Meetings Professionals International’s World Education Congress has just concluded in Indianapolis, having welcomed around 2,200 attendees. Since WEC 2017 MPI had totally reimagined the event, and the 2018 running was certainly eventful, even to the extent of a Sudanese-Australian speaker being unable to attend because of a US visa waiver refusal. From Meetings & Conventions…
ITSS aims to provide an innovative, practical and holistic view on destination marketing and image management in an era of security instability. The summit will focus on marketing preparedness for crisis, crisis communication, strategies for image restoration, resilience marketing, and reputation management in turbulent times. The summit is a meeting place for any travel and tourism…
When city convention bureau leaders at ICCA’s Scandinavian Chapter set up the first Scandinavian Destination Sustainability Index – the precursor to the Global Destination Sustainability Index – they had two primary objectives: to drive sustainability across the region through competition, collaboration and raised consciousness, and to differentiate the Nordic region to non-European markets as the most sustainable…
Last month the International Congress and Convention Association published its annual rankings of countries and cities for international association meetings. Now ICCA has an alternative view of the data: destinations ranked by estimated number of meeting delegates. Again, Barcelona is top city, and the United States top country. Other placings shift slightly. From Meetings & Conventions…
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…
The controversial plan to build a third runway at London Heathrow has been green lit by the UK government. But Britain’s meetings industry has called for a speedy take-off to help the sector after Brexit. Research claims just a one percent increase in international business air travel would deliver £400 million in economic benefit. From Meetpie.com…
The Global Destination Sustainability Index has released its second white paper: “Sustainable Destination Management Trends and Insights: The Road to a Circular Economy”. The GDS-Index is a partnership between ICCA, ICCA’s Scandinavian chapter, IMEX, ECM and MCI Group. The report draws from 40 cities that participated in the 2017 GDS-Index benchmarking study. From Meetpie.com…
Sydney has just hosted over 6,500 members of Jeunesse Global, the largest corporate incentive group ever to visit during the city’s Vivid festival. The huge meeting should contribute almost AU$40 million to the NSW economy. The Chief Executive of Business Events Sydney reflects on the value and legacies of such incentives. From Lyn Lewis-Smith via LinkedIn…
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…
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…
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may have met North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, but we now know that President Trump’s face-to-face with the Supreme Leader on June 12th won’t take place. Before it was officially cancelled, one Iceberg partner pondered the pressures for organisers of such meetings. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…
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…
Jeannie Lim, Executive Director of Conventions, Meetings and Incentive Travel at the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau, has been elected Board Chair of BestCities Global Alliance. BestCities is currently planning its third annual Global Forum taking place in Bogotá this December, and the second running of “Incredible Impacts” in partnership with ICCA. From Association Meetings International…
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…
According to International Congress and Convention Association statistics, the Middle East has been the fastest growing region for hosting international association meetings, even starting from a low base. ICCA has pointed to an eighty percent growth in the engagement of its own Middle East membership as proof. From Association Meetings International…
In 2016 Turkey’s largest city Istanbul claimed eighth spot in ICCA’s much-trumpeted city rankings. Today it is in 133rd place. Over the past 24 months the city has suffered deadly terrorist attacks, a failed coup, and a series of purges against its citizens, including teachers, journalists and lawyers. From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
Seasoned meetings industry veterans always take pleasure in discovering any destination unfairly overlooked. For one Iceberg partner a new find is the Swedish seaport of Gothenburg. Hotel Svenska Massan / Gothia Towers recently held a centenary event for customers from all over Europe “that combined intelligence with stardust”. From editor’s blog at Meetpie.com…
With a network of eight major association destinations, the Hauts-de-France region definitely plays alongside the big champions of the meetings industry. It is also now committed to an ambitious and innovative policy: the Third Industrial Revolution, a concept right at the meeting point of energy transition, digital transformation and new economic models. From Boardroom…
Even before the leaders of North and South Korea shook hands over the Demilitarized Zone border, plans were already being made for a possible meeting between Kim Jong-un and US President Trump. Is this political coup the legacy of an event: the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang? From editor’s blog at Association Meetings International…
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