Both the Global Business Travel Association and Association of Corporate Travel Executives Global have expressed strong concerns about the US Supreme Court’s upholding of the third Trump travel ban on visitors from several mostly Muslim countries. By 5 to 4 the court rejected a challenge around discrimination and exceeding authority. Photo: Joe Ravi. From Meetings & Conventions…
The UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for the events industry, chaired by James Heappey MP (pictured), is holding a series of evidence sessions on the UK events sector. The first focussed on venue infrastructure including the possible loss of the QEII Conference Centre, issues surrounding Brexit, and also delivering high profile international events. From Meetpie.com…
Following the government green light, the UK Parliament has also backed controversial plans to build a third runway at Heathrow. MPs supported the proposal by 415 votes to 119. The UK meetings industry again welcomed the decision and called for speedy construction, citing the economic value of business travel to the UK. Photo: Ad Meskens. From Meetpie.com…
Tier 1 cities have much to offer meeting groups in terms of their connectivity and facilities. But all that bang takes a lot of buck. To make a big impact on a smaller budget, meeting planners should consider small and mid-sized cities. So how do you find big-city appeal in an affordable destination? From Successful Meetings…
The UK saw an estimated £18.1 billion of direct expenditure generated by delegates in venues and wider destination spend in 2017, according to the new UK Conference and Meeting Survey. The study also reveals that the overall number of conferences and meetings was lower than in 2016, but the size of events up slightly. From Meetpie.com…
Oklahoma City has hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking for its new convention center. Scheduled to open in 2020, the $288 million Oklahoma City Convention Center will boast 200,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 30,000 square foot ballroom and 45,000 square feet of meeting space. Oklahoma City CVB has also launched a new website. From Successful Meetings…
The list of cities vying to host the Democratic National Convention in 2020 has been reduced to six: Atlanta, Houston, Miami Beach, Milwaukee, New York and San Francisco. The event draws 50,000, has economic impact of more than $200 million and throws a global spotlight on the host city. Photo: Maggie Hallahan. From Meetings & Conventions…
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…
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