam J.W.C. From CIM News Magazine…
The Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau has rolled out several programmes and initiatives to spur legacy planning among local associations hosting international conferences this year and beyond. It is doing so by disseminating case studies of past meetings legacies, including those of the 55th International Congress and Convention Association Congress in 2016 (pictured). From Boardroom…
Australia has recently launched a business events bid fund, and the first meeting it will support, the UITP Global Public Transport Summit, will both be bringing 2,000 delegates to Melbourne in 2021 and deliver AU$9.4 million to Victoria’s economy. John O’Sullivan, Managing Director of Tourism Australia, answers three questions about his country’s approach to meetings. From Boardroom…
The German events sector continues to grow, with meetings and conferences responsible for 31 percent of business trips. Digitisation and internationalisation are key for the industry, according to the newly-released Meeting & Event Barometer 2017-2018. Delegate growth in 2017 was 2.8 percent, with 405m participants in all. 24 percent of planners are organising hybrid events. From Meetpie.com…
Istanbul’s standing as a destination for international association meetings is in tatters, with ICCA’s city rankings suggesting that its popularity for conferences has collapsed. For years the city proudly occupied a top ten position. Because of terrorism and other political turmoil, it dropped first to 39th place, and this year to 133rd. From Association Meetings International…
Barcelona hosted more international association meetings than any other city last year, according to statistics from the International Congress and Convention Association. There is a familiar look to the top five of ICCA’s city rankings, but the Catalonian capital has claimed the headline spot for the first time since 2004. From Association Meetings International…
Oklahoma City is one step closer to opening a new convention centre, according to local newspaper The Oklahoman. Bids from builders have arrived and are “substantially below budget”, the lowest being for $173.3 million. If the numbers bear out, construction could begin in late spring, with a projected opening by summer 2020. From Successful Meetings…
As politicians and policymakers gather at the IMEX Policy Forum in Frankfurt, key partners of The Iceberg are providing a timely reminder of the transformational contribution of business and professional events and their ‘beyond tourism’ benefits. GainingEdge CEO Gary Grimmer and Gregg Talley, President and CEO of the Talley Management Group, discuss what meetings actually…
While The Iceberg prefers to write “familiarisation trips”, the rest of the industry seems to stick with the shorter “fam trips”, or sometimes the capital “FAM trips”. Which should be considered correct? One of our more particular partners places the use of that shift key under the microscope. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…
Visit Victoria has welcomed the Victorian Government’s further investment in tourism and events. Building on previous funds, the Victorian 2018/19 budget provides an additional AU$51.1 million for marketing and major events, including AU$21.8 million over two years to ensure Visit Victoria continues to draw lucrative business events to Melbourne. From CIM News Magazine…
Glasgow is to host the 2020 World Congress on Computational Intelligence, a flagship event of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. This brings to twelve the IEEE meetings the city has won since 2015, which have attracted 8,000 delegates in total and contributed £14.8 million to the local economy. From Association Meetings International…
The Vienna Convention Bureau’s end-of-year results have underlined how crucial international association congresses are to a city’s balance sheet. Such events accounted for just 20 percent of meetings. But the segment represented 51 percent of the participants, 74 percent of the overnights and 79 percent of the €1.2 billion impact. From Association Meetings International…
The Prague Convention Bureau says operator Bestsport is building a new congress and cultural centre next to O2 Arena, the existing sports and entertainment venue. The O2 Universum is scheduled to open in mid-2019, and will have 21 halls of different sizes, the largest able to accommodate up to 4,500. From Meetings & Conventions…
To coincide with Global Meetings Industry Day, Iceberg partner BestCities Global Alliance has announced a new communications strategy to showcase the power of people. Led by the Greater Bogotá Convention Bureau, which will host the BestCities 2018 Global Forum in December, the campaign aims to celebrate the unique role people play in the events industry. From Meetpie.com…
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