Julie Coker Graham, President and CEO of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, has been named the next Co-chair of the Meetings Mean Business Coalition, the industry communications and advocacy initiative. In January she will join Paul Van Deventer, President and CEO of Meeting Professionals International, taking over from Richard Harper. From Meetings & Conventions…
The events and meetings industry will play a key role within UK tourism’s application for a sector deal in the government’s post-Brexit industrial strategy. In a document agreed by the Tourism Industry Council, growing Britain’s market share in meetings is cited as a goal of extending the tourism season year-round. From Meetpie.com…
The annual showcase event for the Asia Pacific meeting and business events sector, IT&CMA, revealed that the region’s destination marketing organisations (DMOs) are adopting the lead set by Australia and Singapore. ‘Clustering’ or focussing efforts on bidding for events from within industry sectors identified in the development frameworks of government is now the priority of…
Chantal Sturk-Nadeau is the new head of Business Events Canada, the organisation responsible for meetings industry promotion in the country. During a recent trip to Europe, she shared her vision. BEC has identified seven priority business sectors where Canada holds a competitive advantage and is internationally recognized as a centre of excellence. From Boardroom…
Nantes on the French Atlantic coast – the birthplace of Jules Verne – has recently transformed itself into an innovation hub. The city and region is home to leading international companies like Airbus, and key knowledge industries like health and biotechnology. At the heart of this journey is La Cité Nantes Events Center. From Boardroom…
At Meetings Africa 2017 a R110 million subvention fund was announced, part of the South African Government’s R494 million tourism allocation for the next three years. It has already assisted organisers in bringing association meetings to South Africa. So who is eligible for this funding and how does one apply for it? From the Event…
After winning its largest ever conferences (the 13,000 delegate Lions Clubs International Convention 2024 and 14,000 delegate World Ophthalmology Congress 2022), Melbourne Convention Bureau has just topped five years of growth in its 2016-2017 results. Across 194 events, MCB won AU$321 million for Victoria. Associations made up 70 percent of this. From CIM News Magazine…
Following the summer recess, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the UK Events Industry has been formally confirmed as continuing. Core members remain the same, and say they’ll continue keeping the industry high on Parliament’s agenda. The group also attracts events to the UK. Photo: UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor. From Meetpie.com…
The ill-fated speech of British Prime Minister Theresa May may have won the main headline (see Opinions), but the recent Conservative Party Conference is believed to have boosted Manchester’s economy by £30 million. In 2015 business tourism brought in £810 million to Greater Manchester. Business events are estimated directly to support 21,900 local jobs. From Meetpie.com…
More than 28,000 delegates attended business events last year in Auckland, New Zealand. They contributed NZ$46 million to the region’s economy and also helped attract inward investment. Auckland’s Convention Bureau is part of the city’s economic growth agency – ATEED – and won 58 business events in the last financial year. From Association Meetings International…
Earlier this year the Iceberg published “Defining Conventions as Urban Innovation and Economic Accelerators”, a Skift research report produced in collaboration with Meetings Mean Business. The study examines how conferences contribute to innovation, industry and the economy. Now author Greg Oates has been discussing these concepts further in a webinar. From Skift / Meetings Mean Business…
UK meetings spend is reaching new heights, according to the first HBAA Meetings Barometer. Average spend is up of 31 percent in the first half of 2017 from the same period in 2016. Total spend on meetings was up 9 percent, average spend per delegate up 29 percent, and average meeting size up 12 percent. From Meetpie.com…
Just as over 5,000 cruise industry workers were in town attending Seatrade Europe, Hamburg announced that it received three million business event overnight stays in 2016. This brought in over €706 million to the economy. 64,000 events were held, up from 57,000 in 2015, and attracted 1.8 million delegates, 19 percent from abroad. From Association Meetings International…
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has called for more off-season business events to be held in the UK capital. A London & Partners report “A Tourism Vision for London” suggests investing in promoting the city to new and off-peak visitors, and in building new amenities and infrastructure, especially aimed at business visitors. From Association Meetings International…
Last month the 20th European Symposium on Organic Chemistry took place in Cologne. The choice of destination was due in no small part to the high industrial and academic “chemical” density of the region, as well as the University of Cologne’s reputed chemistry department. A current Nobel chemistry laureate gave the keynote. From tw tagungswirtschaft…
Meetings secured since January 2017 by Dubai Business Events are expected to bring more than 51,000 delegates to the emirate. The Al Safeer Ambassador Programme has contributed to DBE’s success in winning bids. The network of 300 experts from diverse disciplines has helped secure eleven business events for Dubai. From CIM News Magazine…
Wesgro – the official tourism, trade & inward investment agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape – has announced that its Convention Bureau has beaten financial targets for the first quarter. In 2017 / 2018’s Q1 the bureau won 14 bids with an estimated attendance of 57,000 and economic impact of R120.2 million. From the Event…
The DestinationNEXT Futures Study identifies the trends and opportunities that will shape the future of destination marketing and management. This Futures Study update, conducted in 2017, is intended to build on the learnings from the 2014 Futures Study, and to determine updated trends and strategies that will keep the thousands of destination organizations around the…
The rebranded Glasgow Convention Bureau won 526 conferences between 2016 and 2017, which will bring in an estimated £142m to the city’s economy. The conferences will take place up to 2022 and attract 140,000 business tourists. The number of international associations choosing Glasgow has also risen, with 2016 / 2017 the most successful year yet. From Meetpie.com…
While the meetings industry usually clusters around big cities, the New South Wales Government in Australia has just announced a new conferencing strategy to drive more business events to rural and regional destinations. The AU$6 million plan was launched in Tamworth, one of the smaller cities to benefit from the shift in thinking. From Association Meetings International…
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