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…
A landlocked nation offering many opportunities for safari, Botswana is an established incentive destination and growing conference hub in southern Africa. The country sees mostly mining and investment gatherings through its borders, although late last year Botswana also hosted a major ITU meeting: the 14th World Telecommunication / ICT Indicators Symposium. From the Event…
The City of Tshwane, in northern Gauteng Province, is home both to iconic South African historical sites and also several universities. But conferences, exhibitions and corporate meetings take place in Tshwane as well, including many government events. It boasts state-of-the-art conference and exhibition venues like the CSIR International Convention Centre. From the Event…
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…
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…
Adjacent to Disneyland resort in California, the Anaheim Convention Center has just unveiled its expansion wing AAC North. The $190 million build creates an additional 200,000 square feet of exhibition and meeting space, enlarging what was already the biggest convention venue on the West Coast to more than one million square feet. From Meetings & Conventions…
Paying a contribution to participate and using virtual reality may be the future of hosted buyer and familiarisation trips, according to an #EventPlannersTalk breakfast held in London. 85 per cent of the audience attending thought the existing model needed to change. Researching attendees as well as participation fees was the way to deter freeloaders. From Meetpie.com…
The White House has made the US seem “closed for business”, according to the Global Business Travel Association. After Trump Travel Bans I and II, 45 percent of GBTA’s European members said they were “less likely” to bring meetings to the US. Every one percent of business travel supports 74,000 jobs. From Meetings & Conventions…
The debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament building is one of the most extraordinary meeting spaces ever constructed. And now the Scottish Government has further recognised the importance of meetings to the country’s economic development by saluting the academic and business ambassadors helping the capital Edinburgh to attract business and professional events. Photo: Colin. From Meetpie.com…
Less than twelve months after launching, the ICC Sydney has already secured one thousand events and attracted one million visitors. The venue is outperforming both the former Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre and the Sydney Entertainment Centre combined, doing better its first six months than the previous venues in their last. From CIM News Magazine…
The Bella Center Copenhagen will play host to over 10,000 built environment delegates in 2023 as it stages the World Congress of Architects. The Danish capital was named host city for the event after presenting an ambitious bid that focused on ‘sustainable futures’ at this year’s congress in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: DanNav. From Association Meetings International…
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…
London’s events industry is facing – and could well be affected by – the “uncertain climate” created by Brexit. The warning comes from Tracy Halliwell, head of business at the city’s promotion agency London & Partners. The organisation launched a “London is Open” campaign last year shortly after the surprise referendum result. From Meetpie.com…
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…
After the contentious issue of blacklisting freeloaders – and the idea of requiring a charitable donation to attend – it seems there’s a re-evaluation underway of what the familiarisation trip should be. According to a comment from the Site GB Incentives Summit, perhaps it’s time to ban the phrase and coin a new name. From Meetpie.com…
European Cities Marketing (ECM) and Destinations International (DI) – two leading destination marketing and development associations – have extended their transatlantic collaboration in response to the radical changes in function of destination marketing organisations (DMOs) across both continents. At the annual ECM Summer School held this year in Dresden, ECM president Dieter Hardt-Stremayr explained the…
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…
Seoul’s designation as UNESCO Creative City of Design – not to mention “creative architecture development policies” – have just seen it host the Union of International Architects’ World Architects Congress. Around 30,000 attended the event, which included a tribute to Zaha Hadid, whose work included Seoul’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza. Photo: Eugene Lim. From Intellectual Capitals…
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