Meeting professionals are feeling less optimistic about the future. So says MPI’s quarterly Outlook Survey for November 2019, which shows positive sentiment at lowest levels since before the 2008 financial crisis. Other responses note that meetings are getting shorter, more frequent and more niche, but that audiences are getting bigger. From Association Meetings International…
The virtual experience economy is set for big growth, according to the annual IBTM World Trends Watch Report. The complete study, which analyses the future of the events industry, was compiled using over 25 existing data sources and was unveiled on the first day of Iceberg partner IBTM World in Barcelona. From Meetings & Incentive Travel…
Visit Flanders and the region’s five major destinations (Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Leuven, and Mechelen) have joined Iceberg partner the Global Destination Sustainability Index. Along with Brussels, the Flemish cities now become part of the measurement and benchmarking sustainability movement which comprises 56 cities worldwide. From Boardroom…
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…
Partnering to transform skills in emerging destinations, ICCA (the International Congress and Convention Association) and UNWTO (the World Tourism Organization) have been holding a series called “Masterclasses on the Meetings Industry”, the first taking place in Uzbekistan, the second in Kazakhstan, and the third soon in Georgia. From Travel Daily News International…
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…
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…
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…
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…
In what is claimed to be a first for the meetings and events industry, Business Events Montreal has just launched its Guaranteed Success Pledge. So confident is the city that planners will reach their attendance target numbers, that it will honour its financial commitment for the anticipated number if they don’t. From Boardroom…
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…
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