Convening Leaders, the flagship event of PCMA (the Professional Convention Management Association), is taking place in January at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Setting out the agenda and stage for this major industry meet, PCMA President and CEO Sherrif Karamat explains how debate has shifted towards the outcomes and impact created by the sector. From PCMA…
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…
Cities with a “business-friendly” environment for international associations will find more of them opening offices, including regional headquarters, within their vicinity. So says Martin Sirk, International Adviser of Iceberg partner GAHP, the Global Association Hubs Partnership. New data on association office locations backs up the claim. From Association Meetings International…
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…
Marketing Edinburgh has moved closer to collapse with the entire board of the organisation resigning “with immediate effect” after city councillors rejected a funding plea to implement new strategy. The publicly-owned organisation is set to lose all funding as the authority tries to cut up to £40 million from next year’s budget. From Eventsbase…
The Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, TV and Tourism has just staged the Hangzhou – Leading Innovation for Future Conferences event, highlighting city strengths as a destination for “new economy” conferences. The event included a destination success presentation from Paul Vallee, Managing Director of Iceberg partner BestCities Global Alliance. From Boardroom…
The Association of Independent Festivals has just returned to the city of Sheffield for its annual Festival Congress. The two-day meeting is claiming to be the first travel carbon neutral events industry conference. Organisers have worked with Energy Revolution to balance emissions with investment in projects creating clean and renewable power. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
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…
The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre is to host the 2022 International Congress on Obesity. The winning bid was secured by the Melbourne Convention Bureau, with input also from the Australia & New Zealand Obesity Society and support from Victoria’s State Government and Tourism Australia’s Business Events Bid Fund Programme. From Association Meetings International…
Ulrike von Arnold, Deputy Director of the Vienna Convention Bureau, has received one of the meeting industry’s highest honours, ICCA’s Moises Shuster Award. The award announcement was made at the 58th ICCA Congress in Houston. Past winners include Paul Flackett, Martin Lewis, Ray Bloom, Connie Cheng and Christian Mutschlechner. 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…
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…
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…
South Africa boasts the most advanced broad-based economy in the continent, and meetings business across Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban which includes the 5th BRICS Summit, COP17 and the recent World Economic Forum on Africa. Clusters include healthcare and ICT, the $233 million MeetKAT radio telescope also leading in astronomy. From AMI Intellectual Capitals…
Calgary has seen steady growth in life sciences and healthcare, with research clusters spread across the city and a vibrant ecosystem of over 200 companies in the sector, both start-up and mature. Association conferences in the field have seen the potential impact their meetings can have in Calgary, and have consequently been piling up. From Boardroom…
The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau is implementing four major economic corridor projects, co-hosting and supporting associated meetings as a platform to enhance trade and investment with neighbouring countries. So far four corridor conferences have been set up to gather local entrepreneurs and to promote business ties within the region. From Meetings International…
The new Paris Convention Centre helped make this year’s edition of the European Society of Cardiology Congress “an exceptional vintage”, according to one of the organisers. The event, which attracted 33,000 delegates, also featured the ESC’s first patient forum, and a joint public awareness campaign, a playful and informative “Heart Village”. From Association Meetings International…
CWT Meetings & Events says that sustainability is rising in importance for the industry. The claim comes in its new 2020 Future Trends Report bonus supplement “The Future of Sustainable Events”. As activists are protesting around the world, like Extinction Rebellion in London, companies are taking increasing notice. Photo: Jwslubbock. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Seoul has been spotlit as a leading knowledge hub in minimally invasive urological surgery through securing the 2022 40th World Congress of Endourology. The event will bring around 2,500 specialists from 90 countries to the Coex Convention and Exhibition Center in Gangnam. Another Seoul sector event relayed live surgeries from local hospitals. From AMI Intellectual Capitals…
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