The IBTM World Trends Watch Report by Rob Davidson and Ali Turner is an insightful compendium of data that crosses business, industries, economies and geographies within the global meetings and events industry. The IBTM World Trends Watch Report 2019 (IBTM World website) Virtual Experience Economy Set to Grow, Says IBTM Trends Watch Report (Meetings & Incentive Travel…
During 2018 MeetDenmark, with consultancy and Iceberg partner GainingEdge, began a major project on outreach. The purpose was to identify how Danish destinations can create significant added value for the international associations coming to Denmark. The objective is to help associations achieve greater impacts in fulfilling their own goals and missions while also strengthening the…
The European League Against Rheumatism is taking its huge congress to Frankfurt for the first time in almost two decades, after a city-wide effort to win the bid. More than 15,000 delegates are expected to attend the four-day meeting at Messe Frankfurt in June 2020, putting the city firmly on the medical-meetings map. From Association Meetings International…
In advance of IBTM World 2019, just staged in Barcelona, interest from new exhibitors more than doubled compared to 2018. More than 2,600 exhibitors took stands at the Iceberg partner event, 35 of them coming from destinations that hadn’t before, including Greece, Azerbaijan, Macau, South Korea and Croatia. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Expo 2020 Dubai is set to welcome over 25 million visitors from 192 countries between October 2020 and April 2021. Organisers have teamed up with more than 1,000 authorised ticket resellers in key markets to drum up interest in the event. This network will make the World Expo the most international ever. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Opening in 2021, Macau’s Galaxy International Convention Centre is aiming for the title of Asia’s most technologically advanced venue. Galaxy’s Director of Operations Development, Scott Kreeger, has been speaking about the facility at IBTM World in Barcelona, and says incentives will be one of its core markets. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
The impact of the meetings, incentive, conference and exhibition (MICE) industry on the Canadian economy has always been significant, relating to short-term delegate expenditure and long-term job growth and economic development. These types of business events are also an ideal way to counteract seasonality because international business events take place throughout the year, ensuring a…
Business Events Sarawak from Sarawak Convention Bureau has successfully hosted its first TriBE: Innovation Day. It took place at Pullman Hotel, Kuching, where industry partners gathered to celebrate 22 graduates of the TriBE: Innovation Masterclass. The focus on professional development is all part of BESarawak’s “Legacy Impact Programme”. From Boardroom…
The Global Incentive Summit in Edinburgh just saw incentive travel buyers, plus representatives from hotels, destinations and destination management companies, gather together to hear the latest trends in the incentives market. The meeting discussed the rise in Asia Pacific business and the findings of the Incentive Travel Industry Index. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
On the very day Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised the UK would be leaving the European Union “do or die” (October 31st, and spoiler alert, it did not), the European Tourism Association gathered over 100 delegates from across leisure and business tourism to discuss Brexit’s impact on the sector. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Gothenburg has lead Iceberg partner GDS-Index, the Global Destination Sustainability Index, for the fourth year running. The listing ranks sustainability performance in 50 business event destinations. At 58th ICCA Congress in Houston the GDS-Index Awards were announced as well, with Sydney receiving the Innovation trophy. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
A major fire at the New Zealand International Convention Centre construction site in Auckland’s central business district will not prevent the city hosting the APEC Leaders Week event in 2021, says the country’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. But NZICC’s opening, set for 2020, will be significantly delayed by the blaze. From Association Meetings International…
With almost 1,000 senior meetings professionals and association event planners from 75 countries coming to Houston, Texas, the recent 58th Congress of Iceberg partner ICCA, the International Congress and Convention Association, was the largest ever held in North America. The event is one of the industry calendar’s most significant. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Weeks of anti-government protests in Chile have forced the embattled President Piñera to cancel both this month’s APEC trade summit and COP25 UN climate conference in December. The 2019 Cochrane Colloquium,a major healthcare meeting, was also due to be held in Santiago, but the growing death toll has forced its cancellation. From Association Meetings International…
“The majority of disabled people don’t travel to conferences because they expect their needs will not be met”. So says Alan Broadbent, an accessibility writer and consultant to the events industry. Three examples of inclusivity, a venue (ICC Wales), a meeting (Glasgow’s IASSIDD World Congress) and a city (Dubai), are analysed. From Association Meetings International…
Business Events Luxembourg was created at the end of 2018 by the Ministry of the Economy of the Grand Duchy and the City of Luxembourg. It is the convention bureau for a destination striving to attract meetings in the government defined key sectors for economic growth: automobility, ICT, space, cleantech and life sciences. From Boardroom…
The trend toward plant-based diets has made headlines recently, and this June the first Plant Based World Conference & Expo launched at the Javits Center in New York City. The inaugural event welcomed 3,737 attendees, including professionals from retail, specialty restaurant and food service, healthcare and distributors. From PCMA…
One of the biggest takeaways from the World Wildlife Fund’s research into ending food waste occurring in commercial kitchens was the need to clearly better communicate with meeting planners about the multiple ways in which they can reduce food waste. So says Monica McBride of WWF, who lists some approaches to follow. From PCMA…
It’s clear that food production and consumption needs to change, and radically, to safeguard the planet and feed a growing population. The best place to start for the business events industry is with food waste, and now the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been working on food conservation in convention centre kitchens and hotels. From PCMA…
Every destination has a story to tell and specialist knowledge to attract international meetings. For the South Tyrollean capital Bolzano, with its significant existing tourism business as skiing destination, intellectual capital has also developed around local geography. Eurac is a private research cluster headquartered in the destination. It boasts eleven institutes of different disciplines, including one…
RAI Amsterdam is a venue that considers itself more of a neighbour than a conventional conference centre. It works closely with organisers to limit noise and traffic congestion, and looks for opportunities to give back to its local community. These include encouraging donations to social initiatives, especially of the venue’s own surplus food. From Boardroom…
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