By Kai hattendorf, Global Business Events Industry Strategist: America’s reputation as a tourism and events hub is strained, with travel down, costs rising, and accessibility questioned. How can this be overcome, and what might happen next? Fees, access issues, and image concerns weigh on the country’s standing in the international meetings market…
Business events have long been celebrated for their economic footprint, such as hotel bookings, venue rentals, and restaurant traffic. But what if the true power of a conference lies not in the delegate spend, but in what happens long after the lanyards are packed away? That question is at the heart of Destination Canada’s three-year…
As is also the case with its strategy to attract international business events, Gothenburg doesn’t host football tournaments and other sporting events simply to drive tourism expenditure and bed-night figures, but as a means of advancing societally-important policy goals. In this case, the objective was to get more girls involved in organised sports – from…
Henley Business Centre Professors Andrew and Nada Kakabadse outline ways in which insights and data from local, frontline stakeholders are key for international associations to navigate turbulent times. Without systems for obtaining such input, Boards cannot navigate effectively. This applies particularly to international meetings, as key platforms for obtaining grassroots feedback and input into strategy.
During the celebration, we will: Reveal the 2025 GDS-Index results, which are vetted, verified, correlated, and validated by our benchmarking assessors; Celebrate and recognise the Leadership, based on ranking, and Most Improved destinations, based on year-on-year improvement (independent of ranking); Share inspiring, real-world, recent stories of progress, innovation and collaboration from around the earth.
The International AIDS Society has used it’s recent global conference on HIV science not only to present the latest scientific progress and research initiatives in combatting HIV, but to shine a spotlight on the impact of recent dramatic cuts to overseas aid programmes on rising HIV infections, the scale of stalled treatments, and the overall…
View this video interview of Guy Bigwood, CEO and Chief Changemaker with Global Destination Sustainability Movement, as part of the series “Travel Redefined: Tourism for People and Planet” by Content with Purpose and Global Sustainable Tourism Council, in which he urges destinations to start thinking and acting beyond sustainability and into regeneration.
Leading global tourism and business events industry consulting firm, GainingEdge has announced that Steen Jakobsen will begin work as the company’s new CEO on September 1, 2025. Jakobsen has more than 25 years of international experience in the global tourism and business events industry. He served as Director of the Copenhagen Convention Bureau for 14…
James Lancaster, Editorial Director at Northstar Meetings Group, highlights how stricter immigration policies are increasingly affecting international conferences. Visa denials, particularly for delegates from the Global South, limit participation and make global collaboration more difficult, raising questions about inclusivity and the ability to address shared challenges effectively.
When the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war forced the International Gas Union to move the 20th edition of the International Conference & Exhibition on Liquified Natural Gas from St Petersburg to Vancouver with only 14 months notice, no-one anticipated the invaluable addition of societal partnerships onto the conference agenda, enabling the event to communicate the…
From GatheringPoint.news, by David Adler: The events industry is the vast ecosystem behind conventions, trade shows, conferences, festivals, and brand experiences—a powerful engine that moves people, money, and ideas. As offices went hybrid and remote, these gatherings absorbed the social, professional, and even romantic collisions that used to happen at work…
ITB China’s new MICE Meeting Point, debuting in Beijing Sept 11–12, has partnered with the China Association of Travel Services’ MICE Committee and the China Advertising Association’s Event Marketing Committee. The collaboration aims to drive professional development, foster international cooperation, and connect global resources with China’s evolving business events industry.
The Events Industry Council (EIC) has launched the updated Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) exam, aligned with 2025 CMP International Standards. Enhancing global relevance, the revision adds domains on sustainability, technology integration, evaluation, and risk management, ensuring the CMP credential remains the benchmark for excellence in a rapidly evolving events industry.
Sarawak has once again made waves in Malaysia’s business events scene by returning to EventXpo 2025 with bigger goals and a stronger presence – reaffirming its role as Malaysia’s capital of legacy-driven business events. BESarawak unveiled LEGACY360, a legacy forum with five pillars (Advocate, Educate, Advance, Recognise, Support), and other initiatives. From BESarawak…
This City/Nation/Place article highlights how economic development agencies and universities can best collaborate, but notably absent is the business/professional events sector, a key vector for such partnerships and for maximising collaborative impact: evidence that our industry still has far to go before earning a permanent seat among place leaders.
By Kai Hattendorf, Global Business Events Industry Strategist: I rarely report on single conference sessions, but recently in Singapore there was one that stood out to me, as it really showed the regional take on geopolitical developments. My take: The region is no longer waiting for Washington, as panelists shared their assesment that, while the…
Event sustainability organisation isla announced the findings of its latest report at the Made Possible Festival held in London’s Barbican Centre this May. With almost 1000 recent events adding to previous reports on almost 4000 events, including data from over 2700 supply chain companies, the report highlighted the key areas where our sector can make…
David Adler raises important issues on the necessity of attending meetings with people who hold diverse perspectives, and the more important point that governments have a responsibility to encourage participation and to participate in such meetings themselves. International meetings shouldn’t become echo chambers if they are to educate their participants and identify solutions to problems.
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