Kongres september 2011

Adria Airwys, the kidney in the body of Slovenian tourism

China’s walk into the future is not based on Western needs, but on their own

Rok Klančnik

Artemis Skordili, Rob Cotter

94 The Future of SE Europe Meeting industry seems bright Croatia has made great strides in all these areas Linda Pereira

SOUTHEAST EUROPE MEETINGS INDUSTRY MAGAZINE, VOLUME V, ISSUE 4, OCTOBER 2011 www.kongres-magazine.eu OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE SLOVENIAN CONVENTION BUREAU www.slovenia.info

ISSN 1 8 5 5 - 8 6 1 5

20 Daniel Tschudy

9 771855 861009

7 Caring for Slovenian tourist icon

3

Contents

Our selection

5 6

A word from the editor Column by Paul Kennedy

Page 7 Column:

8 10 13 14 15 16

News: News from SouthEast Europe News from Europe GoMice On the Move Conventa News, Sustainable Management Conventa News, Diary Photo session

24

Interview: Daniela Kos

Page 20 Interview:

In focus - Fam Tryps: article by Miha Kovačič The right balance between information and entertainment is crucial article by Miha Kovačič How few Convention Bureaus from Europe are Organized/Financed

Daniel Tschudy

29 34 36 38

40 42

In focus - Congress technologies, knowledge and inovations: article by Primož Žižek article by Matej Rus

48

Gastronomy: article by Marcela Klofutar

52 56

Surveys: The International Association Meetings Market 2001–2010 Bednight figures in European Cities Reach For the Sky

57

Agency presents: Presentation of Agency Penta

59 64

Slovenian Convention Bureau presents: News from Slovenian Convention Bureau Introduction of G standard of the Slovenian Convention Bureau

66

Kongres travelogue: Budva

76

Kongres destination: Bled, Beautiful town in the heart of Europe A New Crystal on the Ljubljana Skyline Hotel Cubo, Synonymous with Excellence Olympic games: What has it meant for Canada’s MC&IT Industry?

Year of the Dragon

78 79

Kongres personality: Mladjan Miskeljin Celuch Krzysztof

80 81

Examples & advice: Good practice examples Gadgets

83 84 85 86 88 91 96

PR: VIVO CATERING AIPC MAISTRA ATLAS Graeme Barnett Carina Bauer Meetings services spot

70 71 72 74

FIRST SOUTHEAST EUROPE MEETINGS INDUSTRY MAGAZINE Editor-in-Chief: Gorazd Čad; Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief: Jan Klavora; Editorial Board: Renata Balažic, Gorazd Čad, Petra Čuk, Anuša Gaši, Miha Kovačič, Tina Možina, Srečo Peterlič, Tatjana Radovič, Darja Slivnjak, Mirjana Sušec, Maja Vidergar, Paul Kennedy; Design and AD: Andreja Martinc; DTP and prepress: Andrej Juvan; Translation: Nina Polak, Živa Malovrh; Printing: Tiskarna Kočevski tisk d.d.; Circulation: 3000 copies; ISSN Number: 1855-8615 KONGRES MAGAZINE IS MEDIA PARTNER OF:

Caring for Slovenian tourist icon Adria Airwys, the kidney in the body of Slovenian tourism Rok Klančnik

China’s walk into the future is not based on Western needs, but on their own Artemis Skordili, Rob Cotter Page 30 Interview:

Tomaž Krušič, director of Intours DMC The main “secret” is detailed knowledge of meeting industry Jan Klavora Page 46 Gastronomy:

National or No-Show at Congresses and in Hotels?

Food helps shape and define environments Janez Bogataj Page 54 Surveys:

Assessing the Decision Model on International Conference Participation Participation is decisively influenced by the size of the fee Mag. Dušica Todorovič Page 94 The Last Word:

The Future of SE Europe Meeting Industry Seems Bright Croatia has made great strides in all these areas Linda Pereira

The Kongres magazine is entered into the media register under sequence number 1423.

Magazine issued in: January; April; July; October; December Publisher, Production and Marketing: Toleranca Marketing d.o.o., Štihova 4, SI-1000 Ljubljana, T: +386 (0)1 430 51 03 , F: +386 (0)1 430 51 04, E: kongres@go-mice.eu Issue date: October 2011 For the content reproduction it is required to get the written editorial consigment.

GO SMART. GO CREATIVE. GO MICE.

CONGRESS AND

MARKETING AGENCY

www.go-mice.eu

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A word from the editor

Gorazd ÄŒad

KNOWLEDGE IS PETROL COURSING THROUGH THE VEINS OF THE MEETINGS INDUSTRY Destination organizations are excellent marketing agencies

he issue of Kongres magazine you are holding is focused on knowledge and information as a basis for innovation and business success. In crisis and in a ruthless business environment the meetings professionals are becoming more and more aware knowledge affords us comparative advantages against the competition. Since September is the start of the school year, classes also begun for the regional meetings community, which eagerly paid attention to the lecture on bidding by charismatic Linda Pereira. The enthusiastic feedback of the participants demonstrates how big the gap in the market actually is and how urgently we need similar events. Knowledge is the basis for congress inventions, which turn into innovations. The winners are individual and companies, who can create, find and take advantage of the knowledge first.

T

Transfer of knowledge is the petrol coursing through the veins of the meetings industry.

New information technology and tools are the motor.

Let’s take a look at few examples:

1. Congress destinations The good ones are discerned from the average ones by a clever use of marketing tools and creativity.

Destination organizations are top notch marketing agencies full of creativity and innovativeness as a form of knowledge.

Market value of destinations is therefore higher than their book value. As a result a congress culture of a destination develops.

2. Congress organizers Are excellent architects and engineers of congresses. Intellectual capital of congress organizers is complex and has a greater value than the material. Technology is only a tool, own know how is the essence of functioning.

3. Congress participants Their primary motive for participation is gaining knowledge, which has become an economic and investment category. Especially

important is the transfer of knowledge from the academic sphere into the economy. The hidden capital of congresses and conferences is intellectual capital, we must learn to follow and measure accurately. The meetings industry is in a way responsible for a positive commercialization of knowledge.

The maturity of the meetings industry is proven by formalization in the form of patents, licences and trademarks. In the region we can count them on the fingers of one hand.

The idea of congress incubators, which would aid in transferring and using knowledge into business, is very interesting. We don’t yet have a clear answer to the issue of unexploited knowledge potential, yet it is surely large.

The success of congress destinations is based on knowledge successfully transferred into practise. The larger the investments into knowledge and its transfer, the more successful we will be in the international meetings market. The entire region of SE Europe has to become a learning meetings industry and the Kongres magazine will contribute its part by promoting good ideas and innovation.

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Column

Successful Meetings Industry Trade Shows. The Critical Role of Destinations Partners A meeting show is like a big fam trip Paul Kennedy

I have been fortunate in leading the development of successful meetings industry trade shows in very different parts of the world, in different locations in Europe and Asia, in the Middle East, in Australia, in North and South America. One of the critical success factors in all successful meetings show is the involvement of the destination supply chain and how they partner with the show.

But what advantages can be gained for such a partner?

Firstly it needs to be acknowledged that in terms of selling a destination the presence of a meetings show is the equivalent of hosting the biggest fam trip the destination and its hotels and venues will ever see.

What is the price for such an opportunity?

The business of meetings is characterised by most first time bookings being made on the basis of site inspections with the need to establish credible and trusting relationships and what better way of doing this by demonstrating what a special destination or venue you have or professional service which you provide. By supporting the trade show by way of providing say, complimentary hotel rooms in return for direct exposure to the buyers you access these potential future clients at a far lower cost but benefit from massive economies of scale by having so many there at the same time.

But partnership is also about defining quite clearly what you need in return, such as brand marketing on show literature, hosted buyers recruited from specific geographical markets, the chance to entertain the buyers.

All these marketing opportunities would normally not be cheap and this demonstrates where there is a genuine exchange of goods and services.

The economic benefits to a meetings show host destinations can be considerable with Barcelona generating something like 50 million euros during EIBTM and around the same in subsequent bookings for the city.

This is of course a much larger event but the principle is the same – the city supply chain provides investment for long term gain on a repeat basis and importantly the supply chain

gets involved with the show at various levels, including participating in the conference programme and serving on the advisory group – most of all they act as ambassadors for the show – helping in its and their business success.

Trade show partners have to work on the success of the show, just as with any marketing activity!

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Column

Caring for Slovenian tourist icon Adria Airwys, the kidney in the body of Slovenian tourism

Rok Klančnik

This article does not have the intention of stirring up fear of a possible downfall of Adria Airways. God forbid! Quite the contrary. I’m certain that the Slovenian national air carrier, which is, let’s be honest, in trouble, will be able to find a suitable solution. Adria is not some obscure construction company, yet a national icon, a symbol, a sort of “Triglav of tourism”. But still: survival of airlines during economic crises in the last decade is no longer self evident. It happens even in “the best of families”...

Behind nine mountains and nine waters, there’s a little country, twice the size of Slovenia. It’s called Switzerland and it’s known for reliability, tidiness, banks, watches, cheese and a purple cow called Milka. In 1931 two airlines joined forces in Zurich – Balair and Ad Astra Aero. The new company was called Swissair and soon became known as the “flying bank”, since neither economic crisis nor the second world war could harm it. It was on their flight that the first stewardess in Europe, Nelly Diener, flew in 1934 and became world famous. In 1990 Swissair started the so called “Hunter strategy” and invested extensively into numerous air lines and hotels (Swissotel) as well as restaurants. Yet there was less and less money and September 11th 2001 attacks in the US significantly devalued their investments. The UBS Bank (colloquially known as “United Bandits of Switzerland”) closed the financial flow on October 1st 2001, oil companies stopped pumping gasoline, the government didn’t respond immediately and all of this caused indignation amongst the people. The newspapers reported on “the darkest day in Swiss economic history” and the BBC wrote “the downfall of Swissair took with it the glory of the reliable Swiss economy”. Despite governmental aid of 450 million francs on April 1st next year, as a bad April fool’s joke, Swissair filed for bankruptcy. At the same time the Belgian national pride – Sabena (established in 1923), came to ruin. Swissair was supposed to invest 258 million Euros of money it didn’t have into this company. On the site of fire of both companies Swiss International and SN Brussels sprung up (now both owned by

Lufthansa). That very year the Australian company Ansett Australia fell to ruin after 66 years and 11 days of existence, and in the USA America West, Northwest, Continental and US Airways were buried.

Sic transit gloria mundi! Thus passes the glory of the world.

And how did the downfall of Swissair and Sabena impact the Swiss and Belgian tourism? Heh,... it wasn’t pleasant, yet tourism survived. In 2000 Switzerland noted 7.8 million of incoming tourist, next year 7.5, another year later 6.8 and in 2005 6.5 million. The number of tourists dropped for 1.3 million. It was different in Belgium – the number of incoming tourists was more or less stable in the next years – around 6.7 million. Yet we must stress both countries are excellently connected with their target markets by road and railway. Even more so: at Zürich Kolten (and Geneva) and Brussels Zaventem many foreign planes landed every day. Not only Lufthansa, British Airways, Alitalia...but also American, Chinese, Indian. EasyJet and Ryanair were also in the market and a whole legion of new low cost airlines was emerging.

Market forces have therefore successfully helped national tourism survive this hit in the form of the downfall of the national airline.

Would the same happen in Slovenia if, god forbid, our Adria were to blow away?

Nope. It would be much, much worse. Adria transported almost 1.2 million passengers last year. Unfortunately we don’t have the data on how many of them were foreigners, yet the number is certainly significant. This was almost 78 per cent of all traffic at the Ljubljana Airport (this year the percentage is somewhat smaller, yet still 75 per cent). Far behind with a 6.2 per cent market share is EasyJet, followed by Air France, Czech, Turkish, Finnair, JAT and others. Shall I elaborate further?

Should we weep with a bleeding heart that Slovenian Railways don’t even feel like a part of Slovenian and international tourism in its struggle for existence.

And that we should at least find some comfort in good roads, even though we overpaid them immensely and that there are still traffic jams at Peračica and Markovec, not to mention our segment of the Phyrn motorway.

In case Adria becomes grounded it is, of course, possible foreign air carriers will try to increase their number of flights to Ljubljana.

Yet – things don’t happen overnight. New agreements should be made with Ljubljana Airport and planes, which are not always available, should be assured. It would also be possible that the government would quickly establish a sort of New Adria Airways, like they did several years ago with the New Ljubljana Bank and New KBM, or as the Swiss did by building Swiss International from Crossair. In our case this would not be kosher, especially if we didn’t alter the patterns of managing an airline, which clearly contributed to the unfortunate conditions, out “wings” are in at the moment. We should not be comforted by the fact that that Alitalia constantly suffers losses and that Air India has over a billion dollars of debt. We should be much more interested whether the company on Kuzmičeva Street has a crisis management scenario reaching past begging for governmental aid and what is the opinion of Ljubljana Airport, Adria’s biggest partner.

Do we just not care enough? Well ...that’s not exactly true. Adria Airways is more than just an airline. Adria Airways is the kidney in the body of Slovenian tourism, we can’t live without it. Adria is the Icarus of Slovenian tourism, for now we are merely worriedly gazing, as it soars to close to the sun. It’s an icon, some sort of Triglav of Slovenian tourism and belongs to all of us. Therefore, we should not let it fail.

8 News

News from SE Europe

THE CROATIAN MEETING PROFESSIONALS ASSOCIATION

20TH CONGRESS OF PAEDIATRIC RHEUMATOLOGY EUROPEAN SOCIETY

Croatia set up The Croatian Meeting Professionals Association (CMPA) a non-profit organisation and the premier professional association for meetings, incentives and event organisers in Croatia. The association is committed to raising standards of service among its members and other sectors of the industry by means of continuing education and interaction with other professionals. CMPA works closely with Croatian National Tourist Board, Croatian Convention & Incentive Bureau, Croatian Association of Travel Agents in developing Croatia into an international meetings and events destination.

The congress–commercial team of Cankarjev dom beat the international competition and won the 20th congress of Paediatric Rheumatology European Society (PReS), where a thousand participants are expected. Zagreb and Belgrade were eliminated in the first round in the running for the location of the congress. In the second round Ljubljana beat out Innsbruck. Talks and efforts to obtain this congress were ongoing since 2004, the confirmed date of the congress is 26th to 29th of September 2013. For more information visit www.cd-cc.si.

www.cmpa.eu

www.cd-cc.si

NEW COMMUNICATION STRATEGY OF ATLAS – FOR CONGRESSES “WITH HEART”

HOTEL WELLNESS PARK LAŠKO****SUPERIOR RECEIVES THE EUROPEAN ECO-LABEL FOR TOURIST ACCOMMODATION SERVICE

IDMC CLOSER TO RUSSIAN FEDERATION MICE MARKET On July 1st Gregor Levič on the behalf of iDMC and Dmitry Golovaty on the behalf of H.T.M.S. Eastern Europe signed a letter of agreement.

With this iDMC gains an important link to the Russian market as H.T.M.S. Eastern Europe became representative of iDMC. Better presence on the Russian market also means better and faster services for clients from that region. Thanks to the H.T.M.S. knowledge base iDMC will be able to develop more targeted programs. This cooperation will result in increased number of Russian MICE visitors to Slovenia. www.idmc.eu

Zagreb, September 14th, 2011 – a few months ago Atlas travel agency launched a new visual identity and a whole new communication strategy to fulfil the role of Adriatic host. Atlas embodies Croatian hospitality, gostoljubivost (literally “guest-loving”) through a wide range of services, programmes and products, which is one of the messages of their new communication strategy.

Hotel Wellness Park Laško****superior has fulfilled the final criteria to receive the EU Ecolabel for tourist accommodation service, the official EU and Slovenian eco-label. In the last decade this label of the EU became a European symbol which gives simple, accurate and credible direction on environmentally friendly activities to the consumers. www.thermana.si

www.adriatica.net

MELIÁ HOTELS INTERNATIONAL TO OPEN ITS SIXTH HOTEL IN BULGARIA: SOL MARINA PALACE Meliá Hotels International has recently announced the opening of its sixth hotel in Bulgaria. The Sol Marina Palace is a four star resort with 128 rooms located in Nessebar and strengthens the Spanish hotel company’s hotel portfolio in one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Balkans. The region has seen a significant rise in the number of visitors in the past few years, attracted by the cultural attractions and beautiful Black Sea beaches. www.melia.com

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News from SE Europe

News

40TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE EDTNA/ERCA

NOVELTIES AT TERME ČATEŽ

On September 13th the largest congress event of this fall in Slovenia ended, namely the 40th International Conference EDTNA/ERCA. This is a very important conference which brought 1,500 nurses specializing in nephrology, dialysis and transplantation as well as different profiles of employees from the area of science and engineering to Slovenia.

EDTNA/ERCA is a European society encouraging the quality of health care of chronic kidney patients and patients going through dialysis and transplantation, research, education and setting standards.

This year’s project of renovating and expanding the hotel Terme**** by upgrading 80 new rooms is finished. Hotel Terme**** now has a total of 212 rooms and 14 apartments, which makes it one of the largest hotels in Slovenia and in the region.

The business centre at hotel Terme is often chosen as the venue for different business events and conferences – four meetings and conference halls with modern technical equipment make sure every event is carried out immaculately. www.terme-catez.si

www.cd-cc.si

Something you will never experience with us.

All of our hotels and meetings facilities are just a stone’s throw from each other. Thus, you can walk anywhere you need to go without burdening the environment.

Your address for the organisation of a green meeting: Sava Hoteli Bled, d.d., Cankarjeva 6, SI-4260 Bled, Slovenia, Tel.: +386 (0)4 579 16 07, conference@hotelibled.com, www.hotelibled.si

10 News

News from Europe

NEW SALES DIRECTOR AT AIM FRANCE

led show”, explains Exhibition Director Cordula Riedel.

Stephane Jousset is the new Sales Director of AIM France. With over ten years of experience in marketing and sales, Stephane Jousset has had the opportunity to develop his skills within a world leading company of major trade shows such as Reed Exhibition Group, and later in Adlike, a communication agency based in Paris.

The arrival to AIM Group International, and in particular to its Paris office, is a major challenge to be taken along with a young, dynamic and determined team.

www.artexis.com

YOUNGEST GENERATION OF MEETINGS INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS MEETS IN GDANSK – NEW STYLE!

ERIC ROZENBERG APPOINTED NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN OF REED TRAVEL EXHIBITIONS GLOBAL MEETINGS AND EVENTS PORTFOLIO

115 delegates from 33 countries in Asia, Australia, Africa, North America and Europe met in Gdansk, Poland from 6. to 9. July to participate in the ICCA Research, Sales & Marketing Programme, which uses a personalised approach that is unique amongst meetings industry educational events. The delegates mainly represented the youngest generations junior to mid-level managers and client-facing executives from venues, destination marketing organisations and PCOs, often referred to as Generation X and Generation Y.

www.aimgroup.eu

Eric Rozenberg, President of Belgian based Swantegy has been appointed as Non-Executive Chair of Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) global portfolio of meetings events www.ibtmevents. com .

Having just completed a year as the first European to be Chairman of MPI, he took up this position from July 1st 2011. Eric remains fully committed to the development of his own company, Swantegy.

www.iccaworld.com

BARCELONA BECOMES MOBILE WORLD CAPITAL

EMIF 2012: A NEW CONCEPT, A NEW DIRECTION The Artexis Group, the leading exhibition organiser in Belgium, just announced the rebranding and future concept of EMIF. The 10th edition of the European Meetings Industry Fair, held on 15. & 16. March 2011, met the expectations of the majority of visitors and exhibitors alike. A dynamic future awaits, with a new direction, a major shift in focus, content and business offer. “The new exhibition, on 13. & 14.

March 2012 in the Brussels based Tour & Taxis Exhibition Centre, will be a strongly Hosted Buyer

The Catalan city has been named the Mobile World Capital by the GSMA, the association that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. In the period from 2012 to 2018, Barcelona will not only host the Mobile World Congress but will also become a permanent technological and cultural center that will boost the existing industrial fabric, and create new business opportunities and global awareness of the potential of mobile communications. www.mobileworldcapital.com

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News from Europe

News

NEW AIPC MEMBERS, BOARD ADDITIONS MAINTAIN GLOBAL REPRESENTATION

ICCA EXPERIENCES RECORD MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS IN AUGUST 2011

New Members and Board elections completed in conjunction with the General Assembly at AIPC’s 2011 Annual Conference in San Diego ensure a diverse and continuing global representation for the membership of the international organization. In terms of the Board of Directors, Iker Goikoetxea Mendoza, who is the Managing Director of the Kursaal Congress Centre in San Sebastian, Spain, replaces Marisa Marin as a Spanish representative. At the same time, Peter Gunn, who is the Chief Executive of the Bournemouth International Centre, has replaced previous UK Board member Jacquie Rogers. www.aipc.org

14 companies and organisations from 12 countries on 5 continents successfully applied to join ICCA, the International Congress & Convention Association, during the last month, a record number for what has traditionally been a relatively quiet time of the year. Martin Sirk, ICCA CEO comments: “Despite the challenging global economic environment we’re delighted to see continued growth in membership, including from countries which are suffering the most, and by the year’s end we estimate we’ll have received over 90 new applications in 2011”.

IRELAND’S FLYING A deal that will offer conference delegates coming to Ireland a discount of up to 20% on their flight costs has been announced by Aer Lingus and the country’s leading PCOs and DMCs. For a conference where Aer Lingus is the official carrier, an exclusive webpage on the airline’s website will be created with the discounted conference rate, allowing delegates to compare the offered price against the standard available rates.

www.iccaworld.com

Something you will appreciate.

A stroll from the congress centre to the hotel is an opportunity to take a precious moment for yourself, breathe in the fresh air and rest your eyes on the beautiful scenery. Treat yourself to something special this time.

Your address for the organisation of a green meeting: Sava Hoteli Bled, d.d., Cankarjeva 6, SI-4260 Bled, Slovenia, Tel.: +386 (0)4 579 16 07, conference@hotelibled.com, www.hotelibled.si

12 News

News from Europe

IT CONFERENCES FLOCKING TO ESTONIA, THE FREE WI-FI COUNTRY

EUROPEAN EVENT SUMMIT IN LUXEMBURG – EVENT SPECIALISTS LAUNCH THE 7C MANIFESTO

THE 1ST UNWTO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TOURISM AND THE MEDIA

The high-tech, Baltic country of Estonia is experiencing a boom in IT-related conferences as more international event organisers are waking up to the nation’s outstanding cyber credentials and top-ranked Wi-Fi infrastructure.

At the first European Event Summit in Luxembourg, ISES Europe’s Chairman Christian Seidenstücker presented the 5C’s which should determine the future of the events industry.

That inspired the attending event professionals to develop and launch the 7 C Manifesto. The seven C’s are: Change, Content, Creativity, Credibility, Connectivity, Cooperation and Costeffectiveness.

The 1st UNWTO International Conference on Tourism and the Media, held in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism of Croatia, was the first UNWTO event dedicated exclusively to the relationship between tourism and the media. The Conference brought together important media figures and key tourism stakeholders, offering a platform for debates and idea exchanges on how to ensure a contextualized approach to the coverage of tourism and its socio-economic value.

“On this year’s calendar we’ve seen a whole range of technology conferences covering everything from information warfare and security to robotics, e-governance, e-identity and cyber defense,” said Kadri Karu, Managing Director of the Estonian Convention Bureau.

www.eventsummit.lu

www.croatia.hr www.ecb.ee

NEW ENTRANCE IN AIM GROUP INTERNATIONAL: FRANCESCA MANZANI, NEW BUSINESS MANAGER FOR THE FLORENCE OFFICE Francesca Manzani has joined the AIM Group International with the role of Business Manager of the Florence office. Francesca, 39 years old, has been actively working in the meetings industry since 1995, having experienced a successful career, playing a role as client and PCO. With a degree as parliamentary interpreter and translator and a masters in marketing & communication, she started her working experience at Salvatore Ferragamo. www. aimgroupinternational.com

OVATION GLOBAL DMC SHORTLISTED FOR PRESTIGIOUS MEETINGS INDUSTRY AWARD 25TH ECM SUMMER SCHOOL: DOUBLE PROOF OF SUCCESS 51 delegates participated in the silver anniversary of ECM’s annual Summer School.

The venue for this uniquely challenging and rewarding educational event was the Polish city of Cracow from 27th to 31st of August 2011. The very first Summer School was organised 25 years ago, hosted by the Austrian city of Gmunden and organised by the European Federation of Conference Towns (EFCT). Over the years the ECM Summer School has become highly regarded as a leading educational and training initiative.

Ovation Global DMC has been shortlisted for a Meeting Industry Marketing Award (UK) in the category of Best Brand Marketing Campaign.

The company was selected as a finalist for its “Kidnapped Bear” campaign which launched at EIBTM 2010 with the twofold aim of building social media community around the Ovation brand and boosting traffic to the Ovation website. This is the second consecutive year for Ovation to be shortlisted in the Best Brand Marketing Campaign category, the “Huggability Awards” having allready been recognised in 2010. www.ovationdmc.com

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News

News

GoMice On the Move

This fall GoMice Congress and Marketing Agency is on the move, organising a number of congresses, trade shows and special events.

17TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF CHILD NEUROLOGISTS OF MEDITERRANEAN From 14-17 September GoMice organized the 17th International Congress of Child Neurologists of Mediterranean in an old city of Piran, on the Adriatic Sea. CNM 2011 provided participants with up-to-date diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in the field of “Evidence based medicine” and also to cover the traditional and everyday approaches used when the services provided in advanced countries are not available.

NATOUR On 28 September GoMice as a Technical Organiser opened the doors of NATOUR, Travel and Trade Show of Active Holidays. During NATOUR days, outdoor providers from the region are to present their outdoor offer to hosted buyers from around Europe. The trade show is enriched with two conferences and a number of post-exhibition trips. Maja Pak, Director of Slovenian Tourist Board, commended “I firmly believe that in the future NATOUR trade show will grow, develop and consequently lead to better positioning of Slovenia at its target markets.”

PECHA KUCHA GoMice is also involved in organising a series of Pecha Kucha evenings aimed at educating, socializing and relaxed conversation. The third Pecha Kucha evening, in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, is dedicated to marketing and is to host a number of marketing gurus. Pecha Kucha presentations are based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It's a format that makes presentations concise and keeps the event moving at a rapid pace.

SPA-CE October is then dedicated to the SPA-CE Trade Show of Spa and Wellness Tourism in Central Europe where GoMice acts as a Technical Organiser. GoMice strives to stage a professional business platform for the most important providers of spa and wellness services to meet with travel organisers, tourist agencies, representatives of insurance companies and other potential buyers of their services. Around 40 exhibitors from Central Europe and 60 participants from all around the world are expected at the third edition of the show, taking place from 12-14 October in Thermana Laško. www.go-mice.eu

14 News

Conventa News SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT

Previous editions of the leading South East European trade show flirted with the principles of sustainable development. Based on lessons learned and positive responses of participants, Conventa 2012 aims to introduce a strategic approach to sustainable management of the regional meeting industry show.

Conventa organisers and partners are therefore committed to reduce the negative environmental impacts of the trade show by implementing sustainable practices that add value to all participants and the local community. In this manner, Conventa aims to achieve its strategic goals that serve the interests of people, planet and profit.

Conventa focuses on a number of priorities to achieve its final goal of shrinking the show’s footprint. These are: Engaging stakeholders Conventa promotes a close cooperation with key stakeholders to identify sustainable issues and determine key performance indicators together.

By engaging interested parties, Conventa strives to make sustainability an integral part of the trade show management.

Keeping it local On a global scale, Conventa promotes a petit region of South East Europe and in this it focuses on local knowledge, suppliers, products and services. Conventa therefore gives preference to local suppliers of food and beverage, transport, floral arrangements and signage. The trade show thus encourages local economy, reduces travel miles and preserves culinary and cultural heritage.

4R In the life cycle of sustainable event management, Conventa aims to follow the 4R principles of rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle. From conception to planning and implementation, Conventa makes sustainable decisions to decrease the generation of waste, prefer products with a high recycled content and reuse or donate materials.

Sustainable management of Conventa trade show should serve as a learning ground for other meetings held in the region of South East Europe.

Through expanding educational messaging Conventa aims to drive market transformation toward sustainable meeting industry in South East Europe.

MaruĹĄa Rosunik www.conventa.si

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Conventa News

News

DIARY Kristina Jurjevec

MONDAY In the morning I eagerly open the newly developed web application and count new hosted buyer registrations. Some names are familiar at first glance, since we met at trade shows or have applied to Conventa in the past.

Most names still raise interest and numerous questions. I check each application thoroughly.

The applicants must provide their basic data, company data and data on two past and one future event. Based on the supplied data I can verify their validity at stated locations and destination. The web site and email are also very important criteria. I check on the company through search engines and look for them on the international meetings industry scene. The applicant is checked through social media and international references. Online media sometimes provides numerous hits, yet sometimes none. It’s interesting to observe the different levels of use and involvement in electronic media among the individual applicants. However, a low number of online hits does not necessarily indicate a bad quality applicant. It’s also interesting to discover tricks some people use to become a hosted buyer. The fact is, hosted buyers at Conventa gain access to top-notch services free of charge. Such a reputation attracts a numerous audience. Unsuitable statement of events, non-functioning web sites and commercial email addresses are the first indicators of a nonquality event organizer. They apply from year to year even though they have been rejected many times. Even bad applications are checked through numerous channels and the rejection notification always includes founded reasons.

Despite it all it’s still hard to receive rejection complaints.

the assessments. In this very important phase international contacts we gained through our work and training abroad come through.

WEDNESDAY Fam trips are also an important part of Conventa. Before and after Conventa along with destination from SE Europe we prepare fam trips. Numerous hosted buyers decide to participate at Conventa mainly due to the possibility to participate at fam trips. This is a way to get to know the destination, where they could potentially bring their events, first hand. My mission is to set dates and arrange the standards of realization with the destinations.

Event organizers have different expectations on the content and execution of fam trips as tour operators or for example, journalists. A low standard of fam trips can even avert our clients from bringing their clients to our destination.

We pass applications to the people responsible for fam trips at their destinations until the places have been filled.

THURSDAY The results of our work must be formed into a presentable shape and presented to our partners at agreed upon times. The realization of Conventa is namely largely dependent on the participation of our partners. Our official partners and their contributions enable Conventa to host a large number of quality event organizers. Meetings with our partners are the pinnacle of our working periods and their critique and inclusion is more than welcome.

FRIDAY TUESDAY To book even more quality hosted buyers this year we made business agreements with ten group coordinators. These are professionals dealing with finding the best event or congress organizers in specific regions. They not only gather Conventa applications, they also assess the ones we receive ourselves. We forward them the applications based on nationality.

In countries where we don’t have group coordinators international partners help with

A part of our everyday routine is also the marketing of our event. To be seen in the international environment is very important.

Therefore Polona in the marketing department is showered with data she combines into excellent marketing materials. Other than fam trips our hosted buyers like to know who they will get a chance to meet at Conventa. To this end we constantly update our exhibitors list on the website. Polona also prepared numerous case studies of exhibitors in the last month.

It is very interesting to read their side of the story and their assessments of Conevnta and its participants. The success of Conventa largely depends on their preparations for the event.

While some are already skilled in performing at a distinctively business trade show, we have to prepare guidelines for others to ensure a successful presentation.

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Photo session

THE BEST WAY TO EXPLORE SLOVENIA Would you like to join the next one?

Slovenian Convention Bureau with the support of 12 partners and Slovenian Tourist Board hosted a Slovenia familiarisation trip from 8th to 9th of July 2011. A programme coordinated by Intours DMC was created to showcase Slovenia as meeting planners’ next meeting and incentive destination. Since participants thought of it as a success story the Slovenian Convention Bureau will organise another two familiarisation trips before the end of this year. For more information visit www.slovenia-convention.com or contact info@slovenia-convention.com.

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“THE MEETINGS INDUSTRY IS NOT TOURISM, IT’S A BUSINESS” On September 8th and 9th 2011 Academy Conventa hosted the “Bidding Academy” led by world renowned meetings organizer and director of L&I Communications Group and CPL Events, Linda Pereira, an experienced professional in the meetings industry, who claims the industry is not tourism, it’s a business.

The participants of the module were mostly representatives of hotels and local tourist organizations, DMCs, PCOs, convention bureaus, as well some organization representatives from Croatia. The topic of the workshop was meetings organization, bidding, ways of promotion, putting together a bid, presenting the offer, case studies and marketing strategies for a successful promotion on the foreign market.

A FEW PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS FROM EIAT For the fourth year in a row, the last weekend of September was marked by an international education conference in tourism – EIAT, organized by the Centre for Tourism Research and Studies in Novi Sad. Professor Goran Petkovic, State Secretary for Tourism, Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, welcomed the delegates at the opening ceremony of the conference which was held in Kolarac.

Two hundred participants from 11 countries in Southeast Europe gathered in Belgrade at the Hotel Continental were once again united the by common goal – education and tourism development.

News

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Photo session

THE THIRD PECHA KUCHA EVENING On September 29th Kongres magazine and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia organized the third Pecha Kucha evening. Our expectations were completely exceeded since the event gathered 200 participants. We brought together the economy and the meetings industry. The event took place in the garage of the Chamber of Commerce of Slovenia, that’s why the event was called Underground 20 x 20. The feedback was very positive, so we decided to organize even more Pecha Kucha evenings in the future. Would you like to host the next Pecha Kucha evening? If so, contact us at kongres@go-mice.eu.

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TH SOUTH EAST EUROPEAN EXHIBITION FOR MEETINGS, EVENTS & INCENTIVE TRAVEL

WWW.CONVENTA.INFO

“When we meet at Conventa show, the cup of coffee is on us!”

18 - 19 JANUARY 2012, Ljubljana—Slovenia

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DANIEL TSCHUDY China’s walk into the future is not based on Western needs, but on their own

Daniel Tschudy has been involved in global tourism, hospitality and MICE industries for four decades. Originally from Zurich, Switzerland, he worked abroad for 13 years (Canada, Germany, France, Japan, and Shanghai, China from 2008/9). Until the mid-80s, he was engaged with Kuoni Travel, Switzerland Tourism and for 6 years with the then-largest global tour operator, Thomas Cook/Wagonlit in Tokyo. In 1987, he co-founded MCI (the leading global congress & association management agency group), and later was Managing Director of Spectrum Events in Switzerland. Daniel now works as journalist, speaker and consultant. As globally acclaimed presenter, he talks about the ongoing shift from West to East; about the new markets in Africa, Arabia and Asia; specifically about China and Japan; as well as about communication and mentalities of the new world. He is editor of the events magazine (Germany) and writes regularly for Handelszeitung, Switzerland’s leading economic newspaper. He also consults both Chinese companies dealing with overseas partners and international companies interested in working with China.

Daniel, how have you seen the industry change in Asia and, in your opinion, who have become the key players?

There are two issues: one is that several Asian countries have finally found a mature self confidence to position and sell their destination; no longer are Paris, London and America the key parameters. Now, the UAE is pushing hard, Thailand keeps promoting well even through in crisis, Malaysia became ‘Truly Asia’, Singapore is battling in Vegasstyle (investments to Marina Bay Sands and Casinos), Macau actually became Las Vegas #2, and the Chinese capitals used their global events (2008 Olympics and 2010 World Expo) to create whole-new MICE destinations. So, to sum up: Asians have learned the value of their very own products and that (issue two) has also triggered, at least in some Asian markets, a stronger domestic and outbound demand for Incentives and Meetings. In any case, tourism and MICE in particular grow not because of what the ‘old world’ teaches, but because of the very own economic growth in the new world. And China is heading the pack, of course.

Do you think there could be a saturation risk if MICE development is not coordinated regionally?

We all have to learn to think outside of the box. South East Asia might have looked a bit too long at the Westerner way of doing business, but China certainly did not. In the old days, organisations such as MPI and SITE in the meetings industry (or ASTA in leisure), both out of the USA, ‘taught’ the industry how to function and how to develop. Their expertise was originally based on the dominating US outbound mass tourism industry. And although these organisations are now showing a good presence in China (SITE’s international conference next year will be in Beijing; ICCA’s annual conference 2013 in Shanghai), it has to be recognised that China, while

appreciating the Westerner expertise, is not depending on it.

Beijing municipal representatives discounted the risk of the industry not developing internationally as something that could be absorbed by domestic growth.

Do you not consider a cornerstone of MICE meetings to be developing international trade (and cultural exchange and awareness), making this position perhaps a little risky?

Let’s look at the statistics: last year, China had 1.61 billion domestic trips (migrant workers, families, business and holidays), operated by 12,000 domestic travel agents, and hosted by some 300,000 hotels and guesthouses. That is the true powerhouse of this market. It’s huge, logically putting every international aspect way back into line. Any growth of tourism and also in the still young meetings industry is most of all based on domestic needs. Then, outbound tourism grew in 2010 to 56 million travellers (source: UNWTO), with analysts seeing the 100 million mark reached before 2020. So, by all means, China’s walk into the future is not based on Western needs, but on their own. One could say ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’. But joining them means doing business … in their way.

Beijing has, to date, no CVB. Do you consider this a handicap in its rate of growth within China and the region?

The global industry might feel a bit more comfortable if dealing with a CVB established in a Western understanding. But in the end, I think that is irrelevant. We all have to understand that the sheer size of both market and destinations creates proceedings that are first of all suitable to China, and then, maybe, to the West. The demand, for example, for Beijing as international convention town (now already at position 12 in ICCA’s ranking) will grow anyway. And Beijing

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openly declared that it wants to become number one Asian meeting town (means it has to overcome Taipei, now 11th and most of all 5th ranked Singapore).

Some years ago you spoke of the ‘Great Walls of China’ – cultural differences and lack of English language availability – as barriers to its success in the international MICE arena. How strongly do you think this holds and can you give reasons for your answers?

I remember that interview and I received several critical comments for it. However, I believe that nothing has changed. Cultural differences and the lack of English knowledge are still there and will remain so. In fact, more than before, I believe that China does not have to learn English; the world will have to learn Mandarin. Ok, in tourism, the Chinese supplier industry will of course improve fast its English knowledge, but in the general global economics, Mandarin, already the most spoken language in the world, will prevail.

Having said that, I also feel that China’s eagerness to impress the world (with the two above mentioned global events) has somewhat subsided. Beijing’s Commission of Tourism Development estimates that last year 180 million Chinese travelled to or through Beijing.

So logically, the share of foreigners, even if they spend substantially more money per person, is relatively insignificant. UK-based ‘The Right Solution’ presented their findings about the satisfaction level of foreign event organisers at the recent CIBTM in Beijing.

Those having judged the services as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ were down from 60% in 2009 to 44% last year and a substantial 22% now rated the services as barely acceptable or even poor. China’s economic success could produce an ongoing focus on growth in quantity instead of quality. That does not mean that some suppliers are and will be able to create excellent ground and meeting management for international audiences, but the majority will be busy handling the crowd.

As a Swiss native who spends a lot of time on the international circuit, what do you know of the meetings industry in South East Europe, from Slovenia to Greece? How successful do you think their progress has been over the past 2 decades? How do you think they can begin to challenge the established destinations - Vienna, Brussels, Paris, Barcelona?

It’s again about self confidence, and South East Europe could take a cut from the Chinese ‘power mind’. The region has so much to offer (history, culture, people and hospitality,) but it’s too often based on individual efforts and personal success stories. More importantly, I believe that the region too often tried to copy the Western Europe business style instead of creating their own identities and parameters (and in fact, some might be tempted now to shift to the Asian business style and try to apply that one). However, the solution lies not in what others do, but in the art of communication. Communication today must be self secure, emotional, fast and very, very focused. One cannot beat Paris by trying to copy Paris. One can only be successful by finding one’s very own personality, identity, products and capacities. And then go out to the very many and highly-segmented target audiences and find the suitable clientele.

‘One message suits all’ is no longer a valid approach.

What lessons do you think this corner of Europe can take from China’s growth?

Europe (both the West and South Eastern) cannot take China’s needs as parameter for its own industry. The demands are simply too different and Chinese Outbound Incentives, for example, compare more to the kind of USIncentives of the 80s (meaning deluxe group travel) and absolutely not to Central Europe’s ‘event-like’ Incentives of the late 90s. Also, the majority of Chinese outbound Incentives go to Macau, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Australia; and not, for a long time to come, to Europe

or the US. So, Europe can look at China and be fascinated. But its MICE industries will live or die with the economic success of its own European enterprises and their proactive positive attitudes towards an open and flexible development. The rest is about a self-secure, fast-forwarded and target focused communication.

Artemis Skordili is a TV reporter and freelance journalist based in Athens, Greece.

Rob Cotter is a freelance journalist based in London, UK.T

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MRS. DANIELA KOS FROM WWW.CROATIAMEETINGS.COM Croatian tourism is still trying to build its identity on the global market

Daniela Kos graduated at Faculty of Business and Economics in Zagreb. She started her career as marketing specialist at Cisco Systems, where she gained her first experiences organizing business events, including Cisco Expo annual conference. She also worked as a cultural and marketing manager at theatre Mala Scena. From 2010 she has been an entrepreneur, developing first Croatian media in meetings industry.

Can you please briefly introduce www. croatiameetings.com? (introduce the content of the portal, when was it opened etc.)

Well, it all started with PoslovniTurizam.com which was launched in late October 2010. It is the first specialized web portal for Croatian meetings industry, aimed at domestic market and neighbouring countries. Six months after that we launched CroatiaMeetings.com which is a similar project but adopted for and aimed at the international market.

Both websites are, so to say, information onestop-shops that give comprehensive overview of Croatian meeting venues, specialized MICE agencies and related services, like catering or translation services. Meeting planners can also use tools such as advanced search options, or Event Assistant which enables simple and fast RFP sending. All of this, of course, saves time and helps them find appropriate partners and business solutions in Croatia.

Besides detailed congress offer, one can also find information about popular Croatian tourist destinations, read tourism related news and articles see upcoming business events, etc.

Whether you are planning your next business event in Croatia or you just want to learn more about MICE in Croatia, PoslovniTurizam.com/ CroatiaMeetings.com are the best places to start your search!

What was the reason for creating such a portal? Who is behind it (introduce the people, companies, governmental institutions, who are partners and owners of the portal)?

As you know, Croatia is a very popular destination when it comes to leisure tourism, and most of the effort (both from government and from companies) is focused on that part of our tourist offer. On the other hand, there is a huge potential in the meetings industry, but also a lack of its promotion in general, and especially through online tools.

So, the conclusion was quite simple: let’s do something about it, let’s do something that will

help all meetings industry members present their offers in a simple and effective way.

We are proud to say that our initiative was quickly recognized and supported by all the leading tourism authorities: Ministry of tourism, Croatian Convention and Incentive Bureau and Zagreb Convention Bureau.

Today, less than a year since the portal was officially launched, we work with over 300 various venues, 20 agencies and 100 suppliers.

On your web site you write you would like to include all of SE Europe on your portal.

Could you highlight your plans for the future?

The first step, of course, is to fully establish and strengthen the position in the Croatian market, as a valuable partner/media that brings benefits to all the members of Croatian meetings industry. Our purpose is not only to promote and connect, but also to educate and inform people because there is a great need for education in the tourism sector.

The idea of expanding activities to SE Europe is certainly intriguing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean using the same business model as in the domestic market. We will, of course, support all initiatives whose goal is to connect and cooperate on a regional level.

Are you satisfied with number of visitors per month? Can you give us some statistics? (I believe numbers are important, please just let us know realistic number. I had some bad experience with unbelievable numbers) In first the six months of 2011, we had over 75,000 visits, and we find that number very satisfying, especially having in mind that we are focused on a relatively small market niche.

We expect to see further rise in number of visitors in the second half of the year, due to better search engine positions, more intense marketing actions, and new content, such as overview of upcoming business events.

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More important than total number of visitors is the number of RFPs that are sent by meeting planners via our system. I am happy to say that it did not take them long to discover all the benefits of our system and start using it regularly.

Who are your visitors? Are they mainly from Croatia? Do they send many RFPs? As I said, there are two websites, and two stories: PoslovniTurizam.com is aimed at the domestic market and the majority of visitors are from Croatia and neighbouring regions (Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina).

CroatiaMeetings.com, on the other hand, is mostly visited by foreigners, from the most important incoming markets – Germany, Austria, Italy or UK and USA. The RFPs are sent from both corporate and association meeting planners. They are very satisfied and they see us not just as an effective online tool that helps find venues/ suppliers and get proposals, but also as a valuable partner that will recommend best local meetings solutions according to their needs and preferences.

What do think about Croatian meeting industry? Do you believe it is developing in the right direction?

Croatia is one of the most popular tourist destination in SEE, but also an attractive destination for business meetings and incentives.

We have a good hotel infrastructure and experienced people in tourism, but Croatia lacks a few polyvalent venues (conference centres) with capacity of few thousand seats to be able to host larger events and become a truly competitive MICE destination in the wider region. With present meeting facilities Croatia is the ideal destination for medium-sized meetings, up to 500 delegates. We could also benefit from better traffic infrastructure such as more direct flights to major European cities throughout the whole year, not just during the summer.

Besides the above mentioned infrastructure issues, Croatian tourism is still trying to build its identity on the global market. Creating unique and distinctive identity is an absolute priority. I hope this problem will be solved by new national tourism development strategy that is currently being created by the Croatian Institute for tourism.

In Croatian meetings industry we need to work on better cooperation, communication and education at all levels. There are some new initiatives, such as newly founded Croatian Meeting Professionals Association so I believe that better times are coming, despite the economic crisis that is still ongoing.

What are the unique selling points (USPs) of Croatian meeting industry?

Most of the advantages Croatia has in that sector come from its long tradition and experience in leisure tourism. Ideal geographic position, great nature, beautiful coast, rich historical and cultural heritage, exciting gastronomy and wines... all of that makes our country appealing to foreign tourists.

Besides that there are some new trends like summer music festivals that open up new markets and bring new, young guests. Also, many world known celebrities have discovered Croatia over the past 2–3 years which has had a great impact in the media, and brings free publicity.

When it comes to MICE offer, Croatia is a very attractive destination for medium-sized events and for incentives. Unfortunately, we still have not found a way to fully exploit these advantages. Therefore we have a situation where some individual destinations are more recognized in the MICE world than Croatia as a country. At this moment we have a few strong, internationally known MICE destinations such as Dubrovnik, Opatija and Zagreb, but new interesting meeting destinations are developing their offer (Split, Rovinj or Zadar) and that is encouraging. All we have to do now is to put it all together and develop mindful and effective branding on the national level.

What do you think about SE Europe’s meetings industry? (if you compare it with the rest of W Europe) SE Europe’s meetings industry is still looking for its place under the sun. But being a fresh and new meeting destination is also an advantage. People like to discover new, charming places and meeting professionals and buyers are not an exception.

SE Europe meetings industry cannot compete in terms of infrastructure with more developed regions in Europe, such as Germany or UK, but we do have people who are excellent and innovative, who want to learn and improve.

Stronger institutional support is certainly desirable because most countries in the region fight with a lot of political and economic issues, which then deeply reflect on business opportunities.

Do you believe in the concept of SE Europe – do you believe it is good marketing brand?

Do you believe Croatia should do marketing as one of SE European countries? If so please explain?

I believe in branding in general. Today it is not enough to have a great product or service. If you do not have a story about it, a story that people will talk about, you are not competitive in a global market.

All countries in SE Europe have their stories, people and customs. We are all different, but also very similar at the same time. But each and every one of us is too small to perform alone in the global market. So why not build a common marketing brand in a way where all of us will keep our uniqueness, our stories?

I believe it is possible, but only with better cooperation. Look for example at IMEX or other trade shows: thousands of exhibitors, but Slovenian, Croatian or Serbian stands are not even side by side...

Jan Klavora

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events@adria.si

29 In focus

ADDED VALUE OF FAM TRIPS The meetings industry sells trust

In the meetings industry suppliers don’t sell products the clients could hold in their hands and try out. In the meetings industry we sell trust. This may seem simple, yet in real life it’s not an easy task. It is supported by knowledge and years of experience. Large and ever growing international competition in Europe as around the world is making the challenge even more appealing.

We are becoming

more and more aware congresses don’t have much in common with classic tourism and any comparison is at the cost of the former.

Congress participants do not wish to be treated as tourists. They are after all on a work assignment and their participation in the event and visit to the destination have a specific purpose. As does the meetings organizer or client, who chose the destination.

So what does all of this have to do with the familiarization or fam trip? All of this and much more. Professionally organized destinations are well aware of that, they know their role in the meetings industry. Of course a well rounded destination cannot exist without meeting suppliers. Established congress destinations know very well what they are and aren’t and the suppliers take care each experience in the destination exceeds expectations.

On one hand this is the cheapest advertising and on the other hand, the harsh rule “You are as good as your last event”, applies in our industry.

But we were talking about fam trips, specifically their added value. We presume the

above as something normal and in practice among the performers and suppliers.

The clients are buying a promise and this puts them in a difficult position, especially if they are not familiar with the country and destination, not to mention the hotel and other facilities. On one hand it’s difficult to suggest or sell an unknown destination, since our client has a client behind him and needs to sell him trust. On the other hand our industry is so ruthless we can barely imagine someone marketing a destination they don’t know personally and haven’t experienced.

Destinations from the world over are aware of this and therefore try to attract as many buyers as possible into their home.

Of course a fam trip is not automatically a fam trip. Here development and tough international competition played its part. When preparing a fam trip we must place ourselves in the skin of a potential buyer we have invited to the destination and wish to present it in the most

professional and pleasant way. What do they want to get to know? Not only magnificent hotels, tasty food, excellent wines, friendly people and numerous gifts.

Our buyer is a professional and is looking for a professional presentation of the congress product tailor made to suit their needs.

If we know how to do that we have a good opportunity to interest the client for our destination. Only now the chase for the event we could host in the near or far future is beginning. We should also keep in mind that clients talk to each other. You won’t believe it, so does the competition. They exchange negative as well as positive experiences.

Miha Kovačič

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TOMAŽ KRUŠIČ, DIRECTOR OF INTOURS DMC The main “secret” is detailed knowledge of meeting industry

This summer you organized a very resounding FAM trip across Slovenia in collaboration with the Slovenian Convention Bureau. Would you care to describe it shortly?

The Fam trip was organized as a pure incentive program, as an example of what agents can offer their clients. During the three days the participants could see, experience, taste, and get to know the locations in Slovenia that are the most interesting form the meeting industry. They visited some hotels, talked to the proprietors of different services, experienced Slovenia, tasted our vines, relaxed at top quality evening events and generally truly enjoyed every moment of their stay in Slovenia.

Why do you think the FAM trip was so successful? What is the secret to a successful FAM trip and how to organize it?

It is not hard to claim that this was a successfully executed project. The participants had praised the program, the organization, and the execution from the very beginning.

After their return home we kept getting heaps of thank you notes; many said it was one of the best FAM trips they had ever taken part in.

And good agents usually take part in a quite a number of a trips.

The main “secret” to the successful planning and execution of a good fam trip must be a detailed knowledge of this segment of tourism.

The meeting industry is probable one of the most complex and demanding part of tourism.

As a DMC we deal with inquiries from all of Europe, even the US and Asia; clients come from different countries where everyone has their own perception of what such an event should look like. Each client also has their own wishes, budgets, preferences. It is important to prepare a great selection and execute a number of events with excellence to extract from that certain facts of that life and some “secrets of the trade”. The more contacts

you have established, the more people you know, the more “mileage” you have, the better you can understand the wishes of agents as well as end-users.

Besides that, successful organization means having extremely good relationships with providers: hotel managers, catering services, transport, restaurants, outdoor service providers, musicians, visual effects providers, etc. If there is a lack of that, the provider will consider a fam trip as a nuisance and everything can head in the wrong direction from there. Experienced agents quickly see whether there is trust, respect, and genuine relationships between the DMC and the suppliers.

The planning itself requires a lot of creativity in order to prepare a program that is full of surprises, wow-moments, and services that cannot be found on the internet. In short, to create a program that is completely custom made with a specific purpose.

How difficult is to convince top quality companies to send their representatives on a fam trip precisely to our destination?

Good agents are extremely spoiled. They get asked to the most beautiful corners of the world, the highest category hotels fight for them to stay there, in short, they have experienced a lot of the good and beautiful things in the world. This is exactly why we consider it an honor that such a large number of them responded to our invitation. There was a total 32 participants, which is a lot for a fam trip within the meeting industry.

Agents in principle like to visit new destinations, because new propositions will make it easier for them to retain their clients. Obviously that means that Slovenia is becoming an interesting location.

Getting good agents is a special story. Difficult, ungrateful, even bitter. To get confirmations the name Slovenia is nearly not enough. Good agents are very busy, everyone wants them.

That is why lobbying is important. The more renowned the DMC, the more successful events it has carried out, the more people from this circle know about it, the more options there are for the agent to be convinced to take part in the fam trip. Here, DMC representative from specific areas represent a great deal of help because they take care of the connection between the DMC and the agents.

How to select hosted buyers? What are the criteria?

A so-called hosted buyer is one of the key figures to any successful fam trip. It is not enough for the person who comes to be employed at the agency, if he does not make any decisions and has no client contact. Unfortunately it quite often happens that agencies send low-level employees to destinations that have not created a name for themselves yet, just to respond to the invitation.

There are very many good agencies in Europe, of which we only know a small part and in them only one specific person. It is the DMC representatives who play a crucial role here, because they know the market, the agencies, and if they are good, also the decision-makers.

Unfortunately it is absolutely not the case that choosing a hosted buyer means that buyer will confirm their participation. Quite the opposite, there is very little chance the agent will confirm attendance based only on an invitation. Without diligent preparation, lots of effort, convincing, and quality participant even the most well-organized fam trip loses its purpose.

The criteria of who to send an invitation are quite clear: what is the size of the agency, what is its ranking on the local market, who are their clients, what is the position of the targeted person, what (if any) experience does that person have with Slovenia, have we met the person before, etc.

However, a list of those people is mostly wishful thinking for most and not a realistic

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expectation of attendance confirmation. We should follow there criteria when sending out the initiations but I believe that without the mentioned activities, rules, and lobbying we would get a confirmation rate of approximately 5 % of the invites.

a limited amount and, for other reasons, the service providers as well.

How fast can the successful execution of a fam trip be measured? Can they actually boost business agreements?

The interest of service providers exists in principle. They are beginning to see the need for such events. However, many things have to coincide for a successful organization like this: the service providers must have the capacities at the disposal of the trip, the participants must take the time and the weather has to be nice.

The effect of a fam trip is impossible to measure in the short term. Of course, everyone likes to be invited, but one cannot live off promises from people that they will actively promote Slovenia. It is also unrealistic and “immature” to expect short-term effects.

Acquiring clients is a long process and there are many beautiful destinations around the world. After a good fam trip the agent has a clear concept about the destination and the quality of the services. The next step is to include, for example, Slovenia in his location specter, which he decides to offer to the client. Then there is usually some time before he gets an inquiry, for which Slovenia would be appropriate. This can last a year or two. And when such an inquiry arises, the agent will offer at least two other destinations besides Slovenia, because such are the client’s demands. Then the whole process is in progress. Collecting offers, presentations, the inspection trip,….and so half a year quickly goes by before the event taking place in Slovenia is confirmed. And events are usually confirmed half a year to a year before the event itself. So, a very long process.

How important do you think these promotional events are for the destination and its providers? Do you think there should be more such events?

I think events of this kind are the most important marketing tools. Of course, the rule “the more, the merrier” applies. However, financially these fam trips are a considerable endeavor. The organizer can carry out only

How do you estimate the interest of service providers in a destination to organize fam trips?

Why is a fam trip one of the most powerful marketing and promotional tools of a destination?

I think that fam trips are the best because only those really interested in the destination and those who want to explore it take part in the trip. OK, someone who is interested in a destination will also attend a workshop, but on a fam trip he really experiences the destination, preferably intensely and positively. After that he will usually not forget it easily.

up being too expensive. A leisure fam trip usually means seeing 10 hotels a day, standard meals and copy-paste programs.

What marketing tool has proven to be the most efficient in your company: fam trip, sales call or workshop?

For us the fam trip is the best tool for reasons I have already stated.

This is followed by the sales call. There you mostly find yourself one-on-one and if you are good, you keep the agent for more than the set half an hour. Luckily, this happens quite often. With time it becomes a kind of test of knowledge, experience, credibility, and certainty in a destination.

Workshops are the next challenge. Besides the fact that you are face-to-face there, your time is very limited and here different approaches (experience) really show themselves.

Workshops are the worst option for us. Mostly because of the poor quality of attendance. As hard as the representatives may try, different, very realistic reasons (location, availability, absence, etc.) on a given day and for that short period of time make it nearly impossible to choose good participants.

Jan Klavora

What are the most important differences between a fam trip for agents in regular tourism and for meeting industry agents?

The difference is immense. With us, it is about creativity, enthusiasm, a passion, if you will.

It is about tailor-made programs, big budgets, accountability to the client (the incentive is a financial investment for them). The goal is versatility, something different.

Leisure is more and more dominated by global tour operators, all somehow intertwined and unified. In this way, the main factor for a tour operator becomes the price, big contingents and the shortest possible announcement deadlines. There is no room anymore for creativity and everything else that makes our business wonderful, because everything ends

SLOVENIA

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Demaco d.o.o., Dalmatinova 3, Ljubljana, Slovenia t: +386 1 430 35 50, info@intours-dmc.si | www.intours-mice.si

WHY INTOURS DMC: flexible DMC | adding value to your event | cost effective proposals | responsable

& professional | on time responses | creative ideas | good reputation | perhaps best DMC in Slovenia WHY SLOVENIA: undiscovered destination | centrally located | easy accessible | friendly prices | extremely diverse | safe, green, unpoluted | great food | excellent wines | it’s cool

34 In focus

The right balance between information and entertainment is crucial

Danica Ćeranić, Director of the Montenegro Convention Bureau

How many Fam trips do you organize per year?

It depends on our annual budget. All the groups are organized in cooperation with partners of Montenegro Convention Bureau.

Some of the DMC’s, with their representatives at certain target markets, are organizing a number of Fam trips per year and MCB is helping in the organization of those as well.

What does it take to organize a successful Fam trip?

First of all you have to have good buyers.

Before the arrival of each study group research of the target source markets and selection of buyers is very important. The good representative at each target market can help a lot. Then it is important to involve the partners, hotels and DMC’s, special venues...

And to make programme memorable, with the best selection of what the country has to offer.

The local partners have an important role in the whole process, and I can, with great pleasure, point out our good cooperation. And of course, follow up with each group is necessary.

Miloš Milovanović, Director of Serbia Convention Bureau

How effective are Fam trips?

Beside the opportunity to present the destination firsthand the effectiveness of Fam trip is reflected in the form of feedback that we are getting back from participants. We are also getting more useful inside information from clients we could never get from regular meetings.

What does it take to organize a successful Fam trip?

When we decide to conduct a Fam trip we take that responsibility very seriously – each detail is triple checked. We make sure that the itinerary and scheduled timetable are well known and understood by all the parties involved in it because everything must go fluently. We always have backup plans in case something goes wrong and try to have one person as forerunner just to make sure that there are no surprises.

Mag. Andrea Sajben, Manager of Steiermark Convention

How important are Fam trips for your organization?

Study groups are extremely positive for the country’s image and we are pushing them to be present here as often as possible, if not by ourselves then in cooperation with local partners in Montenegro. Not just the Fam trips of hosted buyers but media are also very important. Montenegro Convention Bureau as a part of Montenegro National Tourism Organisation promotes Montenegro through all available marketing tools.

How many Fam trips do you organize per year?

Although we would like to have more, for now we organize one or two Fam trips a year.

How effective are Fam trips?

For a relatively new destination which needs to position itself as a world-recognized destination in MICE tourism, it’s important to present what we have to offer to potential buyers. After the Fam trip the participants know our product and talk about it through our industry. Promotional effects cannot be seen earlier than in one or two years.

How important are Fam trips for your organization?

We take Fam trips very seriously because they are one of the most effective ways to promote a destination – each time we organize it, we try to involve our industry partners. Usually we have a networking evening and a small workshop in form of speed dating during a Fam trip.

How many Fam trips do you organize per year?

Prior to important events (i.e. trade fairs) we organize Fam trips for groups. Individual Fam trips and site inspections are available any time, on request.

How important are Fam trips for your organization?

Fam trips play a major role for our Convention

35 In focus

Bureau. Multi-Level marketing is necessary for successful Fam trips: mailings and appointments during trade fairs precede the participation in Fam trips. On site the customers get to know the wide variety of the services, products and infrastructure. The authenticity, the landscape and the culinary delights of Styria impress the customers.

decision to visit Croatia, and that is preceded by a series of activities including the presentation of the Croatian convention and incentive offer to the interested parties, as well as their requests related to the convention and incentive organization.

The markets include the following: Europe, Canada, Russia, Japan and the USA.

How effective are Fam trips?

The efficiency also depends on the customer.

If you know the interests and customers’ preferences beforehand you can plan accordingly. Additionally the success is not measurable immediately; this is a long term business and also the outcome of all individual marketing activities.

How important are Fam trips for your organization?

Inspection trips are, in addition to the convention and incentive market, one of the most important promotional channels and an excellent way to provide the chosen, quality customers with a direct insight into the Croatian convention and incentive offer.

What does it take to organize a successful Fam trip?

The right balance between information and entertainment is crucial. For example only guided tours would be quite strenuous, so a good mixture of incentives and useful tips vary and mix up the program. Furthermore professional and qualified employees are vitally important.

How effective are Fam trips?

Many of the Croatian candidacies for hosting international conferences have been won on the basis of presentations and individual inspection trip organization. Inspection trips have created new opportunities and customers now have a clear picture of the destinations and of what to recommend to their clients, depending on the type of congress.

Nik Račić, Director of the Croatian Convention and Incentive Bureau

How many Fam trips do you organize per year?

The number of inspection or Fam trips depends primarily on the potential customers’

What does it take to organize a successful Fam trip?

Inspection trips for convention and incentive organizers and journalists. The Croatian Convention and Incentive Bureau uses the interest that has been shown and the verification of the customers’ creditworthiness, in accordance with the financial plan, as the basis for the organization of a certain number of individual and group trips of the convention and incentive organizers to Croatia. The above mentioned trips are realised in cooperation with the Bureau’s regional offices, County Tourist Boards, Town Tourist Boards and representatives of the Croatian convention and incentive industry, with logistics support by the Croatian National Tourist Board representatives located abroad.

“Buy Croatia” organization for the convention and incentive organizers throughout Croatia

This demanding project is organized through marketing activities which imply collaboration with specialized magazines from Europe, Russia and the USA. Based on the previous experience, the Croatian Convention and Incentive Bureau tends to adjust the organization of the “Buy Croatia” activities to the customers’ demands as much as possible. The adjustment primarily implies the arrival of the customers from each country separately and at a different date, at their own request, due to the differences and specific features of their demands. Pursuant to the above mentioned, and on the basis of prior research of the participants’ profiles, appropriate programmes are developed; separately for convention organizers and incentive organizers, the same applying to the workshops. This demanding project can be successfully organized only with maximum synergy between the Croatian Convention and Incentive Bureau and its regional offices, County Tourist Boards and Town Tourist Boards, congressional hotels, Destination Management Companies (DMC) and Professional Congress Organizers (PCO).

36 In focus

THE ROLE OF CONVENTION BUREAUS IN CRISIS A convention bureau works as a voice of a destination

I believe the role of local/regional and national convention bureaus is different in at least some aspects. Of course, it depends on the development of the market and the understanding of the meaning of the meetings industry. The activity of the convention bureau is influenced by the way it's financed.

More developed countries have an established public financing of the bureau, which enables uninterrupted functioning with business cooperation in marketing projects.

Miha Kovačič

In emerging countries the role of convention bureaus is even more dissimilar to those at established destinations and bureaus, known more in the Western European countries.

It is interesting to note the basic role of a convention bureau is the same everywhere.

The first convention bureau was established in 1896 in Detroit, USA. Even back then they were aware of its role – to simply bring as many events into their city as possible.

Emerging countries face problems mostly because the meetings industry doesn’t hold a proper place in comparison to leisure tourism.

The number of guests generated by the meetings industry will hardly reach a number of classic tourists – this is one of the reasons this product doesn’t get enough attention.

Another reason is that most stakeholders don’t understand the role of the meetings industry for a city/region/country. When talking about stakeholders I’m referring to representatives of city/regional/national authorities.

By not understanding the meetings industry we overlook significantly larger income of meetings participants who create much larger multiplicative effects in comparison with leisure tourists. Beside high direct income

the meetings industry also creates very high indirect income. This was recently confirmed by an American analysis of their meetings industry market, which ranked the meetings industry higher than automotive industry.

If we have a look at established meetings destinations we can tell most convention bureaus function independently, if not legally at least in light of marketing and functioning.

Established meetings destination are aware the meetings industry has practically nothing to do with leisure tourism, not counting the fact that meetings participants also stay in hotels, use airplanes, buses and taxies for transfer and restaurants for eating. Their aim is not the same. We mustn’t forget congress participants are here on work assignment.

What is the purpose of the participant’s visit to the destination? Meetings organizers are well aware of this. We have to realize the international market is ruthless for suppliers as well as clients. Buyers of congress services have to clearly demonstrate their added value to their client, the end buyer.

The role of the congress bureau is very important if not decisive in encouraging the buyer to include your destination in their portfolio and in their offer to their clients.

The role of congress bureaus in a crisis is even more important than during the time of “fat cows”.

Everyone in the chain is looking to demonstrate their added value, or they are gone tomorrow.

Free services provided by the convention bureau are not enough for the client to use it, its added value lies elsewhere. A convention bureau works as a voice of the destination and offers professional, quality and up to date services tailor made for the interested client

37 In focus

for a specific event. The convention bureau must also be strongly active in the area of international marketing and personalized long term relations with potential and existing clients as well as the international environment.

The convention bureau has to look for synergy with suppliers at destination level and at the same time create synergies at destination level and wider, even across borders. There are no limits. We know a few good practice examples.

I personally believe the role of a convention bureau is to offer constant professional training for their members, namely suppliers at destination level, to bring new knowledge and international experiences to the destination and at the same time encourage the participation of actors in international trainings and getting to know foreign destinations and established practices.

We have to be aware that we are selling services to mostly the international, global market. We have to master international trends and know what is “in” and what isn’t.

Sustainable meetings industry is a mystery to many and here the role of convention bureaus is also very important.

At established meetings destinations and those entirely financed from public means there will be pressure on convention bureaus to cut their costs or to legitimize their role for the city/region/ country, while emerging countries where convention bureaus aren’t financed from state; they will have the opportunity to establish their role much more than before the crisis.

38 In focus

How Few Convention Bureaus from Europe are Organized/Financed

1.

We asked some of the European Conventional Bureaus how they are organized.

The Vienna Convention Bureau

The Estonian Convention Bureau

2.

We further asked the European Conventional Bureaus how they are financed.

1:

1:

The Vienna Convention Bureau has been founded in 1969 and since the beginning it is a department of the Vienna Tourist Board. We are a total of 11 staff, five Marketing managers, four marketing assistants and me and my assistant. Our focus is primarily association business, but we also have defined markets for the corporate business, such as USA, GB, Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries. We also develop markets for our meetings industry such as India, China, where we try to develop business for Vienna. A key element in our work is the Vienna Meeting Industry Report, our Annual statistics about association meetings and corporate events in our city. The economical evaluation in cooperation with the University of Economy is key to underline the value of our business for Vienna and Austrian economy.

The Estonian Convention Bureau is a non-profit organisation established in 2008 jointly by public and private sector bodies.

The bureau’s 24 members include the cities of Tallinn and Tartu, the national carrier Estonian Air, and a number of DMCs, PCOs, venues and hotels. ECB is managed by the Management Board of 9 members and daily work is organised by the team of 3 employees.

Activities of the bureau are carried out in close cooperation with ECB members who can be involved in the form of electronic communication, Marketing Meetings taking place every two months and General Meetings two times a year.

2: The Vienna Convention Bureau was financed at the beginning (1969) by the City of Vienna and the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, each partner contributed 50%. Today the financial structure is a little bit different: City of Vienna and Vienna Chamber of Commerce contribute together approx. 45% - direct subvention, 40% comes from the Vienna Tourist Board, and the remaining 15% comes from sponsors of the Bureau and from Marketing cooperation with the industry (such as IMEX, EIBTM, Workshops etc.). We have our own Board of Directors who reports to the Board of Directors of the Vienna Tourist Board.

2: Estonian Convention Bureau is financed from membership fees, from support sums by the cities of Tallinn and Tartu and by state direct funding through Estonian Tourist Board/ Enterprise Estonia. In addition, a part of Estonian Convention Bureau’s marketing projects are supported by European Union Regional Development Fund.

The GCB German Convention Bureau The GCB is financed by its 230 members and its Strategic Partners: Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Deutsche Bahn AG and German National Tourist Board (DZT).

The GCB German Convention Bureau

1: The GCB German Convention Bureau markets Germany as a destination for conventions, meetings, events and incentives both on

39 In focus

a national and international level, and is the place to contact for all customers who are planning events in Germany. With 230 members the GCB unites Germany’s leading players of the meeting industry. As Strategic Partners, Deutsche Lufthansa, Deutsche Bahn and the German National Tourist Board (DZT) support the work of the GCB. As an interface between organisers of meetings and conventions and suppliers of the German meetings market, the GCB offers advice and support for planning and organising events, and provides contacts and addresses.

2: NTOS and SCB as it part are governmental institutions financed almost entirely from the annual budget. Each year after agreement with our partners and our board we make a proposal of planed projects for next year which is sent to the government for approval. We are always making sure that this process is as transparent as it can be in order to respect the golden rule guidelines written in our partnership program.

• complimentary venue finding service • preparation of bid documents • familiarization visits and site inspections • suggestions for choice of Professional Conference Organizer or Destination Management Company • suggestions for social and partners programs, pre and post convention tours • assistance with in-bound and local transportation • provision of promotional materials

Steiermark Convention

2:

2: The GCB is financed by its 230 members and its Strategic Partners: Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Deutsche Bahn AG and German National Tourist Board (DZT).

Serbia Convention Bureau

1: “Steiermark Convention” is the central service agency within the provincial tourism organization “Steiermark Tourismus” for all questions regarding convention organization in Styria. It is also the only platform for international conferences and convention marketing in Styria.

Zagreb Tourist Board & Convention Bureau is financed from two sources. a) From the membership fee.

Zagreb Tourist Board has around 16,000 members from the travel industry, suppliers and related trades who pay the membership fee divided into 12 equal payments. It varies from 0,008 % to 0,20 % of their annual total revenue b) From the city tax.

Each visitor pays the city tax in the amount of 7 HRK (approx. 0, 90 EUR) per day.

2: 1: Serbia Convention Bureau (SCB) is formed as a department of National Tourism Organisation of Serbia (NTOS) but with its one corporate identity (logo, web site). Currently there are 4 people working in SCB with light jobs segmentation depending on stakeholder type in form of association, corporate/ incentive market, press and local partners and institutions, but basically any one of us can and is encouraged to chase business for Serbia.

That is achieved through a sophisticated database system that we are using in our daily routine, which enables us to serve any client or partner request (73 partners are in our partnership program* so far – main venues, hotels, agencies and other service providers) in the most effective and efficient way. *If a partner wants to join the bureau it needs to sign the partnership program where all the terms, rights and responsibilities are stated.

Steiermark Convention is funded by the financial contribution of its members, commercial partners and Steiermark Tourismus.

Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau

Zagreb Convention Bureau 1: The Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau (SCIB) is an association, integrated into the National Tourist Office. The Partners are Regions, Destinations, Suppliers and Service providers.

1:

2:

Zagreb Convention Bureau is a department of Zagreb Tourist Board with its main role to promote Zagreb as meetings and incentive destination. Zagreb Convention Bureau provides maximum assistance to conference organizers and offers free and impartial advice in all aspects of event planning including:

By membership fees, covering the basic marketing and participation fees for activities.

The total of these marketing funds the partners invest is matched by the National Tourist Office.

40 In focus

DIGITALIZATION AND NETWORKING IN THE MEETINGS INDUSTRY “If change is happening on the outside faster than on the inside the end is in sight!”

Jack Welch, General Electrics

E-congress, e-learning, e-seminars, videoconferences, e-meetings... Is it even still necessary to travel to congresses and how is it possible the meetings industry market is still growing? Based on what I experienced in mid September in Budapest, which hosted 6,000 neurologists from around the world, the need for top notch and modern capacities at congresses has never been greater, despite the seeming competition of e-meetings. As we have to go into details to understand the e-phenomenon and to recognize key signals of change, which became a part of the field along the way or entered into this field through new applications over all kinds of mobile devices, from notebooks, to tablet computers to mobile phones. At the same time we need to “catch” the understanding of key changes which captured the meetings industry through internet and digital platforms.

Primož Žižek

With this we actually highlighted the first quality of the meetings industry in the modern network ecosystem of the World Wide Web: omnipresence.

Actually, I would ask a different question.

Can a modern congress participant even take part in a meeting without “leaning” on the internet or similar technologies? Does it pay off to steer clear of the use of advanced technologies? Or better yet – who dares take the risk to not at least study what is available and find oneself among meetings industry dinosaurs, with two projection canvases, a lap top on your knees and two computers with an internet connection – that’s so passé....

Congress organizers, it’s time for a “reality check”. It’s time for a networked reality. It’s time for networked congress participants.

It’s time for a combined experience of your congress. Time for a direct and instant group, a network, filtrated, transparent, filmed,

photographed, commentated and whatever else is there, to experience what the congress has to offer.

Preamble Before we list a number of novelties and curiosities from the area of web technologies and the meetings industry our glance should, in my opinion, linger on the key phenomena in the area of meetings industry marketing.

If the web has become the key platform to gather information on congress services or congresses, things like reputation, attractiveness and quality of the entire destination are key decision factors for organizers to develop a congress long term.

The latter implies a strong online digitalization of the destination brand and following all newest technology-marketing trends in the area of tourism as a whole. This can’t be neglected since the area of tourism is one of the fields thoroughly changed by the internet phenomenon. Since the main topic of this article is the meetings industry, I will not get into a deeper analysis, which can be an interesting topic for the future.

Pre-congress networking and online weaving Of course by now we have mastered the formula stating our congress will be as successful in marketing as our database of electronic contacts to our potential clients and past participants is. This segment of online marketing has been used by the Slovenian companies for quite some time through so called loyalty programmes with the use of email. The upgrade of the programme is of course the managing of a newsletter which should bring the client numerous additional

41 In focus

values and “sweets” from the areas they are interested in.

In the last five years the key is in managing the digitalized brand throughout the network.

The meetings industry is namely exceedingly under the influence of World Wide Web, since the network is a key information, decision and purchasing platform for the participants. Here marketing employees in the meetings industry have an increasingly difficult task since the World Wide Web is getting more and more segmented, new and different communications channels are opening and it seem we are just starting to realized the difference between managing the web presence (by the way, a congress without a website? I don’t think so...) and managing a web presence right.

Numerous tools, techniques, methods, all backed by the most modern analytical tools and the possibility of testing are a fantasy of each progressive marketer. Considering the growing competitiveness of the meetings industry such web enthusiast should not be rare within the industry.

During the event Think about changes which we now take for granted, yet were few at Slovenian business meetings in 2002 or 2003. We’re talking about the basics of modern meetings. Wi-Fi connectivity, SMS or web chat as interactive tools among speakers and audience.

In today’s meetings industry we are facing a revolution, brought to the market by the social media and networks, video communication and a number of interesting and useful technologies...

During the event we can use internet technologies to efficiently link participants among themselves, speakers from around the world, enable a participatory nature of the

congress, inform the public, communicate with media and other partners. Of course we can distribute material, share important achievements with participants and guests during the congress itself.

After the congress When a congress is over the next day – if this an annual event – the preparation for the next one begins. Even if this is a onetime event it’s possible to ensure information spreads efficiently, that the PR strategy upgrades and that participant loyalty increases, by directly continuing dialogue with participants, lecturers and guests by using new technologies. If this is a traditional event the web, along with a few other channels, is an ideal environment to build a lasting loyalty and affiliation, survey participant satisfaction, receive new ideas and innovation, communicate the topics people in your data base are interested in, etc.

Through a digital reality In the end let me add this article is set as an overview of possibilities and general trends and not as a profound technological and business analysis. To this end I would like to mention a number of key business functions, which seem indispensable for meeting planners and must be managed throughout the year if we wish to reach the maximum contextual and business effect (lower costs, higher income, higher competitive advantages etc.). Among them I would highlight digitalization of the congress brand, integration of mobile platforms into all phases of congress planning, social networks and media, useful networking on line (with partners, participants, sponsors, destination etc.) and caring the participants of your congress can follow you through every communication channel: from exhibitions, brochures, letters, personal contacts, through posters, ads, all the way to social media, website, electronic communication and mobile platforms.

Nowadays successful meetings industry brads know the key to success is giving the clients a chance to test the brand, share it with friends and colleagues, co-create it in a way and continuously spread its good name and congress contents to the far reaches of the world.

The power of the congress in connection to the internet is hidden in the power to connect professional and social networked participants and partners of the congress.

42 In focus

PODIM – INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION The key of success is cooperation

Every year the first or second week in April is reserved for the international conference on entrepreneurship and innovation PODIM, which traditionally takes place at Hotel Habakuk in Maribor. This year’s conference was 31st in a row and dealt with creating global ventures.

Matej Rus, M.A., is a lecturer on entrepreneurship at the Faculty of Economics and Business at university of Maribor and director of Institute for Entrepreneurship Research (IRP), main organizer of PODIM. He is the initiator and expert leader of Start:up Slovenia competition and along with prof. dr.

Miroslav Rebernik, the leader and founder of Business incubator of University of Maribor called Venture Factory.

The history of the conference reaches into 1978, when according to Professor Matjaž Mulej, double PhD, the insightful business engineer and later dean of Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at University of Maribor, Božidar Hribernik, prepared the first conference.

In 1981 the second conference took place, where Professor Matjaž Mulej, double PhD, actively took part and helped co-create the event till 2002. He claims the third positive tuning point happened in 1983 when the topic of innovating stopped being limited to small achievements of a few professionals and set innovating as the only alternative to cure Slovenian and then Yugoslavian economy and as the obligatory activity for all. In 2002, under the leadership of Miroslav Rebernik, PhD, and Matej Rus M.A. the organization of the conference was took over by the Institute for Entrepreneurship Research (IRP), which enthusiastically organizes the conference each year.

Nowadays, the conference PODIM is a renowned conference at home and abroad and attracts over 400 participants from the ranks of entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers, representatives of entrepreneurial support environment builders of innovation policy and students.

Its mission is to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation as two important sources for development and higher life quality in the

business and university environment. The aim of the conference is to raise awareness about the importance of innovation, entrepreneurship and effective management for economic growth and prosperity of Slovenia.

To establish effective communication between university and economic environment in order to successfully link experience and fresh business ideas. The professional and general public needs to be acquainted with research results as well as domestic and foreign experience, which can help us to improve the performance of Slovenian enterprises and other organisations. The aim of the conference is also to familiarise people with the need for a systematic and continuous support in transferring novelties into business practice.

The structure of the conference.

The conference is structured of four key elements namely of consultations, which represent the main feature of PODIM and are divided into two parts.

The first one, which is shorter, is designed for the presentation of research results in domestic and foreign entrepreneurial environment, whereas the second part is devoted to the presentation of status, experience and cases of good practice in Slovenia and abroad. Subjects are presented by domestic and foreign experts, who come from university, entrepreneurial and state environment. The second element, Round tables, which are getting positive feedback from the participants, represent a

43 In focus

thematic continuation of consultations held in the morning. Eminent guests from the economy, university and state institutions give presentations explaining their views and discuss them with their audiences in order to come to sensible conclusions and formulate recommendations for the future.

University business arena makes it possible for the enterprises, university institutes, inventors, innovators and other participants to present themselves and their achievements and to establish new business contacts on

an exhibition space of 250m2. The last yet important element is Socialising during breaks, working lunches and dinners which are a good opportunity for the participants for informal talks which can lead, after some exchange of opinion and a further acquaintance, to long-term business cooperation. The evening part of the conference will host a gala awards ceremony of the Start:up Slovenia competition, where the participants will be the first to find out which is the Slovenian start up company of the year. The recipient of the 10,000 EUR

cash price will also receive a beautiful crystal statue made by Slovenian fashion designer Maja Ferme, which symbolizes the title “Slovenian start up of the year”.

The key to success is cooperation, the conference would not be such a success if it the organizers didn’t cooperate with key creators in their environment.

The conference is co-organized by Venture Factory, the University of Maribor as well as JAPTI and Ministry for the Economy, who are also co-financers. In the last few years Ljubljana Technology Park joined as strategic partner. For a number of years Nova KBM bank helps co-create the conference as general sponsor, which offers services of the NKBM business centre with a product called “start-up credit” for young entrepreneurs, which helps them overcome initial hurdles.

This year we will talk about creative industries. The main topic of the conference will deal with development challenges and taking advantage of potentials in cultural and creative industries. More on the conference is available at http://www.podim.org.

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Terme Olimia d.d., Zdraviliška cesta 24, SI – 3254 Podčetrtek T 03 829 70 00, info@terme-olimia.com, www.terme-olimia.com

46 Gastronomy

NATIONAL OR NO-SHOW AT CONGRESSES AND IN HOTELS? Food helps shape and define environments

Prof. Janez Bogataj, PhD

A while ago I came across a tiny, narrow booklet with menus of one of the hotels in Ljubljana; judging from the design and typography, it was printed in the late sixties of the twentieth century. First in the booklet are “Slovenian national menus”, totalling five menus. Next on the menu are three “Yugoslavian national menus”, then “Hunting”, “Fishing”, “Menus with international dishes” (these represent the majority), “Diet menus”, “Vegetarian menus”, “Wedding menus” and finally “French cocktail for receptions”. Leaving the obvious cultural stereotypes, inventing something light years away from anything originally “national”, and many other details aside, the following is especially surprizing:

the so-called “Slovenian national menus” that are introduced in the beginning of the hotel menus, are greater in number and, after all, are set apart from the “Yugoslavian national menus”.

All this happened in a time when singular national cuisines standing out in socialist Yugoslavia was not very positively received.

The booklet most certainly served the purpose of marketing the hotel. It was the starting point of this author’s contribution in this issue of the Kongres magazine, with which I want to call attention to the important ingredients of, true, incorrectly named, national dishes in the culinary selection in our hotels.

First a few words about this so-called national cuisine. This term is of course a question of the past. Today, we talk about domestic, local, and regional dishes because it is not only the EU, but rather the whole world, that is directed towards evaluating the palate of specialities that can be determined based

on their geographical origin and therefore have their own logics and stories in certain environments. In other words: food helps shape and define these areas.

This is why only frustrated countries still call their dishes national and Slovenia is definitely one of those countries.

The big problem with including our domestic, local, and regional dishes in the culinary selection of our hotels is because of two major facts. First, that the heads of the culinary activity in these hotels are not familiar with these dishes or have stereotypical conceptions about them going back to their hospitality school days. For this reason they do not know how to present these dishes to the guests. A few weeks ago, I was in Maribor, the future Capital of Culture, and I asked the waiter in one of the hotels if they served “Pohorje hotpot” (to tell the truth, the question was quite thoughtfully selected!); he answered: “Do you mean goulash?” And the second fact: there are more and more foreign guests in Slovenia, eagerly waiting to discover, get to know, and taste something to exceed their expectations of this land of Slovenia, spoken of only with superlatives or at least to a certain degree. Especially congress activities, which this magazine talks in detail about, often does not take full advantage of the domestic, local, and regional treasures of individual cuisines that may be included in one or two dinners or lunches, but the problem often arises at coffee breaks, different receptions, and the general selection of these dishes in the actual hotels. Our hotels need to realize that menus should include a separate page with a list of these dishes and the same goes for wine lists: Slovenian wines should be consistently listed separately. If we can have wine lists with alcohol percentages, geographical origin, and of course the wine producer, than we can also have menus that say where the flower for the

47 Gastronomy

steamed dumplings (žlikrofi) came from, what farm produced the cabbage, etc.

I was mortified to hear one of the best chefs in Slovenia tell me that he was leaving a hotel because the hotel management does not see eye to eye with his persistent respect and following the origin of the ingredients. After all: those average guests from Slovenia and abroad who have not even mastered the basic etiquette of dining really do not require more than the famous bags of frozen vegetables and similar five-star ingredients in our healthy country this side of the Alps. Or maybe not: in the long run such a strategy will blow up in our faces, which may be suggested by some innovative individual for the Snovalec Prize or maybe he will suggest setting up another adrenalin park deep under the snow’s surface(!). The hotels here that host numerous congresses will have to change their views, not to mention their strategies.

I have seen with my own eyes guests putting food from the breakfast buffet into their coolers so that they can survive until dinner.

Guests of congresses require additional emphasizing in menus, like days and special attractions, connected to local dishes (something that every average road-side restaurant in Austria is well aware of); hotels will have to develop their referential dishes and not have the waiters say: “Everything is good here!” Only a few catering companies (fewer than I can count on one hand) understand the philosophy of difference for service also at breaks or receptions for congress participants. These are most often “bullied” with cured ham and sparkling wine, because we are not aware of excellent regional culinary salutes, which we incorrectly call welcomes anyway. There is another overlooked option I would like to mention with the wish of rectifying the situation as

soon as possible. These are the programs during and after the congresses, best filled by different culinary tours and sampling trips.

Let us enable the congress participants to experience what we like to emphasize: that Slovenia is healthy, natural, sustainable, bio, and who knows what else.

Once we position congress guests among “the people”, once we enable them to simply get to know the everyday life and festivals of the inhabitants, the people of Slovenia, through food, drink, nature, the fruits it bears, and the environments in which the economic endeavours of our people take place, then I am sure that our success will be complete, because the satisfaction of our congress guests will be complete. The hotels in Slovenia have to be more open, they have to break out from the culinary spasm, the often impossible service and provincialism (said mildly!) of the people in charge who sometimes even forbid

the receptionists to give the congress and other guests information on typical domestic, local, and regional dishes that they could try outside the hotel, because they have waited in vain for them there.

48 Gastronomy

BUILDING A TRADEMARK AND MARKING A HOTEL BASED ON THE CULINARY ART Hospitality industry can be quite a show

To open a new hotel with an a la carte restaurant during a time of crisis and survive?

Should you even get involved in hospitality industry, at what level, with what offer, for whom?

Of course, with a passionate, committed, professional, well trained team, with a clear, socially responsible visions and goals, and with the guest as the centre of attention, with an understanding owner and with like-minded partners throughout the destination.

Marcela Klofutar. The author has been working in the tourism sector for 16 years. She has worked for various tourism and hospitality companies (Casino Bled, Kompas Hoteli d.d.

– later Hit Alpinea d.d., Hotel Astoria Bled, Hotel Triglav Bled) in different fields (croupier, guide for Russian-speaking guests, regional sales manager, head of the human resources development department, marketing and sales manager, executive directors). She still works as a guide for Russian guests, teaches Russian and upgrading her professional experience with a post-graduate study at the Faculty of Tourism Studies. She is enraptured by the phenomenon of tourism due to its complexity, in determination and its unexplored nature.

The opinion of numerous hotelier is that hospitality industry does not pay off, it’s only a huge expense, there is no trained and devoted personnel, hotel restaurants are a necessary evil, eating away at the income the rooms generate... In general, fear and horror, stay away from hospitality industry, maybe get a cute Bed & Breakfast, and all will be well.

Could hospitality industry be a business?

To become recognizable, famous, rich from hospitality industry? To present Slovenia and yourself through food? Enjoy, be fulfilled? Of course, with hard work and very long term, since culture in gastronomy is central.

In the (Slovenian) market there are a number of hospitality enterprises (taverns, restaurants, fast food places, hotel restaurants...), which like to prepare the most popular foods, the standard of their offer is different, mostly quite low. At most they offer food, which enables them survival, despite its influences on health, environment, well being...

What we eat, how we eat, when we eat, why we eat, what we know about food, about the culture of nutrition...

During mandatory education the school system does not prepare us for life or the way we eat in a way to encourage further reflection.

Food is the basis of everything: health,

state of mind, identity, culture, ethnology, history, relations, what we eat defines us from different aforementioned points of view.

So how to succeed in this area? Hospitality industry deserves careful planning, a high level of quality, respect, careful approach to its development just as we develop other “more important” areas.

Maybe we should start by creating a vision?

When creating a vision we put into words what we wish to create in the future. At the same time we put it in line with the tourist development goals of Slovenia, stating: “Slovenia becomes a globally recognizable tourist destination know for its distinctively local character of the offer different from others due to a beneficial geo-strategic placement and natural climate, cultural, culinary and historical heritage between the Alps, Mediterranean and Pannonian plain (RNUST 2007–2011)”.

In line with these points we should shape the vision for development of a hotel or restaurant.

“Hotels and a la carte restaurants will become sample cases of the “right” development in tourism at the destination with the best personal and flexible approach to the guest with most satisfied, professional and motivated employees. Here the guest will feel wanted and will return to us gladly. They will be prepared to pay more for our services than at other hotels of the same category because our offer will be upgraded by the offer of our partners at the destination and wider, with which we will constantly develop new individual programmes for the added value for the guest. Led by highly qualified management, with a top notch a la carte

49 Gastronomy

restaurant and connected training programmes tailor made to different target groups and raising the culinary culture in Slovenia”.

Let’s define the mission and answer: “Who are we and what do we want to do?” and to answer the question of our company’s existence. Our mission could be this: “We have linked the traditional with contemporary. We create unique experiences with service and offer (mostly culinary) which hides a rich cultural and natural heritage and a genuine, caring, individual, professional approach of a dedicated staff, which keeps surprising the guest. We have forged ties with suppliers of different services at the destination and we offer our guests the genuine feeling of that very destination.”

Let’s set concrete goals: • raising the culinary culture; • raising recognisability of Slovenian culinary tradition, its riches and environment; • informing our guests on the possibilities of linking Slovenian culinary tradition with other traditions, kitchens and preparation processes; • informing our guests on the quality and diversity of Slovenian wines; • educating our guests on the importance of choosing the right wines with the right dishes; • educating our guests on the importance of social contacts, socializing by food and drink • imparting love, curiosity to preparing dishes, setting the table; • educating the people responsible on the importance and riches of hospitality professions and raising their reputation; • raising the awareness on the importance of culinary habits and culture, tradition, history we can find in food; • increasing recognisability; • increasing income, number of guests in a la carte restaurants, rooms.

Let’s realize our set goals!

50 Gastronomy

Let’s develop sets of programmes all striving towards one goal – raising the culture of eating and drinking. Let’s enrich our guests with new knowledge and educate them for a better life. The guests will return since we will offer them different content (business dinners, business meetings with a culinary teambuilding, romantic weekends, birthdays in the kitchen, cooking workshops with friends, culinary evenings with food and wine producers, lectures on hospitality vocations, house fairs...).

We should educate and enrich our guests let them understand our business, let them differentiate between good and bad ingredients, let them get to know local ingredients, let them value the gifts of nature of every season, let them know which wine goes with which food, let them marvel... that the hospitality industry is so rich and lovely, a true show! Let them get to know different techniques of preparing food, global gastronomy trends and numerous rules of preparing food. When they will know all this they will understand us, appreciate us and come back to us.

Let’s educate all from young to old, from singles to families, in a fun and educational way, something for everyone with adaptations, of course!

Let’s raise the reputation of hospitality vocations! Excite young people for these professions of the future! Give them a chance to get to know modern hospitality vocations!

Motivate co-workers, send them around the world, give them the right conditions and demand the best!

Let’s organize events, be daring, combine the seemingly impossible (maybe top-notch culinary art and beer, maybe more than one wine with a single plate...). Don’t stop, because the riches of the hospitality industry are immense!

Let’s imitate the best so we can all pull our carriage forward!

And what can we harvest?

• a high percentage of income from educational programmes; • the competition imitates (in competitive companies, schools, similar programmes are developed), this is the only way we can reach our goals; • satisfaction, compliments and returning of the guests and their interest in our programmes; • the guests learn new ways to set the table and make different meals and start using this knowledge at home; • increased interest of young people for hospitality vocations – despite the lack of

qualified personnel there is a high demand; • high recognisability, income, number of guests; • higher recognisability of local goods; • number of local providers increases, and so does the quality and diversity of their offer; • good news travels fast; • the guests become even more aware of the importance of good food and drinks; • the guests are more and more aware of Slovenian culinary tradition; • more and more cooking enthusiasts; • understanding hospitality vocations and a bigger interest; • rise of recognisability; • free media coverage due to interesting and socially responsible programmes and with that lower costs of promotion; • numerous acknowledgments; • European means to maintain or encourage local good production.

Moving forward by being socially responsible, passionate, educating and cooperating. There is a future in the hospitality industry!

52 Surveys

THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION MEETINGS MARKET 2001–2010 Slovenia is slowly losing the leading position in South Eastern Europe The ICCA Statistics Reports are based on the ICCA Association Database, which means the figures cover meetings organised by international associations which take place on a regular basis and which rotate between a minimum of three countries. ICCA’s Association Database is designed as a sales and marketing resource for its members to target future international association meetings, which is why it does not include one-off events or those which do not move between locations.

It is estimated that there are approximately 19,000 different association meetings organised on a regular basis. The ICCA Association Database has collected information on approximately 80% of them.

Number of meetings per region Europe is still the most popular destination with the majority of 54% of the meetings being hosted there in 2010. However Europe’s market share has been decreasing over the past 10 years and so has the relative popularity of North America, due to an increase in attractiveness of Asia/Middle East mostly and Latin America.

The above chart demonstrates mainly the growing number of meetings in all the mentioned counters in the last 10 years. The biggest stand out is Serbia, which increases the number of meetings every year. In Slovenia and Romania the number of meetings decreased slightly in the last 2 years, in Croatia they increased in the last year.

In table below are presented the top 10 countries and a few countries from SE and E Europe Rank Country

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2009

2010

1.

U.S.A.

478

584

594

650

680

684

704

714

727

623

2.

Germany

301

322

347

423

430

473

549

495

524

542

3.

Spain

223

299

305

396

360

334

386

424

385

451

4.

United Kingdom

237

316

324

322

406

417

386

424

378

399

5.

France

279

291

290

385

360

393

376

450

384

371

6.

Italy

277

298

320

351

328

349

376

399

408

341

7.

Japan

217

214

204

218

236

263

289

309

278

305

8.

China-P.R.

84

136

85

235

231

274

279

294

284

282

9.

Brazil

113

110

133

174

187

231

224

256

297

275

10.

Switzerland

117

158

170

170

200

200

206

217

227

244

14.

Austria

104

113

156

168

194

245

248

228

241

212

20

Turkey

53

56

64

82

98

109

125

125

132

160

28

Greece

84

116

96

115

126

166

162

163

128

119

30.

Czech Republic

67

80

109

102

105

119

120

124

114

103

32.

Poland

82

66

64

101

118

114

122

134

124

98

40.

Croatia

23

30

29

36

37

38

57

58

42

50

43.

Serbia

1

0

5

15

12

14

15

25

30

46

44.

Slovenia

22

39

30

48

43

44

56

58

47

44

48.

Romania

17

25

16

24

21

30

35

46

42

39

60.

Slovak Republic

14

17

12

22

21

24

23

23

23

22

61.

Bulgaria

5

14

7

15

13

31

26

34

19

20

Slovenia

43

Croatia

40

Romania

30

70

Bulgaria

18

60

Serbia

16

Croatia

50

Serbia

40 Considering fluctuations from year to year are common, the editorial board of Kongres magazine decided to calculate the average number of meetings for the last ten years.

We only compared the countries, which are geographically a part of SE Europe. We can assess Slovenia is still the leading country in the average number of meetings in the last ten years.

2008

Slovenia

30

Romania

20

Bulgarija

10 0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

53 Surveys

Number of meetings per city For the sixth year in a row Vienna is the most popular city. Even though the 2010 report indicates smaller number of events in Vienna compared to previous years, Vienna was able to keep the 1st place. Over the decade Barcelona is another strong contender with slightly fluctuating results, but never lower than 5th place. Next to Vienna and Barcelona only Singapore has managed to attract a number of meetings that allowed it to be always among top 10 cities in this ranking. Moreover Berlin and Paris are the cities included in the top 10 since 2003 and 2004 respectively, holding strong positions in the ranking. Although Lisbon has never exceeded the 5th position, it has held a stable place in the top 10 as well, except for 2001 and 2005. In general most cities have gradually attracted more meetings over the past decade.

In table bellow there are presented top 10 cities and few cities from SE and E Europe The above chart demonstrates mainly the growing number of meetings in all the mentioned cities in the last 10 years. The biggest standout is Belgrade which has increased the number of meetings rapidly, followed closely by Zagreb. In Ljubljana and Zagreb a slight decrease of the number of meetings in the last two years has been detected.

Ljubljana

22

Bucharest

15

Graz

15

Dubrovnik

14

Zagreb

12

Belgrade

12

Salzburg

12

Portoroz

8

Bled Novi Sad

In table bellow there are presented top 10 cities and few cities from SE and E Europe Rank City

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

1.

Vienna

64

76

101

113

144

163

179

150

159

154

2.

Barcelona

70

102

89

135

135

104

122

151

144

148

3.

Paris

94

93

96

138

132

173

153

167

141

147

4.

Berlin

63

74

98

119

106

124

145

116

135

138

5.

Singapore

49

66

76

99

114

130

135

131

123

136

6.

Madrid

53

52

63

70

69

75

98

81

92

114

7.

Istanbul

35

36

47

52

60

80

80

92

93

109

8.

Lisbon

47

62

76

81

86

81

108

97

106

106

9.

Amsterdam

57

67

64

81

103

89

105

115

114

104

10.

Sydney, NSW

57

59

51

44

57

58

71

72

62

102

19.

Prague

58

63

92

84

87

106

103

100

96

85

26.

Athens

32

43

39

54

56

80

77

88

69

69

55.

Belgrade

1

0

4

10

11

9

12

17

25

33

59.

Cracow

28

14

18

28

27

29

30

32

34

31

65.

Warsaw

26

32

25

29

38

37

43

51

39

28

79.

Zagreb

6

10

11

10

14

8

16

15

11

23

86.

Bucharest

7

10

10

12

16

13

12

24

23

21

93.

Ljubljana

9

18

19

25

19

27

23

29

28

20

5

6

18

13

12

17

16

21

25

15

120. Graz 139. Dubrovnik

8

15

8

12

12

17

20

15

21

13

159. Salzburg

7

7

13

11

10

17

14

11

16

11

178. Bled

4

6

4

9

10

4

11

6

5

10

178. Portoroz

4

10

5

5

9

6

14

12

5

10

215. Novi Sad

0

0

0

4

0

2

2

4

4

8

35 30

Belgrade

7

25

Zagreb

2

20

Bucharest Ljubljana

15 We also decided to calculate the average number of meetings per city in the last ten years. We only compared the cities geographically a part of SE Europe. We can establish Ljubljana is still the leader in the average of meetings in the last ten years.

Dubrovnik

10

Bled

5

Portoro탑 Novi Sad

0 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

54 Surveys

ASSESSING THE DECISION MODEL ON INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION Participation is decisively influenced by the size of the fee

Dušica Todorovič worked as assistant to marketing director in congress marketing at Cankarjev dom, right after finishing her studies.

For a number of years she has worked on acquiring international congresses. In January 2010 se completed a masters titled: Assessing the decision model on international conference participation. The article published in this issue is a summary of her master’s thesis.

The meetings industry is one of the fields of tourism with the aim of participation at domestic or international meetings of professionals from a different field, where the participants exchange knowledge and experiences. This form of tourism is very desirable among tourist workers since it has the following qualities: non-seasonality and high consumption of participants.

Congress participants mostly don’t cover their own expenses or are at least partially sponsored by companies or organizations. Research also demonstrates congress participants spend at least three times more than regular tourists.

Factors influencing relatively larger economic effects of the meetings industry are: height of personal income, distance of place of residence, duration of the meetings, frequency of meetings and size of escort.

Due to the economic importance and (global) trends demonstrating the rise of the meetings industry, knowing the factors, which influence the decision to take part in a conference, is key for the management of organizations and association, offering

capacity and supplementary services for a successful execution of an (international) event. It is interesting to note this area is seldom researched in international literature.

The identification of influence factors and the empiric assessment of parameters of the decision model, which explain the determinants of an individual’s decision for or against conference participation, measured at different times and locations, have a significant added value for the management in the meetings industry.

The core of the deciding issue is demonstrated in Graph 1. In the forefront is the individual who each year decides to participate at a conference, held in a different country every year. The decision “yes” or “no” can be presented as a system of events, where event “no” is opposite to event “yes”. The central question is which are the key influential factors explaining the occurrence of event “yes”.

To this end we established an empirical assessment of the model which explains the individual's decision to participate at an international congress.

The timeline of the carried out analysis is as follows: first we chose a conference – in our case it’s a conference which also took place at Cankarjev dom – and studied the available data on the conference collected by FEICA (Fédération Européenne des Industries de

Colles et Adhésifs) and the PCO. This is the data on 493 participants in the period from 2004–2007. The data shows the participation of 493 participants at the chosen conference for an individual year. Some took part in the conference every year, others didn’t. In our case we tried to explain their decision to participate through an intersection of three key factors.

The fist factor is distance. The effect is demonstrated in Graph 2.

As evident from Graph 2, there are no noticeable differences in the decision for or against participation based on the criterion of distance. Throughout the interval of distance the participation and non-participation are equally divided. The statistic analysis itself showed distance doesn’t have a statistically significant influence on participation or nonparticipation at the conference.

The second effect we studied is the influence of prices on the decision of an individual.

The background of this influence reflects the expectation that an individual from a country with a relatively lower general price level, would choose not to participate at a conference in a country with a relatively higher general price level. The effect is demonstrated in Graph 3.

As evident from the division of participation and non-participation based on the coefficient

YES/NO?

Graph 1

YES/NO?

i-th individual

YES/NO?

YES/NO? YES/NO?

Location in year t Location in year t+1 Location in year t+2

Location in year t+k Location in year n

55 Surveys

of relative inflation, it is evident that the dynamics of prices are positively connected to the decision for participation (which was further proven by empirical testing).

This result can be interpreted as conference participation triggering pressure on the raising of prices. This is a known effect – if there is an event at a certain location, the local prices of goods raise, due to higher demand.

conferences where such developments are studied, presented and discussed is growing.

The third influence is connected to the income effect. In this case we expect, the height of the fee influences the individuals decision to participate at the conference, considering the individual’s disposable income.

Graph 2

The effect is demonstrated in the Graph 4 and validates our expectations, which were also proven by the results of the empirical analysis. This means the relation of fee size and disposable income of the participant is the central influential variable with a clearly defined cause and effect relation.

Management in the meetings industry should therefore take into account distance is not an obstacle, relative prices don’t influence the individual’s decision to participate, yet the local suppliers respond to an increase of demand from conference participants. We cannot however neglect the fact this survey was carried out for a European conference (FEICA) and that results considering distance would probably be different for a global conference. Participation is decisively influenced by the size of the fee. This means the management of associations and organizers should take a systematic approach to defining the mass of potential conference participants and assess their economic power then set the fee policies based on this data.

The meetings industry is definitely one of the most profitable forms of tourism and has the most positive effect on the socio-cultural development. With a fast development of technology and science the number of

Demand in the meetings industry is growing faster than demand for international tourism, which creates new possibilities for a diverse tourist potential. Its characteristics such as high profit, job creation and influence on other sectors, a full tourist season, positive

additions to the process of urbanisation, contribution to the reputation of the country and city – facts other tourism studies have mentioned before. Meetings provide advertising and development for congress cities, are a prestigious and at the same tame demonstrate the status of the country.

Mag. Dušica Todorovič

Participation 1

Non-participation 0

Distance 0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Graph 3 Participation 1

Coefficient of relative inflation Non-participation 0 0

2

Graph 4

Participation 1

Income effect/GDP Non-participation 0 0

0.1

56 Surveys

BEDNIGHT FIGURES IN EUROPEAN CITIES REACH FOR THE SKY BRIC markets occupy already TOP 10 places

European Cities Marketing (ECM) has published the seventh edition of its European Cities Marketing Benchmarking Report.

For 2010 the total number of bednights in European cities experienced year-on growth of 6.5%.

As for individual cites in 2010, six out of the fifteen top performing cities scored doubledigit year-on increases: Amsterdam notched up the highest year on growth rate (13.6%), followed by Frankfurt, Munich, Madrid, Vienna and Berlin.

International bednights increased by an even more striking 8.9%, indicating full recovery from the downturn in volume recorded in 2009 as a consequence of global economic recession.

In respect of international tourism flows, and taking Europe as a whole, the principal country source markets in 2010 were the United States and Germany, followed closely by the United Kingdom. Italy forms another highly significant generator of international overnight stay tourists.

The study indicates that London, Paris, Berlin, Rome and Madrid are Europe’s leading “Big 5” urban tourism destinations in terms of the key bednights parameter.

London is leader of the pack, recording a massive 49 million bednights, and between them the fifteen best performing cities can be seen to generate impressive 234 million bednights.

It is noteworthy that Russian and China – two of the so-called emergent ‘BRIC’ markets – now occupy 8th and 9th place in the table below.

Even more striking is the year on-growth of 28.7% for Russia and 16.5% for China.

Destination

Bednights in % change million 2010 09-10

1. London

48.7

3.5%

2. Paris

35.8

5.7%

3. Berlin

20.8

10.2%

4. Rome

20.4

9.1%

5. Madrid

15.2

11.4%

6. Barcelona

14.0

9.6%

7. Prague

11.9

6.4%

8. Vienna

11.7

11.0%

9. Munich

11.1

12.4%

10. Amsterdam

9.7

13.6%

11. Hamburg

8.9

8.4%

12. Palma de Mallorca 7.3

1.5%

13. Lisbon

6.2

7.8%

14. Frankfurt

6.1

13.5%

15. Budapest

5.9

8.6%

Source: www.europeancitiesmarketing.com

Source Market

Bednights 2010

% change 09-10

1. United States

13.5

7.9%

2. Germany

13.1

6.3%

3. United Kingdom

12.9

1.4%

4. Italy

10.6

5.7%

5. France

7.8

10.6%

6. Spain

7.1

5.9%

7. Japan

4.0

7.4%

8. Russia

3.9

28.7%

9. China

1.6

16.5%

Source: www.europeancitiesmarketing.com

57 Agency presents

PRESENTATION OF AGENCY PENTA

From the very beginning PENTA Agency has focused on offering premium service in the area of organizing business and professional trips to congresses and all types of professional gatherings. This year they celebrate 20 years of business success and their status as one of the leading MICE companies in Croatia. PENTA Agency core business offers:

Corporate Travel Management Due to the individual approach to every single one of their clients, PENTA guarantees the best ratio of expenses and the quality of service.

It comes as no surprise that their sales in this segment are increasing at the rate of 10–20% every year.

Incentive programs Constantly modifying and applying the most up to date methods in motivating and rewarding your team or your clients is the best guarantee that your business will continue to grow.

PCO – Conference Management Whenever you plan a business gathering ranging from 100 to 1000 and more participants, there are a number of questions that influence its success in a great way. PENTA has all the answers, ranging from where to organize it, what is the ideal type of venue for the event, how to inform and motivate the participants to take part in it, what is the ideal daily itinerary and other important details.

PENTA offers you a worry-free approach form the initial contact until the end of the conference and the follow-ups.

In the last 14 years, PENTA has organized more than 100 conferences, and other national and international events, with 18.000 participants, 520 exhibitors on a total surface of 4,200 m2 and more than 200 standalone meetings.

Most significant partners and conferences:

Croatian Oncological Society: 3rd, 4th and 5th Croatian Oncology Congress 5th, 6th and 7th CEOC (Central European Oncology Congress) 1st, 2nd and 3rd Croatian Congress on Palliative Care in Oncology 1st and 2nd Croatian GI Cancer Symposium

Croatian Society for Clinical Cytology and EFCS European Federation of Cytology Societies: 4th Croatian Congress of Clinical Cytology 37th European Congress of Cytology (2012)

Croatian Society for Psychopharmacotherapy and Biological Psychiatry, Association of Danube Psychiatry (Linz): 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Croatian Congress of Psychopharmacotherapy 18th, 23rd and 24th Danube Symposium of Psychiatry 9th, 10th and 12th Central European Neuropsychopharmacological Congress

Croatian Society of Hematology: 4th and 5th Croatian Congress of Hematology and transfusiology

Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, KBC, ZAGREB 4th, 5th and 6th International Conference 3rd European Conference on Head and Neck Oncology 12th, 13th, 14th CIRAS

www.penta-zagreb.hr

58 In focus

Is yours the same old story?

Why not try something different?

GR − Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre Slovenia www.ljubljanafair.com

Discover our secrets.

59

News from Slovenian Convention Bureau

BUZZING AROUND SLOVENIA National Geographic Society´s Center for Sustainable Destinations and the magazine National Geographic Traveler ranked Slovenia in 5th place of the most sustainable and authentic places to visit in Europe. Slovenia won praise for being “savvy about balancing tourism with cultural and historical preservation”.

To preserve the green and varied landscape as a soothing platform for various meetings, the Slovenian meeting community has taken an active role in reducing the negative environmental impacts of the meeting industry.

The Slovenian Convention Bureau has focused on two CSR initiatives that interestingly revolve around bees. Bees namely reveal the level of environmental protection and symbolize the Slovenian vision of preserving nature. Bees furthermore relate to the Slovenian uniqueness, seeing that Slovenia is the only European country that has protected its indigenous species, the Carniolan bee.

The BeBee Campaign As a response to a mysterious phenomenon of colony collapse disorder that has wiped out large numbers of bees, the Slovenian Convention Bureau launched the BeBee campaign aiming to increase the number of bee colonies. “The BeBee initiative represents one piece of the puzzle in our aspirations to preserve the natural beauties of Slovenia,” said Miha Kovačič, Director of SCB. “The campaign addresses one of the pressing environmental issues with the final aim of having a positive impact on environmental protection and social wellbeing.”

In cooperation with the Beekeeping Association of Slovenia, the BeBee campaign enabled the Beekeepers Club of Dobrna to set up a school bee house. In the scope of the BeBee campaign, 26 pupils have been learning to bee bread with the view of making an increase to 13 bee colonies. “It is of crucial importance that children are given the opportunity to participate in the Beekeepers Club and thus broaden their understanding of environmental protection,” said Lidija Senič of the Beekeepers Club of Dobrna.

Meeting professionals have been invited to participate in this “hive of sustainable activity”.

From the outset in November 2010, the BeBee campaign has thus far attracted 733 supporters from 49 countries.

The largest part of supporters comes from Slovenia’s primary target markets of Germany (8.6%), United Kingdom (8.3%), Italy (7%), Belgium (6.5%), France (6.3%) and Spain (4.4%).

The CSR campaign has also attracted strong responses from Slovenia’s secondary target markets of the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden and Russia. Even meeting professionals from distant markets like USA, China, India, Australia and Brazil have lent their support to the BeBee initiative.

In line with the objectives, the campaign has mostly attracted support of meeting planners (95.1%), followed by media representatives (4%) and meeting providers (2.7%).

4% %

2,7%

95,1%

BeBee supporters by segment of meeting industry professionals

Celebrating the set-up of the BeBee beehive in Dobrna, Slovenia

The BeBee initiative has furthermore attracted broad media attention, followed by the publication of articles in the leading meeting industry media, including Mash Media, One+ Magazine, TW, Meetings International, Xenios

Slovenian Convention Bureau presents

Tourism & Business Travel and Votravia. The CSR initiative has therefore ensured free publicity, branding and recognition of Slovenia in the global meetings and events arena.

Another notable outcome is a green wave spreading across the Slovenian meeting community that has stepped up a gear in incorporating sustainable practices in their business operations. The Cankarjev dom Congress Centre has drawn attention by setting up beehives on one of the terraces of their variegated roof.

The BeBee campaign is still in its toddler phase.

As it grows older, it will likely attract even more support from meeting professionals worldwide and move meeting providers further into greening their business practices. In this manner, the BeBee campaign will achieve its goal of having a positive environmental and social impact.

For more information visit www.bebee.sloveniagreen-meetings.si.

IMEX Challenge Slovenia The initiative to make good use of positive effects of beekeeping on mentally and physically disabled children and adults persuaded the IMEX Challenge Team to host the IMEX 2012 Challenge in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The IMEX Challenge is a three day biennial humanitarian event where a team of meeting industry professionals gather in order to make a positive impact on the lives of others – particularly children. As well as attempting to complete the demanding goal of the Challenge itself within the allocated three days, it also aims to leave a financial legacy allowing the continued development of the concerned group.

From 2 to 4 July 2012, Slovenia with its capital Ljubljana will host the second edition of the IMEX Challenge. IMEX Challenge Slovenia will strive to blend environmental objectives with social causes and create positive economic outcomes for the host community. The idea is to build beehives within the grounds of the institute for mentally and physically disabled children and adults, CUDV Training, Occupation and Care Centre in Draga. It is anticipated that they will be involved in the bees’ upkeep as well as potentially create revenue from harvesting and selling honey.

Beekeeping is a Slovenian pastime with thousands of private beekeepers managing

60 Slovenian Convention Bureau presents

News from Slovenian Convention Bureau

bee colonies in gardens across the country and, at a time when the plight of the bee is causing increasing concern to environmentalists, the idea of supporting their long term survival as well as creating a project from which the staff and patients at the care centre can manage and create an income is a compelling one.

IMEX Challenge will give 15 meeting industry professionals the chance to work side by side in a physical challenge that will help children and leave a sustainable legacy for the local community. Applications for dynamic and enthusiastic team volunteers are now being taken. Places are filled on a strictly first come first served basis and interested parties can submit their application by contacting Faye Bennett at IMEX Group, faye.bennett@imexexhibitions.com.

For more information, visit www.imex-frankfurt. com/imexchallenge.html Local Partners of IMEX Challenge Slovenia are:

ON THE ROAD TO GREEN MEETINGS

On the road to planning and running green meetings, the Slovenian Convention Bureau drew a map of guidelines on greening for a meeting held in Slovenia. The Road to Green Meetings Manual provides smart guidelines how to plan, organise and implement and later on evaluate a sustainable meeting.

“The Manual offers meeting professionals an easy-to-use tool for incorporating sustainable practices in their event management,” said Miha Kovačič, Director of Slovenian Convention Bureau. “We kindly invite meeting planners to follow these guidelines and therefore join the green wave of the Slovenian meeting community.”

The Road to Green Meetings Guidelines is based on the principles of international sustainable event standards, including BS8901, draft version of ISO 20121 and APEX/ ASTM Green Meeting standards, Global Reporting Initiative Event Supplement, and a number of sustainable event guidelines such as UNEP and ICLEI Green Meeting Guide.

In line, the Manual guides the meeting planners through nine areas of event management to hold environmentally sound and socially responsible meetings. The Manual therefore offers meeting planners advice on selecting sustainable venues, accommodation providers, catering companies, transport providers, AV/IT, lighting and display suppliers as well as incorporating sustainable measures in event production, including communications and exhibits. The “I Feel Green” sections in the Road to Green Meetings Manual offer a glimpse of sustainable measures of Slovenian meeting industry providers.

To read the Road to Green Meetings in Slovenia visit www.sgm.slovenia-green-meetings.si/roadto-green-meetings.

EVENT CARBON CALCULATOR Every meeting leaves a footprint. Meeting professionals have a choice here. They can take decisive steps in greening their meetings. The necessary tools are available for you to use.

In the scope of the “Push up Slovenia 3.0” promotional campaign, the Slovenian Convention Bureau designed an Event Carbon Calculator, tailored to the unique needs of meeting professionals. The Slovenian Convention Bureau thus joined the company of German

Convention Bureau and Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau among other convention bureaus offering the opportunity to calculate the event’s carbon footprint.

The Event Carbon Calculator enables meeting professionals to identify the main environmental impacts of the meeting and help prioritise actions to avoid and reduce these impacts. The Event Carbon Calculator takes into account emissions from attendee travel, accommodation and the event itself.

At www.ecc.slovenia-green-meetings.si meeting professionals can enter details of their meeting to get an estimate of how much CO2 the meeting will likely create. Advice on how to reduce the carbon emissions can be found in the Road to Green Meetings Manual available at www.sgm. slovenia-green-meetings.si/road-to-greenmeetings.

DESIGNATED SPOT FOR SLOVENIA GREEN MEETINGS Meeting planners perceive Slovenia as a green destination. While it holds true for its natural beauties, meeting providers also began focusing on greening their business practices. In line with the global focus on sustainability, the Slovenian meeting community joined the green wave.

Push up Slovenia 3.0 promotional campaign sized the momentum and focused on promoting Slovenia as a green meeting and event destination. The Slovenian Convention Bureau therefore launched a website designated to promote “Slovenia Green Meetings” brand. In one spot, www.slovenia-green-meetings.si website gathers all relevant information on hosting a (green) meeting in Slovenia. The website revolves around six acronyms: SGM, SGS, MA, BeBee, ECC and WIN. – @SGM: Slovenia Green Meetings catalogue

61

News from Slovenian Convention Bureau

presents the four faces of the meeting destination of Slovenia and its individual providers. The Road to Green Meetings then guides meeting professionals in organising sustainable meetings and events in Slovenia. www.sgm.slovenia-green-meetings.si – @SGS: Slovenia can be portrayed as a gate to South-East Europe as depicted in this catalogue.

– @MA: The Meeting Ambassadors site is dedicated to promoting the objectives of the “Meeting Industry 2020” Manifesto to successfully position Slovenia in the international meeting and incentive market. www.ma.slovenia-green-meetings.si – @BeBee: The BeBee campaign invites meeting planners to join the CSR campaign in reducing environmental impacts generated by the meeting industry and having a positive impact on the local society. www.bebee.sloveniagreen-meetings.si – @ECC: The Event Carbon Calculator website offers meeting professionals an opportunity to calculate the carbon footprint of their meetings or events. www.ecc.slovenia-green-meetings.si – @WIN: Meeting planners are also invited to take part in our upcoming competition and win a truly mesmerising experience in Slovenia. By answering three simple questions, meeting planners enter a draw to feel Slovenia. www. win.slovenia-green-meetings.si

FEEL THE (GREEN) CHARM OF SLOVENIA In July 2011, the Slovenian Convention Bureau and its meeting industry partners welcomed meeting planners from Belgium, the Netherlands and Great Britain for a three day familiarization trip with a jaw dropping programme.

While Feel the Charm of Slovenia fam trip offered meeting planners an opportunity to feel what Slovenia has to offer as an exceptionally diverse meeting and incentive destination, it also strived to reduce its negative environmental impacts and leave a positive legacy for the host community.

In the scope of the “Push up Slovenia 3.0” campaign, the Slovenian Convention Bureau partnered with meeting industry providers, eager to introduce a number of environmentally friendly measures. Our vision was to preserve the green character of Slovenia by using a wealth of local natural resources in an environmentally friendly manner and by preserving cultural, ethnographic and culinary heritage.

The Slovenian Convention Bureau and its partners therefore committed to minimising the environmental impact generated by the workshop through: 1. Reducing the amount of solid waste through waste prevention, recycling, reuse and composting.

2. Increasing usage of products with recycled content.

Slovenian Convention Bureau presents

3. Using locally sourced food and beverage to support local economies and minimise greenhouse gasses associated with food transport.

The meeting planners, stunned by Slovenia, took part in greening the workshop to make a lasting positive impact on society and environment. 8 out of 10 meeting planners noted sustainable measures implemented in the scope of the eco workshop, in particular our focus on local and fresh food, tap water and of course the “BeBee” campaign. All the meeting planners agreed that Slovenia is indeed suitable for organising green meetings. As Ria Mooijaart of Ria Mooijaart & Partners said: “Slovenia offers diversity and great possibilities for meeting and events ... green and friendly people ... top professional approach and hands on mentality”.

For further information about fam trips to Slovenia, please contact the Slovenian Convention Bureau at info@slovenia-convention. com.

62 Slovenian Convention Bureau presents We would like to introduce all the members of the Slovenian Convention Bureau along with their acquired standards and contacts.

You can find more information on the Slovenian Convention Bureau and its members at the website www.slovenia-convention.com.

Name of Slovenian Convention Bureau member

Name of contact person

E-mail

Website

Standard

ABC rent a car, EUROPCAR Slovenija

Mitja Karun

mitja.karun@europcar.si

www.europcar.si

H

Adria Airways

Alen Mlekuž

alen.mlekuz@adria.si

www.adria.si

H

Airport Ljubljana

Janez Krašnja

janez.krasnja@lju-airport.si

www.lju-airport.si

Austria Trend Hotel Ljubljana

Jernej Osterman

jernej.osterman@austria-trend.at

www.austria-trend.at

Cankarjev dom

Dušica Todorovič

dusica.todorovic@cd-cc.si

www.cd-cc.si/congress

Intours DMC

Tomaž Krušič

tomaz.krusic@intours-dmc.si

www.intours-mice.si

C

The Slovenia Times

Brane Krajnik

brane.krajnik@sloveniatimes.com

www.sloveniatimes.com

H

Javni zavod Ljubljanski grad

Maja Pangršič

maja.pangrsic@ljubljanskigrad.si

www.ljubljanskigrad.si

M-Tours Bled

Miro Mulej

mtours@mtours.net

www.mtours.net

C

Hotel Paka

Stanko Brunšek

stanko.brunsek@hotelpaka.com

www.hotelpaka.com

G

Go-Mice

Gorazd Čad

gorazd.cad@go-mice.eu

www.go-mice.eu

H,B

GR – Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre

Špela Terpin

spela.terpin@gr-sejem.si

www.gr-sejem.si

E,H

Grand hotel Union

Renata Balažic

renata.balazic@gh-union.si

www.gh-union.si

F,G

Catering Jezeršek

Jure Jezeršek

jure@jezersek.si

www.jezersek.com

H

HIT Holidays Kranjska Gora

Polonca Bačnar

polonca.bacnar@hitholidays-kg.si

www.hitholidays-kg.si

G

HIT Nova Gorica

Nelida Nemec

nelida.nemec@hit.si

www.hit.si

G

Hotel Lek

Sandra Fiorelli

sandra.fiorelli@hotel-lek.si

www.hotel-lek.si

G

Hotel Lev

Saša Špolar

sasa.spolar@hotel-lev.si

www.hotel-lev.si

G

Rogaška Hotels & Lotus Terme

Damijan Merc

damijan@hotel-sava-rogaska.si

www.rogaska.si

G

Best Western Premier Hotel Slon

Nataša Keršič

natasa.kersic@hotelslon.com

www.hotelslon.com

G

St. Bernardin, Adriatic Resort & Convention Center

Mojca Gobina

mojca.gobina@bernardingroup.si

www.bernardingroup.si

F

LifeClass Hotels & Spa Portorož

Marko Lenček

marko.lencek@lifeclass.net

www.lifeclass.net

F,G

Kobilarna Lipica

Bogdan Capuder

bogdan.capuder@lipica.org

www.lipica.org

G,I

Kompas DMC

Tina Možina

tina.mozina@kompas.si

www.kompasmice.com

C

Koren Sports

Matija Koren

matija@humanfish.com

www.humanfish.com

D

City Hotel Ljubljana

Erika Bokal

erika.bokal@cityhotel.si

www.cityhotel.si

G

Lifetrek

Matej Mejovšek

matej@lifetrek.si

www.lifetrek.si

D

Hotel Mons - Hotel in kongresni center Ljubljana

Gregor Gorenc

info@hotel.mons.si

www.hotel.mons.si

F

Alkemist - European translation agency

Saša Gorše

sasa.gorse@alkemist.si

www.alkemist.si

Health resort Radenci

Miha Veberič

miha.veberic@terme-radenci.si

www.terme-radenci.si

G

Robotrade

Robert Omovšek

robert@robotrade.si

www.robotrade.si

H

H,J G B,E

I

63 Slovenian Convention Bureau presents

Name of Slovenian Convention Bureau member

Name of contact person

E-mail

Website

Klaro d.o.o.

Uroš Čimžar

uros@klaro.si

www.klaro.si

H

Sava Hotels and Resorts Bled

Elvira Krupić

elvira.krupic@hotelibled.com

www.sava-hotels-resorts.com

G

Slovenian Tourist Board

Karmen Novarlič

karmen.novarlic@slovenia.info

www.slovenia.info

Terme Čatež

Marjanka Bužančič

marjanka.buzancic@terme-catez.si

www.terme–catez.si

G

Terme Krka

Renata Zorman

renata.zorman@terme-krka.si

www.terme-krka.si

G

Terme Maribor

Darja Slivnjak

darja.slivnjak@termemb.si

www.termemb.si

Terme Olimia

Alenka Brglez

alenka.brglez@terme-olimia.com

www.terme-olimia.com

G

Terme Ptuj

Tanja Božič

tanja.bozic@terme-ptuj.si

www.terme-ptuj.si

G

Terme Spa Rogaška

Katarina Abraham

katarina.abraham@terme-rogaska.si

www.terme-rogaska.si

G

Liberty Incentives & Congresses Slovenia

Boštjan Horjak

bostjan@liberty-slovenia.com

www.liberty-slovenia.com

C

Tourism Kras

Igor Blažina

igor.blazina@postojnska-jama.si

www.postojnska-jama.si

University of Primorska, Faculty of Tourism Studies Portorož

Petra Zabukovec Baruca

petra.zabukovec@turistica.si

www.turistica.si

H

Hotel Astoria Bled

Alisa Cerič

alisa.ceric@vgs-bled.si

www.hotelastoria-bled.com

G

Vivo Catering

Jerneja Kamnikar

jerneja.kamnikar@vivo.si

www.vivo.si

H

Bled Culture Institute

Matjaž Završnik

matjaz.zavrsnik@zkbled.si

www.zavod-za-kulturo-bled.si

J,I

Ljubljana Tourism / Convention Bureau

Tatjana Radovič

tatjana.radovic@visitljubljana.si

www.visitljubljana.si/meetings

A

Maya Team

Borut Nikolaš

borut@maya.si

www.maya.si

D

Maribor Tourist Board

Bernarda Karo

bernarda.karo@maribor.si

www.maribor-pohorje.si

A

Vila Bled

Petra Čuk

petra.cuk@sportina-turizem.si

www.vila-bled.si

iDMC

Gregor Levič

gregor.levic@idmc.eu

www.idmc.eu

D

Bohinj Park Eco Hotel

Nataša Andlovec

natasa.andlovec@phb.si

www.bohinj-park-hotel.si

G

Hotel Drnča

Vesna Lešnik

vesna.lesnik@hotel-drnca.si

www.hotel-drnca.si

G

Hotel Plesnik

Marjana Cvetko

marjana.cvetko@plesnik.si

www.plesnik.si

G

Kempinski Palace Portorož

Violeta Milusheva

violeta.milusheva@kempinski.com

www.kempinski-portoroz.com

G

Sport centre Pohorje

Iris Kociper Haas

iris.kociper@sc-pohorje.si

www.pohorje.org

G

Terme Unior Zreče

Breda Einfalt

breda.einfalt@unitur.eu

www.unitur.eu

G

Thermana Laško

Mojca Leskovar

mojca.leskovar@thermana.si

www.thermana.si

F

Hotel Triglav Bled

Marcela Klofutar

marcela@hoteltriglavbled.si

www.hoteltriglavbled.si

G

Event agencija Profit

Uroš Zajec

uros.zajec@profit.si

Tourism Bohinj

Klemen Langus

klemen.langus@bohinj.si

www.bohinj.si

*

S5 KONGRES

Srečo Peterlič

sreco.peterlic@s5kongres.si

www.s5kongres.si

*

Tourist Board Portorož

Jadran Furlanič

jadran@portoroz.si

www.portoroz.si

*

Antiq Palace Hotel & Spa

Katie Smirnina

katie@antiqpalace.com

www.antiqpalace.com

*

* in the process of standardization

Standard

F,G

H,I

I

*

64 Slovenian Convention Bureau presents

Introduction of G standard of the Slovenian Convention Bureau

The Slovenian Convention Bureau has prepared a standardisation for its members, based upon the existing standards and recommendations in the field of business tourism. The bureau sees standardization as a strategic tool in raising quality and recognisability of the Slovenian meetings industry. Slovenia is amongst the first countries in the world to introduce unified standards in the field of the meetings industry.

KOMPAS HOTELI BLED D.D. Nataše Keršič natasa.kersic@kompas-lovec.com www.kompashotel.com

HOTEL PLESNIK Marjana Cvetko marjana.cvetko@plesnik.si www.plesnik.si

TERME SPA ROGAŠKA Katarina Abraham katarina.abraham@terme-rogaska.si www.terme-rogaska.si

HOTEL DRNČA Vesna Lešnik vesna.lesnik@hotel-drnca.si www.hotel-drnca.si

ROGAŠKA HOTELS & LOTUS TERME Damijan Merc damijan@hotel-sava-rogaska.si www.rogaska.si

HOTEL LEK Sandra Fiorelli sandra.fiorelli@hotel-lek.si www.hotel-lek.si

SPORT CENTRE POHORJE Iris Kociper Haas iris.kociper@sc-pohorje.si www.pohorje.org

TERME KRKA Renata Zorman renata.zorman@terme-krka.si www.terme-krka.si

TERME ČATEŽ Marjanka Bužančič marjanka.buzancic@terme-catez.si www.terme–catez.si

TERME OLIMIA Alenka Brglez alenka.brglez@terme-olimia.com www.terme-olimia.com

BOHINJ PARK ECO HOTEL Nataša Andlovec natasa.andlovec@phb.si www.bohinj-park-hotel.si

TERME PTUJ Tanja Božič tanja.bozic@terme-ptuj.si www.terme-ptuj.si

HOTEL PAKA Stanko Brunšek stanko.brunsek@hotelpaka.com www.hotelpaka.com

TERME UNIOR ZREČE Breda Einfalt breda.einfalt@unitur.eu www.unitur.eu

HIT HOLIDAYS KRANJSKA GORA Polonca Bačnar polonca.bacnar@hitholidays-kg.si www.hitholidays-kg.si

HEALTH RESORT RADENCI Miha Veberič miha.veberic@terme-radenci.si www.terme-radenci.si

INTRODUCTION OF SLOVENIAN CONVENTION BUREAU MEMBERS WHO ACHIEVED G STANDARD

HIT NOVA GORICA Nelida Nemec nelida.nemec@hit.si www.hit.si

HOTEL CUBO * Sandi Kovačević sandi@hotelcubo.com www.hotelcubo.com

SAVA HOTELS AND RESORTS BLED Elvira Krupić elvira.krupic@hotelibled.com www.sava-hotels-resorts.com

HOTEL TRIGLAV BLED Marcela Klofutar marcela@hoteltriglavbled.si www.hoteltriglavbled.si

KEMPINSKI PALACE PORTOROŽ Marcos Torres Mueller marcos.torres@kempinski.com www.kempinski-portoroz.com

HOTEL ASTORIA BLED Alisa Cerič alisa.ceric@vgs-bled.si www.hotelastoria-bled.com

The certificates of a certain standard confirm the service provider fulfils strict criteria in its category and is a reliable and trustworthy partner in the opinion of Slovenian Convention Bureau.

The certificates are valid for three years so the fulfilment of criteria is constantly monitored.

Category G, hotel with congress facilities must have at least 3 stars. The required conference facilities are somewhat smaller – such a hotel must have at least one plenary hall and at least one more hall for parallel meetings and a proper foyer for catering, registration or a smaller exhibition. A restaurant does not count as a conference space but a hotel must have one nonetheless.

* in the process of standardization

65

SLOVENIA MEETINGS

Slovenian Convention Bureau presents

Feel the people.

Taste fresh ideas.

www.slovenia.info www.slovenia-convention.com

66 Kongres travelogue

BUDVA

Congress impressions from Montenegro’s coast

When organizing congresses on the infamous Montenegro coast, it is best to have some local contacts and colleagues, which makes the process much easier. In the last few years I have met quite a few, all of them professionals who make business in Montenegro considerably easier. They defy the stereotype that all Montenegrins are a bit slow, but are courageous and extremely friendly. Among other things, they told me a stereotype about Slovenia: that its coast was not named after the inhabitants of Slovenia, but the Slovaks, who were the very first tourists in these parts.

Budva is the centre of Montenegro’s coast; however we will also be examining the diverse and picturesque surrounding towns that are part of the congress capacities in Budva. The main reason for Budva’s tourist development is its location in the Budvanski zaliv (Budva Bay), renowned for its sandy beaches, as well the medieval town, well preserved due to the Venetian city walls. In the immediate vicinity there are gems such as Sveti Štefan, Miločer and Queen’s Beach to Lovčen and Cetinj in the hilly interior. The Kotar Bay is especially

interesting, with its fjord-like cliffs digging into the coast.

The city of Kotor is on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.

The question of how Montenegro formally got a coast is interesting, since today it is the coast that has geographically determined the congress and tourist perception of the country even though Montenegro was named after its mountainous interior. The heart of what was once called Zeta was ruled by Byzantium for a number of years and later by different Serbian overlords, while the Venetians controlled the Montenegrin coast up until the Turkish invasions. After numerous battles against the Turks it took a collaboration with Russia in the 18th century to enable a short-lived merger of Boka and Montenegro in 1813. Unfortunately the acquisition was taken away with the Vienna Congress in 1815, when the coastline went to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1876 the people of Montenegro and Serbia attacked

the Turks and after winning, they managed to take control of the coast, which was formally confirmed by the Berlin Congress in 1878.

Upon the establishment of the Kingdom of Montenegro in 1910, the northern area up to Herzegovina was included in the new country.

This is the reason for Montenegro’s affection towards Russia, with which they have several political, economic, and cultural ties, dating back for more than 300 years. Speaking Russian is an important asset for people who work in tourism in Montenegro even today.

Beside historical rumbles, Budva has also been affected by actual earthquakes. After the last one in 1979, the town was thoroughly renovated. The urbanistic chaos, one of the main characteristics of one of the oldest cities on the Adriatic coast, is the consequence of the fast tourism development in the post-war period. The wildest period the city has seen was the period of the general economic growth up to 2008, when the backbone of today’s congress capacities in Montenegro coast was established.

However, the numerous new accommodation capacities (over 130,000 beds) have affected the ecologic balance like the water supply, sewage, and waste.

In the summer there are difficulties due to limited parking space and overall traffic chaos. Certain beaches are overflowing with tourists in the peak season, there are too few green areas, and the hospitality service is located in temporary seasonal object not working properly. With the economic crisis there have been some giant building sites that are deserted today, waiting for better economic conditions. Russian investors are most often the proprietors of these mega projects; at the beginning of the crisis they

67 Kongres travelogue

stopped investing in overpriced Montenegrin tourist objects burdened by corruption and bribery. As a result there is no trace of the spectacularly announced Kempinski hotel near Sveti Štefan and the Jedro project has turned into a residential project now. Some think it was a lucky thing that the crisis stopped these megalomaniac projects from being completed.

The congress centre Bečiči is just a stone’s throw away from the centre of Budva. The most notorious is the Splendid Resort, which has among numerous congresses also accommodated different world pop icons who stayed in Montenegro like Bill Clinton, Madonna, Rolling Stones and others.

The hotel has been the location of some of the top political and other events in Montenegro with mysterious (rumoured to be Russian) owners and is often in the tabloids.

Aesthetically and technically, its congress halls are among the best on the Montenegrin coast.

The neighbouring four-star Mediterranean Hotel has additional accommodation capacities and has its own congress centre with multifunctional halls spreading 2000 m2. The nearby Queen of Montenegro Hotel has changed hands and has since focused on classical tourism. The Maestral Hotel lies in the town of Pržno a few kilometres away; it is owned by the Slovenian Hit and is an excellent congress choice, especially after its recent renovation. Speaking from personal experience I can say they have an excellent and experienced staff, true professionals.

The Avala Hotel reigns over the old town, which appeals to me most because of the architecture. It is a modern minimalistic

hotel, beside the Splendid Hotel the only other five-star hotel in Budva. On the site of today’s hotel there used to be the legendary hotel by the same name, built in the beginning of tourism development in Budva in 1939.

Its stone wainscot, connecting it to the old hotel, combined with the modern architecture, enables the hotel to blend in seamlessly with the silhouette of the old town. The interior is surprisingly dark, but different accessories and light tricks make it interesting. I was

especially impressed by the Bruno restaurant, probably the best club and space for banquet organization in this part of the Adriatic. Its congress capacities are somewhat smaller, so the hotel is suitable especially for incentive groups.

The Montenegro coast has become one of the hottest European incentive spots, partly due to extremely strong and aggressive marketing.

The natural conditions for incentive programs

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are extraordinary and very diverse. The Talas M Agency, the main motor of these programs, has a long list of references from reputable international clients. Somewhat controversial is the aggressive green tourism marketing which is far from any serious concepts of measurable sustainable congress tourism in this country in transition.

The poor part of the selection are the congress capacities for association congresses and trade fairs. The Adriatic Fair, owned by the Atlas Group investment company, organizes over 15 fairs in inappropriate capacities each year.

They are aware of the inappropriate capacities themselves and hope the Expo Budva programme will change the situation quickly. According to the project, a new hotel called Wyndham and brand new fair grounds with a congress centre are said to be built in 2012.

The seriousness of the project was confirmed by a visit from Bill Clinton, organized by Atlas Group owner, Duško Knežević, which probably wasn’t coincidental. The project partner is namely the American construction corporation Turner Constructions.

Congress tourism as a part of elite tourism is something they are serious and ambitious about on the Montenegro coast. Other projects in the vicinity of Budva are also proof of capital attracting capital. This summer the Aman Hotel in Sveti Štefan was renovated and re-opened, the Porto Montenegro mega yacht marina in Tivat followed, sponsored by such names as banker Jacob Rotschild, Russian oligarch Oleg Deripasko and magnate Bernard Arnault. All for the goal of Montenegro

becoming the Monaco of the Adriatic. They face several obstacles on that way, the biggest being poor accessibility by plane and road travel, one of the destination’s biggest current insufficiencies. The national air travel provider has a poorly developed flight net, and according to the opinion of the local congress tourism players, they do not sufficiently understand and support congress tourism.

There are only a few low-fare air travel providers, mostly in the near-by Dubrovnik.

The entire destination is mostly dependant on charter flights, which are dependent on the attractiveness of the hotel selection. The road accessibility is also lacking. The divide between the tourist slogans about the eco destination and the actual communal order also leaves a bitter aftertaste.

for the Monte Carlo of the Adriatic, openness from foreign investors and very liberal policies could position the Montenegro coast very high on the congress map in the next few years, while it is already the leader in the area of incentive programs. It boasts the unique opportunity for the practically untapped Russian congress tourism, which has always had a positive relationship with Budva. If this “wild beauty” improves its accessibility, price competitiveness and infrastructure, it can be a worthy competitor as a congress destination even in the wider region of the Mediterranean as one of the top destinations.

Further information: Montenegro Convention Bureau, mice@montenegro.travel Gorazd Čad

The destination, promoting itself as a wild beauty Destination grade: is well on its way to *** becoming a true congress beauty, but a lot will have Grade description: to be done on the road ***** excellent congress destination to perfection, especially quality congress destination **** recommendable congress destination *** in infrastructure and average congress destination ** shifting from seasonal pass * to year-round congress activity.

This is the very reason why it is practically impossible to organize a congress or an event in high season and why access is difficult in low season. The Montenegro coast remains a less accessible congress destination for the time being and a periodically seasonally unconquerable fortress.

Comparison to region: Budva is one of the central incentive destinations on the Adriatic coast, with very successful marketing and despite numerous deficiencies in poor accessibility and current capacity selection. The development plans

TERME ČATEŽ • Čatež • Mokrice • Koper • • Portorož •

The thermal centre at Terme Čatež is a favourable destination of business tourism with congress capacities at four locations: • Business centres in Terme Hotel**** and Toplice**** Hotel at Čatež • Congress centre in Golf Hotel Mokrice Castle**** • Meeting rooms on the Slovenian coast (Koper Hotel*** and Marina Portorož) * Close to airport Zagreb (35 km) and airport Ljubljana (130 km) * Numerous opportunities for business, fun, relaxation, adventure, teambuilding programmes at Mokrice, Indian village and Pirates bay, golf, different kinds of sport...

Topliška cesta 35, SI-8251 Čatež ob Savi Tel.: +386 7 49 36 700, Fax: +386 7 49 35 005,

info@terme-catez.si

www.terme-catez.si

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BLED – THE GREEN IMAGE OF PARADISE IN ALL SEASONS

Beautiful town in the heart of Europe It is not a myth; this is how Bled is described by the media and by the majority of those who have ever set foot in this town. The green lake as backdrop, a small island with a church on top, and a thousand year-old castle sitting on a cliff make for unforgettable scenery. In this beautiful town in the heart of Europe, people find perfection and harmony filling them with peace and life energy, enabling them to successfully tackle the challenges of everyday and business life.

Remote from everyday stress, yet modern and competitive, Bled has always been known as a popular meeting venue, with infrastructure and domestic knowledge enabling the organisation of highest-level international and domestic events. Due to the abundance of natural and cultural heritage in the area, Bled places special emphasis on environment protection and support for the development of green products. Bled is the best home for green meetings.

This year they hosted the Bled meeting of PEN (meeting of poets and authors from around the globe), World Rowing championships (with over 3,000 participants) and the Bled Strategic Forum.

The largest congress centre, the Bled Festival Hall can host congresses and other events with up to 500 participants. Besides the great hall it offers 3 smaller halls and during congresses requiring smaller halls, they offer cooperation with nearby hotels. Most halls are offered at Sava Hotels Bled. The largest hall in Golf hotel can accept up to 350 participants and has a large exhibition space, halls are also offered in hotels Grand Hotel Toplice, Park, Kompas, Lovec, Vila Bled, Hotel Triglav, Hotel Ribno, Hotel Jelovica, Hotel Astoria Bled, Hotel Krim.

The thousand year old Bled Castle with its elite location and unforgettable view has impressed a number of important statesmen and offers numerous possibilities to host different events.

The advantage of Bled is that everything is within

walking distance through the incredible natural environment of Lake Bled.

Accommodation capacities in Bled: 87 rooms in 5 star hotels 637 rooms in 4 star hotels 461 rooms in 3 star hotels 378 rooms in tourist apartments

Bled Tourist Board Cesta svobode 11 4260 Bled, Slovenia T: +386 (0)4 57 80 504 F: +386 (0)4 57 80 501 E: marina.urevc@dzt.bled.si www.bled.si

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CONGRESS LJUBLJANA

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A New Crystal on the Ljubljana Skyline The Crystal Palace (Kristalna palača) is a new business centre with conference facilities and a shopping arcade with select brands, providing an attractive space both for work and relaxed socialising. Its recent opening on 1 September 2011 was marked by a spectacular event in the presence of the President of the Republic of Slovenia and the Mayor of Ljubljana. With its 89 metres of height, it is now the tallest building in Slovenia.

The tower, featuring twenty floors, is not only a new city architectural landmark but, as a model of perfection, sets an array of new engineering standards. Due to its first-class technological and ecological materials, its own solar power plant, sophisticated, modern architecture with a shimmering glass facade and an elegant and comfortable interior, it creates a unique new type of public space in the city. The entire investment by the BTC d.d. company is worth 57.5 million Euro.

In alignment with the company’ sustainability measures, the solar plant with a power of 80 KWp generates 2% of the required electric energy.

Due to its own innovative Ecoindex business model, aimed at the environmental monitoring and assessment, BTC d.d. was recently named the “Environmentally friendly company 2010”, awarded

by the Finance newspaper and the Slovenian Eco Foundation (Ekosklad). This entitles the company to apply in 2012, on behalf of Slovenia, for the European Business Awards for the Environment, conferred by the European Commission, Directorate-General for the Environment.

The building of the Crystal Palace is also intended for meetings and events. It features a multipurpose hall which can welcome up to 200 people theatre-style, and can be divided into two individual sections or adjusted to meet the needs of different events by changing the seating arrangements. Natural daylight, the provision of large quantities of fresh air and top-notch ventilation of the hall ensure the well-being and comfort of event participants.

The hall is equipped with state-of-the-art conference technology, three simultaneous interpretation booths and system, professional audio-/video equipment, wireless central control, broadband wireless internet access as well as one standard and two additional mobile large-screen monitors. The modern technological equipment enables clients to record the event and archive it, and it is possible to receive an audio recording of the event immediately after its conclusion, thus adding to the environmentally friendly meeting

experience provided by the building itself.

On the second floor a large open air platform, named the Green Terrace, can be used for receptions and events. A gourmet restaurant, DiVino, which occupies a part of the terrace, and the top-floor Twenty Cafe, with a stunning view to the north, provide a high quality gastronomic experience, as well as catering for events.

The Crystal Palace is located in the BTC shopping area, which is one of the largest business, shopping, recreational, entertainment and cultural centres in Europe. It attracts more than 21 million visitors every year, and features more than 450 shops, restaurants and bars, the Atlantis Water Park, Sports Centre, a bowling alley, a casino, a multiplex cinema, a theatre, 8,500 free parking spaces and a free shuttle bus service within the BTC area. By mid 2012, a four star hotel with 200 rooms is due to open there, adding another important element to its attractiveness.

The overall design of the Crystal Palace complex aims to create an environment where people will meet for business as well as for pleasure.

Therefore it strives at the same time to meet the highest expectations and requirements of its users regarding architecture, environmental standards, creativity and residential comfort.

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CONGRESS LJUBLJANA

Hotel CUBO synonymous with excellence By now I’m sure you are aware the team behind CUBO projects strives for excellence in everything we do. We have created CUBO – one of the more popular culinary destinations in Ljubljana, we received a number of prestigious international prizes for “CUBO deserts” and “CUBO at home” – from the award for best book of deserts in the world, to two “red dot” awards for design.

Now we are on the threshold of a new milestone: we made a hotel. Hotel CUBO is just like everything else wearing the name CUBO: excellent, innovative, without compromise on quality. It offers the guests many things – from a peaceful relaxed ambient in the centre of Ljubljana, to a fresh design and top-notch furniture, to exquisite culinary offer.

The hotel is located on Slovenska cesta, opposite SNT Drama Ljubljana. It is therefore close enough for the guests to reach the Old town in just a few paces, yet far enough from the city bustle, to ensure the guests’ rest and relaxation. www.hotelcubo.com

Perla Conference Centre A new style of business experiences …

Are you organizing a business event and you wish for something new?

Come to the sunny Nova Gorica, where you can intertwine business events with interesting and attractive experiences – games of chance, entertainment, relax, sports, shopping, wine and gastronomic journeys.

We have everything you need – well-arranged halls, comfortable hotels, excellent restaurants, state-of-the-art technology and skilled personnel who will help you organize an event as you planned at the Perla Conference Centre or elsewhere in Nova Gorica and its picturesque surroundings.

Custom-made and turnkey solutions.

Info: t +386 5 331 13 41 booking@hit.si www.hit.si www.thecasinoperla.com

TERME 3000 MORAVSKE TOPLICE, KranjËeva 12, SI - 9226 Moravske Toplice Tel.: 00386 2 512 22 00, 22 80 E-mail:info@terme3000.si www.terme3000.si

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OLYMPIC GAMES: WHAT HAS IT MEANT FOR CANADA’S MC&IT INDUSTRY?

The economic impact of meetings booked to date between 2011 and 2015 at the new OCC has more than doubled since last year

As part of the Olympic Games tourism strategy, the CTC promoted Canada as a country with state-of-the-art media, convention, meeting and sports facilities and with experience executing world-class international events. Amongst the important achievements making an impact on the MICE industry are:

Refreshed tourism brand The Olympic podium was the platform to advance Canada’s tourism brand internationally, adding depth and dimension to the country’s image as a premier tourism destination andfrom that came the promotion of Canada to the MICE market.

Susan has been with the Canadian Tourism Commission for over 10 years working to develop the U.S. Insurance Meetings and Incentive business for Canada for the first 7 years out of her 10 year career with the CTC. She served on a six member Hospitality Board for FICP (Financial and Insurance Conference Planners) formerly known as ICPA (Insurance Conference Planners Association). Last 3 years with the CTC she served in the capacity as Director, International Meetings and Incentives working to develop the international meetings market for Canada focusing on France, Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

Prior to the CTC Susan worked for Travel Alberta International from 1998 to 1999 as the in-market Sales representative in the Washington Metropolitan area concentrating on the association and corporate markets.

Susan spent 16 years with Canadian Pacific Hotels and Resorts, today know as Fairmont Hotels between the years 1982 to 1998 as Executive Director of their Global Sales Network.

Improved infrastructure A new wing to the Vancouver Convention Centre, the Ottawa Convention Centre; a highway running between Vancouver and Whistler and a train running from airport to downtown Vancouver with a commuting time of only 15 minutes.

Behind the Scenes Programme During the Games, the CTC hosted presidents, CEO’s and executive directors representing more than 12,000 business travellers in order to build high-level relationships with these influential senior executives and to show Canada as a first-rate meeting destination. CTC reinforced the message that “Canada has the infrastructure, quality and unique attributes to host the world.”

The programming gave the most senior meeting planning professionals and decisionmakers a “Behind the Scenes” look at what it takes to host the world’s most high-profile and complex event. With the message, “If we can host an event of this calibre successfully, we are the perfect country to host your meeting/ convention/event,” the CTC sought to market both Canada and the CTC as experts in the MC&IT realm.

The program was facilitated by one of the CTC’s strategic platform partners and as a result, participating clients received education credits to be applied toward industry meeting planning designations. The Behind the Scenes program was so successful that it has become an Olympic Legacy piece for the CTC and the Behind the Scenes format has been utilized with other significant events such as the G8/ G20 Summit and the Toronto International Film Festival. To date, the CTC has secured almost $10 million in tentative business leads and $1 million in definite business for Canada.

Canada has consolidated its image as a first-class destination to host high profile sporting events.

Montréal has been chosen as the host city of 15 major swimming events between 2011 and 2016, including Canada’s 2012 London Swimming Trials, the rigorous Canadian Olympic Swim Team selection meet for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Over the six-year period, Montréal will welcome competitors and visitors to the Canada Cup (2012–2016), the Nations Cup (2016), the Age Group Championships (2011, 2013, 2015), the Summer Nationals (2013, 2015), the Swimming Trials (2012, 2014), and the Eastern Canadian Championships (2013, 2016). This is the most important agreement between a sports federation and Montréal, not to mention that the 15 events will generate over 70,000 room nights in total.

The destination keeps enhancing its range of facilities – Opening of the Ottawa Convention Centre in April 2011 and Niagara Falls, Ontario which has also opened their new Convention Centre during the same month.

The Ottawa Convention Centre (OCC), Canada’s most sophisticated conference facility, officially opened its doors recently on 12th April. A stunning modern design, situated in the midst of one of Canada’s most historic architectural landscapes has positioned the

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OCC as Ottawa’s new iconic building, with technological and environmental advances that could not have been achieved as recently as five years ago.

“As of today the OCC is holding space for more than 90 conventions up to the year 2015, and 10 per cent of these are international events that could not have previously considered Ottawa a viable meeting place due to a lack of suitable facilities,” said Patrick Kelly, President of the OCC. The economic impact of meetings booked to date between 2011 and 2015 at the new OCC has more than doubled since last year. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or the total monetary value of all goods and services produced as a result of meetings currently scheduled to take place at the OCC, rose from a projected $63 million in June 2009 to over $200 million in December 2010. Employment impact is also expected to double from 1,200 to 2,900 jobs.

Vancouver set to maintain its position as a winning player Vancouver is once again North America’s top destination for international meetings, according to a report released by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). Each year, the association ranks cities based on the number of international meetings hosted in the previous year. Vancouver hosted 58 meetings in 2010, more than any other city in North America.

The city tied for 33rd place with Santiago de Chile, surpassing renowned meeting destinations like Montreal, Washington and Chicago. The ICCA has ranked Vancouver as North America’s top meeting destination for more than three years.

2011 North America Outgames comes to Vancouver – Vancouver was in the sporting spotlight once again as host of the 2011 North America Outgames, from 25th to 31st of July. Up to 4,000 gay-friendly participants from around

the world converged on the city for a week of athletic competition, workshops and partying.

Among the 18 featured sporting events are familiar favourites like badminton, volleyball and swimming, while the range of less conventional offerings include poker, dragon boat racing and bowling. The event also featured a three-day human rights conference that focuses on critical issues affecting LGBT communities.

With the versatility of the venues and the commitment from the CTC to keep promotional efforts as a priority new leads are definitely expected to take place and increase the desire to bring meetings to Canada.

76 Kongres destination

YEAR OF THE DRAGON

Chinese economy has continued to strengthen, surpassing Japan to now sit behind the US

With flatlining European economic forecasts contrasting starkly with surging Asian growth, this year’s CIBTM event in Beijing was a timely profile of China’s expanding MICE industry.

Artemis Skordili and Rob Cotter were there to review the event and interview some key people on China’s progress and what South East Europe can learn from Asia’s success.

As the political seat of one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations, Beijing is a living palimpsest of Chinese history. Having been renamed several times and twice had its ‘northern capital’ status revoked through dynastic change, since 1949 and the victory of Mao Zedong’s Communist Party of China (CPC) in the Chinese Civil War; it has performed its reinstated capital role with growing vigour and purpose.

A central pillar of Beijing’s capital responsibility is to develop China’s regional and international trade and tourism profile.

One of the greatest tourist triumphs of recent years was the city’s hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games. The globally heralded games and the phenomenally high standard of the venues, accommodation and organisation were a clear signal of China’s economic ascent and Beijing’s confidence in hosting large-scale events.

Following the Olympics the Chinese economy has continued to strengthen, surpassing Japan to now sit behind the US, forecasts suggesting that it will displace the US over the next decade to become the world’s foremost economic power. With such rapid economic growth comes a heightened importance of the mechanics of successful enterprise. The potency of constructive meetings is a bedrock of this and Beijing is pivotal to the heart of the world’s single largest MICE market, one that, given the unprecedented pace and scale of the country’s growth, is at an early stage of a long and exciting journey.

The 6th CIBTM, held August 30th – Sep 1st 2011 in the China National Convention Centre (CNCC) was the prime place to get an

overview of Beijing and China’s ambitions for its MICE standing in the region and beyond. Previously the Olympic International Broadcast and Main Press Centre, this imposing edifice was refitted post-Olympics and reopened as the CNCC in late 2009. With a plenary hall that can seat 5,700 delegates, a ballroom for up to 4,200 people, an auditorium for 350 delegates and approximately 100 small meeting rooms, this vast facility of 270,000m2 gross floor area is the largest of its kind in

Some of the statistics of the 2011 CIBTM are further indications of the strength of the industry’s growth: with almost 400 exhibitors and over 300 hosted buyers, up 21% and 25% respectively, this year’s event was the biggest to date.

Asia. Its first full year of operation welcomed over 600 events – including 14 international exhibitions and 54 international conferences – that saw more than 700,000 visitors cross the building’s threshold. This year these figures are set to be eclipsed.

In addition to this there were more than 7,000 pre-scheduled appointments, a sharp rise on 2010 figures. Running parallel to the exhibitions was an impressive education programme – ‘China Meetings Week’ – which included both SITE and ICCA events as well as three highly informative and popular sessions from Meeting Professionals International (MPI), two of which were CMP accredited.

Such notable growth and a focus on improvement through education is unsurprising, being heavily supported by both the China National Tourist Administration and Beijing Municipal Government. In setting out targets for CIBTM, Mr Sun Weijia, Vice Director of the Beijing Municipal Commission

of Tourism Development, stated that “we will strive to make CIBTM the top event for the MICE industry in the Asia-Pacific region within five years.”

Going by the figures to date, they are well on their way to achieving this and a solid framework is in place to ensure they do. The CNCC is an ideal spot, equidistant from both city centre and airport. The building adjoins an area that is now China’s most popular tourist attraction: the Olympic Green area with the Bird’s Nest stadium, the National Indoor Stadium and the Water Cube. Being a flexible facility able to cater for any size of event within a popular hub, it is perfect for hosting the growing demands of CIBTM. Moreover, whilst there are a number of top international hotels in the close vicinity (and one directly adjoining the CNCC), for visitors desiring the absolute pinnacle of service the locale now boasts one of only three 7-star hotels in the world. The Pangu Hotel, designed by renowned architect C.Y. Lee, directly overlooks the Bird’s Nest stadium and offers unparalleled ‘presidential’ levels of service in its opulent surroundings, with iconic nighttime views from its two roof terraces. An exquisite accommodation experience, it also has two ballrooms and seven meeting rooms, should more intimate post-exhibition facilities be required. Such meetings can, if needed, also be continued and closed in one of the hotel’s 26 sumptuous private dining rooms.

Beyond the CNCC, Beijing also has a number of other high-quality venues and an incredible hotel offer, stretching well beyond the 200,000 room mark distributed across 778 star-rated hotels (3* and higher). There is the 77,000m2 Beijing International Convention Centre (BICC) catering for up to 2,500 delegates; the China World Trade Centre; the National Agricultural Exhibition Centre (NAEC) and Beijing Exhibition Centre (BEC); and recently the New China International Exhibition Centre (NCIEC), with 100,000m2 of exhibition space as well as a shopping mall, hotels and convention and meeting space.

In spite of such extant wealth of infrastructure,

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China’s potential for growth is recognised as the greatest in the world and its litmus test will ultimately be success in the capital.

It will therefore be essential for external event organisers to work closely with Beijing authorities – and here lies the first major challenge. To date Beijing still does not have a CVB in place, an anomaly for a city of this scale.

“By the end of the year, the policy will be done and a CVB will be set up with a specific group of people to assist professional companies bringing events to Beijing,” assured Mr Sun Weijia. “This will include preferential policies to encourage development of the local MICE industry. We will also encourage international organisations and companies to be installed in Beijing and work from Beijing. We may also facilitate administrative and logistic procedures and support local companies in bidding for international events.

There may also be subsidies by way of financial support.”

“It is important to remember,” added Mr Sun Weijia, “that Beijing has unique advantages for MICE resources: transport, infrastructure and education are all in place for the acceleration of the MICE industry.”

In addition to these advantages, the benefits of developing a close relationship with the Beijing Tourist Administration (BTA) and forthcoming CVB may also be to access venues that can significantly raise the profile of an event – these could include networking functions at the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, the Summer Place and a number of amazing venues on Beijing’s cultural map.

The BTA is addressing policy and regulation barriers to many public monuments in an effort to increase the register available for functions, further increasing the attractiveness of the city’s event profile.

For all of these, initiatives are either under consideration or under way, making Beijing an operational catalyst with suitable innovation for problem-tackling that can be utilised across China. Despite an abundantly diverse supply of convention centres, accommodation and

potential networking venue highlights, there are challenges ahead for both Beijing and China. These are both macro – such as visa complexities, strong regional competition and the need to nurture PMOs and PCOs – as well as micro, such as supporting city navigation for visitors and helping with translation services, including boosting English language availability.

2012 is the Chinese Zodiac’s ‘Year of the Dragon’, important in being both national symbol and zodiac sign signifying success.

China’s economic growth is an unmitigated success: international awareness of a business presence in and developing stronger connections with China is increasing daily.

The success of the CIBTM, with an eye on becoming Asia’s top MICE event within five years, will look forward to celebrating 2012’s Year of the Dragon with even more recordbreaking figures. This is clearly China’s time.

As capital city, it is clearly Beijing’s too.

Artemis Skordili is a TV reporter and freelance journalist based in Athens, Greece.

Rob Cotter is a freelance journalist based in London, UK.

78 Kongres personalities

ENFANT TERRIBLE

Mladjan Miskeljin

Could you introduce yourself in two sentences – one describing you as a private and other as a public person?

I think that the hardest thing is to describe yourself, so I will be short – 10 years of working experience, always insistent, positive and analytical, providing you with all the information regarding Serbian meetings potentials.

Which are your favourite magazines from the area of tourism?

I like magazines with interesting stories and useful themes – for instance I liked the article in Kongres about the use of football stadiums for meeting events or AMI who is dealing with problems that association meeting planners face with.

Which was the last book you read and which book would you recommend to our readers?

The last book I read is by Emir Kusturica “Death is an Unverified Rumour” autobiography and chronicle made up of stories in which Kusturica, describing people and events, does not spare himself from others.

I would definitely recommend “The power of your subconscious mind” by Joseph Murphy.

Which was the last event you attended?

Belgrade Beer Fest, 5 days of good music and fine beer Which was the last movie you saw?

The last movie I saw was Pirates of Caribbean 4 – wouldn’t recommend it.

How many foreign languages do you speak?

I speak English, Italian und ein bisschen Deutsch.

Who were your idols growing up and who are they today?

Never believed in idols but I like the work of “Google Guys”.

Which were your first and your current job?

Officially I started to work at the age of 16 in my father’s company, in distribution.

My current job involves creating the marketing strategies and innovative marketing tools in promoting Serbia as a meetings destination, online and database management.

Communication with international media, negotiation with international clients and organization of site inspections in the country and sell missions abroad. Also important to say is communication with local stakeholders and academic and professional representatives in the process of bidding for significant international events.

What are you most proud of?

Lately our tennis heroes led by Novak Djokovic.

What is the first thing you do when you come to work?

Reading the press clipping – that’s something I picked up from Christian Mutschlechner, director of Wien convention Bureau.

What do you miss most in Serbian and SE Europe’s meeting industry?

Awareness of regional potential in this industry both from the international market and our governments.

What influenced your life the most? Was it a person or an event?

Number of persons who I met so far.

Would you share your favourite places to visit in spring, summer, fall and winter?

Spring – My village Aleksandrovo in Vojvodina, Summer – Greece, Fall – Any European metropolis, Winter – Barcelona during EIBTM and for skiing Kopaonik Mountain resort.

Could you highlight your best and worse life experience?

Amongst many, for this purpose, I would choose entering in this amazing industry.

Worse I try not to recall.

Which success story from the area of tourism would you mention?

Guča trumpet festival – it is unbelievable that a place with less than 2,000 people attracts more than 500,000 visitors during the 4 day event.

Which marketing idea sticks out the most in the area of tourism?

The naked dentist guy as advertisement for Norway. Definitely brings a lot of attention and sparks a lot of talk.

What do you do in your free time?

Spend time with people who I care for the most.

Your life’s motto?

Hard work – the rest will follow.

79

CELUCH KRZYSZTOF, MANAGER OF POLISH TOURIST ORGANISATION

Kongres personalities

In a previous life I wanted to be a folklore dance instructor.

This story is generally crazy, but believe me, it is true. Just after I got my diploma as a folklore dance instructor, I wanted to establish a folklore and dance ensemble. Fortunately, at the same time I was earning money as a tour guide and finishing my bachelor's degree in incentive travel at the Academy of Physical Education in Warsaw. During a tour, one of my clients told me that if I was interested in business tourism I should join MPI.

It took a few weeks, but I finally understood what was going on and what MPI was about. When I did, I borrowed a credit card from my mom and became a member!

Krzysztof joined the meetings industry as a tour leader for a number of DMC’s in 2000 following a short career as an events coordinator in the SPA centre. As a journalist over a period of six years he published more than 100 articles about the meetings and events industry. Krzysztof has a Bachelors and Masters Degree from the Academy of Physical Education in Warsaw and Doctorate Studies from the Warsaw University.

Besides his active role in MPI Poland Club (President 2009–2011) and Site, he is a vicedean and lecturer in events management at the VISTULA University based in Warsaw and pro-rector at the College of Tourism and Recreation in Warsaw. In 2007 and 2008 he was nominated as one of The Meeting Professional Magazine's "30 people under 30 currently making an impact on the global meetings community". He is an MPI Global Training accredited trainer; he has the designation Certificate of Incentive and Travel Executive (CITE) and Certificate Meetings Management (CMM) and won the MPI RISE AWARD for Young Professional Achievement 2010

Later, when I found out about the MPI Foundation, I said to myself, ‚Let’s try.’ And I applied for a grant. Thanks to the MPI Foundation, I got a grant and graduated from PhD studies at the best college in Poland – Warsaw University.

I decided that university life is for me, so I started working for one of the best private tourism and hospitality universities in Poland. This year, I become vice-rector of this university and I am now responsible for more than 1000 students. It was not only a challenge but also a fascinating adventure. Working with young people is the most exciting thing I am currently doing except creating new projects.

Talking about this I have the pleasure to be manager of the Poland Convention Bureau, which is a part of Polish Tourist Organisation.

Working with a great team I am lucky to run different projects and together we are responsible for meetings and events industry and its promotion. Preparing new projects, creating campaigns and building an image of conference and incentive travel destination is our goal.

We want to “Move Your Imagination” and show that Poland is an interesting place to host meetings.

Thanks to this job I had the chance to be a part of really interesting projects like: Poland Meetings and Events Industry Report – which is an official report about this fast growing industry. In 2011 we will publish the second edition of the report and definitely we will prepare more. “IMEX Challenge Poland 2010” and “Back to the Garden” are two projects strictly connected with corporate social responsibility. Helping local families and meeting industry friends not in the office but outside, for example in a foster home, was something brand new to me but definitely worth doing.

Finally road shows, fam trips, presentations or meetings with international clients are everyday activities. Thanks to the motivation that I got from MPI friends, I earned my CMM and became an accredited trainer of MPI Global Training programs. Personally I am interested in incentive travel so this was an excellent kick to earn CITE – Certificate of Incentive Travel Executives by Site and prepare and write a book about motivational events, which will be launched at IMEX America this year.

From the beginning, MPI, SITE, ICCA members gave me the power to believe that this is a magic industry and it is worth working hard to succeed in it.

Combination of university theory and practical activities is exactly what I am trying to reach during Warsaw Future Leaders Forum – conference organized by students for students. This annual one day meeting with international experts is something which gives me the power to build and to invest in future professionals.

Now I see the results, and I know that anything is possible!

80 Examples & advice

Good practise examples

A bee flies... towards the beehive on the terrace of Cankarjev dom Client: Cankarjev dom Contractor: Cankarjev dom Date: 2011 Cankarjev dom strives to be an institution with a deep and refined ear not only for culture, but also for all forms of art, heritage, meetings organization as well as a profound respect for nature. Within our eco endeavours we strive to separate waste, decrease the number of printed materials and replace them as much as possible with other mediums. When planning a project we advise our clients to use locally produced goods and include local seasonal ingredients when putting together a menu.

Our newest environmental and social endeavour is beekeeping in Cankarjev dom. The idea for the beehive came from within, from beekeeper and assistant director of the technical sector in operations and maintenance, Franc Petrovčič.

The idea was dreamt up while coming across scientific articles on urban beekeeping in London and the beehives on the roof of the Paris Opera House. Cankarjev dom has the ideal

position for beekeeping. Despite its position in the city centre and proximity to landmarks and important institutions, it is also near the entrance of Landscape Park Tivoli, Rožnik and Šišenski hill, and near the Castle hill. This is why we decided to place five American bee hives LR with a capacity for 120.000 buzzing Carniola bees, picking honey in the green belt of Ljubljana, which always impresses congress participants from abroad with its vastness.

The city area offers favourable pasture for the bees and the vegetation is not sprayed against pest. The quality of the honey was confirmed as eatable by a recent analysis in the laboratory in Bremen, which is specialized to analyze honey in Europe. It doesn’t contain pesticide, free acids or heavy metal residue (lead, cadmium, etc.) and genetically modified organisms. Cankarjev dom thus gained a completely green, exclusive and unique product, which can proudly become a part of protocol gifts. www.cd-cc.si

Name of event: Session of the Main Committee of the Association for the Values of the Slovenian Independence Client: Association for the Values of the Slovenian Independence Contractor: Hotel Lev Date: 24 June 2011 Slovenia celebrated its 20th birthday on Friday, 24th of June 2011. To this end the Karantanija Hall at Hotel Lev was host to a ceremonial session of the Main Committee of the Association for the Values of the Slovenian Independence. “Today is not a time for dreaming; we must wake up,” the session was told by the prime minister of the first Slovenian democratic government, Mr. Lojze Peterle. Among the other keynote speakers were Mr. Igor Bavčar, Dr. Dimitrij Rupel and Mr. Janez Janša. The accompanying arts programme at the event, which drew wide media coverage, included the Sotočje Octet, Slovenski Octet and the Skala Ensemble.

The preparations saw Hotel Lev prepare the layout of the hall and service in line with the rules of protocol. Hotel Lev was delighted and honoured to have been entrusted with hosting such an important event. www.hotel-lev.si

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Gadgets

Examples & advice

Fair trade shop – the right place for your business gifts

premium. This effectively empowers the producers socially and economically.

The fair trade shop protects women and children against exploitation

For more information visit www.odjuga.si and www.3muhe.si or email: info@odjuga.si.

Many products one needs every day or wishes to give away as a gift can be bought in accordance with fair trade principles, thus eliminating a number of negative aspects dominating the international trade today. Fair trade protects small producers, particularly women and children, from exploitation by middlemen and corporations. Long term partnership and suitable jobs thus give hope for a better future.

Slovenian fair trade cooperative, Odjuga, sells artisan products, natural cosmetics and numerous ecological food items. Particularly popular among the latter is the Jambo Espresso, a distinctly aromatic species of Arabica coffee.

This species flourishes on the volcanic soil of Mount Elgon in eastern Uganda.

Coffee is the second most traded product in the world, next to oil. In Uganda, coffee trade amounts to nearly a half of the country’s export income. But the price of coffee is fluctuating considerably which means that the producers often cannot even cover the production costs.

Fair trade offers an efficient alternative: to pay for labour and production costs fairly and on top of that include a social and environmental

in the Machakos organisation. Machakos collaborates with more than 20 local women groups and 6 crafts cooperatives which represent over 6,000 individuals. Among others, the Machakos assists the producers in penetrating foreign markets, in conceiving and developing new products. Apart from this, the organisation is also involved in coordinating education activities.

Within this system of work and trade a producer is paid twice the price she would get in the local market. www.odjuga.si, www.3muhe.si

Ever thought about buying a paperweight?

Odjuga shop is the right place to buy By purchasing a product in the Fair Trade system individuals and enterprises can use their shopping power positively and join in the ever growing group of socially responsible and environmentally aware people. Moreover, the inquisitive mind will likewise find joy in exploring artisan skills thriving in different cultures.

Paperweights are made of soapstone by Kenyan master craftsmen and women who are gathered

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83

UNFORGETTABLE EVENT IN TARTINI SQUARE WITH VIVO CATERING

Are you looking for catering at the highest level?

The team of Vivo Catering hosted a number of very demanding foreign guests at Tartini square in Piran on September 16th. We prepared a gala dinner at the highest culinary level which inspired not only our guests, yet also passersby and Piran locals.

The guests’ sweet tooth was spoilt with selected sweet bites and by getting to know deserts of Slovenian origin. Music group Jararaja took care of the musical pampering, making the ambiance even more magical and suitable for an event at this level.

The team of Vivo Catering played a very important role. Throughout the morning the locals and passersby guessed, who of the world famous stars is visiting the Slovenian coast this time. There was even a rumour one of the most intriguing Hollywood couples is visiting us – Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Others claimed Kevin Costner, who was a guest of Vivo Catering at his last year’s concert, is coming for another visit.

Besides his visit, the team of Vivo catered to a number of well known and important global personalities, such as Monica Bellucci, David Guetta, Bill Clinton, Cherie Blair, Elizabeth II., the Queen of England, and we could go on.

Such a demanding culinary event was this time premiered at Tartini square. The smiles and happiness of our guests were evidence of a well executed event, which satisfied the expectations of even the most demanding guests.

Vivo Catering and Agency PROMO along with technical help of Tartini hotel prepared an unforgettable gala event. The ambiance was rustic with a hint of decor of fresh herbs, with selected plates, table cloths and glasses, painting an unforgettable coastal fairytale. The culinary staff of Vivo welcomed the German guests with a so called “špalir” or double row. The guests were enchanted by culinary pleasures of Slovenian dishes and thus got to know Slovenian culture.

Warm dishes with a smell, which awakened the taste buds of even the most demanding culinary connoisseurs, were prepared in pans in front of the guests and thus served as entertainment.

www.vivo.si

Foto: Luka Križnik

PR

84 PR

AIPC COLUMN BY AIPC PRESIDENT, EDGAR HIRT Virtual Meetings: What are the Prospects?

The sudden emergence of virtual meetings as a real factor in the meetings industry has left a lot of people struggling to decide if they represent an enhancement to more traditional formats or a threat that will eventually end up replacing face to face meetings. In reality, the answer is likely a bit of both.

Edgar Hirt is the President of the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC); and Managing Director of CCH, Congress Center Hamburg

AIPC is the pre-eminent international association of convention centres, with a mission of encouraging, supporting and recognizing excellence in centre management.

It’s global network of over 165 leading centres in 53 countries, combined with the active involvement of more than 650 centre management professionals ensures a broad and diversified level of industry knowledge and expertise, while its wide variety of program activities supports members in developing and enhancing their skills in the areas of operations, finance, technology, staff development, marketing, client relations and sustainability.

In trying to determine where this issue is leading, it helps to take a look at how it developed. The sudden emergence of virtual meetings can be attributed to four things, any one of which would have advanced the level of interest in this format. However, they appear to be interacting with each other to create a synergy that has resulted in a lot more impact than any might have had on their own.

Furthermore, each is likely to become even more of a factor in the years ahead.

The first is the lingering effect of the recent global recession, which created a lot of concern over cost management and led to questioning the value of meetings-related travel. Anything that could enable participation in essential business interactions while reducing or even eliminating related travel expenses was obviously pretty attractive in this situation, and virtual meetings certainly met this requirement admirably. The real question was whether or not such meetings could actually deliver the same kind of results, which brings us to the next point.

At the same time, the technology was getting a lot better – what only a few years earlier involved delayed reactions, fuzzy images and a real sense of disconnection has been replaced by real time interactions with the kind of resolution that was able to convey a lot of the reality of a meeting situation far more effectively. This will only get better in the future, which means that users can expect further improvement as the various formats evolve. This better technology was logically leading to better outcomes as virtual meetings were delivering more of what a meeting was all about.

Third, the way for virtual meetings was being paved by a lot of other forms of electronic interaction that made it much less foreign as a way of relating to transactions. A whole generation is moving into place for whom Internet-based interfaces are the primary means of communications, and these had already penetrated more traditional meetings formats extensively via pre, post and intra communications that were increasingly associated with meetings.

And, finally, there were increasing concerns around the impacts that meetings, conventions and exhibitions with their associated travel were having on sustainability and environmental concerns. Meetings by definition involve travel simply in order to gather together people from different places and while this is likely a lot more efficient than the multitude of smaller meetings that might have to take place in order to achieve the same volume of interactions, they made a tempting target for those looking to assign blame for things like climate change and excessive energy use.

All of this created fertile ground for the promotion of virtual meetings as viable and attractive alternatives. The real question, however, remains: do virtual meetings actually deliver the full spectrum of benefits of their face to face counterparts – and if not, does it really matter in the face of other benefits to be achieved such as those described above? As an example, the cost-savings realized in a period of economic concern are likely to remain attractive even as economic conditions improve, and sustainability concerns aren’t likely to go away anytime soon.

The current view of many in the industry is that the need to meet face to face will remain, and that more than anything virtual meeting technology will strengthen the value of meetings and conventions by expanding their scope and reach to participants, presenters and even content that would not otherwise be accessible. Some of the early research supports this notion. However, the real question is whether or not this is a kind of transitory stage which will lead to greater comfort with accessing group discussions and presentations without actually having to attend – and if, as some now content, they will drain rather than drive attendance over the longer term.

The fact is, none of us know the answer to this – and even the answers we are getting today may not be what actually happens as both the formats and the technologies evolve even further. However, the one thing that can be said is that virtual meetings are now a reality and need to be addressed from that perspective.

As professionals involved in the industry, we all need to not simply keep a close eye on how this develop but actually play as much of a role as we can in its outcome.

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ROVINJ, A NEW MICE DESTINATION Hotel Lone – a new five star hotel in Rovinj

Maistra, the leading hotel company in Croatia, opened a new five star hotel in Rovinj – Hotel Lone. It’s the first Design hotel in Croatia which will offer fine dining restaurants, wellness and nine congress halls, the largest of which can seat up to 650, will be the heart of Maistra’s MICE offer. Hotel Lone is one of the largest greenfield projects in Croatian tourism in the last few years with an investment of around 46 million euro.

The advantages of destination Rovinj as a congress destination can be seen through top notch MICE infrastructure, hard to find even in much larger cities, cleverly combined with the charm of a Mediterranean town. This is what makes it unique in the wider region. Its framework consists of the capacity of 4,000 hotel beds, almost 60 % of which are in 4 or 5 star hotels (hotel Lone, Monte Mulini, Eden and Istra), as well as the space of the former tobacco factory with numerous exhibition spaces and multipurpose halls, the two largest with the capacity of 1,500. Maistra’s hotels in Rovinj offer 30 halls and a number of complementary

Airport Portorose

services, such as wellness and sports, gastronomy and tailor made trips throughout the destination and wider.

Besides the quality of Maistra’s congress capacities the characteristics of Rovinj offer a great advantage, even the geographic position of the destination as one of the closest Mediterranean congress destinations for countries of Central and Western Europe.

Good road connections and proximity of six international airports are advantages appreciated by all congress organizers and participants. www.maistra.com

PR

86 PR

ZAGREB – THE PERFECT DESTINATION IN CROATIA FOR THE UPCOMING PERIOD Let Atlas be your host in Zagreb

Whether organizing small business meetings or conferences with over a thousand participants, your ideal organizer has to show hospitality, the best of the destination and simultaneously meet all your specific requirements.

It may seem that the story of a country with Croatia’s many assets – a thousand islands, incredible natural diversity, wonderful countryside and rich cultural heritage – is not difficult to tell. Only Atlas people fully understand the challenge of introducing all the beauty in Croatia, people who devote their knowledge, effort and love every day.

The warmth is symbolized by the trademark of Zagreb – the heart. We should also mention a mechanical pen which was first patented in Zagreb by the engineer Eduard Slavoljub Penkala. The necktie is also an original Croatian product, nowadays a fashion accessory you cannot avoid. Zagreb offers you original medieval and golf tournaments, events with the magnificent view, Orient express event, events in the city open market… We invite you to come and make your own story about Zagreb.

For more information please contact: + 385 1 4698 008; congress@atlas.hr, incentive@atlas.hr.

Zagreb has proven to be a great host to many international congresses, corporate meetings, cultural and sporting events, and a place where true professionalism is combined with an honest and open heart. Sophisticated and ebullient, Zagreb will sneak into your heart almost imperceptibly – its trams with their typical blue colour, the charm of the old days and the warmth are not easy to forget.

Meetings & Events in Croatia Whether organizing small business meetings or conferences with over a thousand participants, this specialist department for meetings, incentive travels, conferences and events takes care that every operation is immaculate.

Intelligently combining traditional standards and latest trends has made Atlas conference experts a host of satisfied clients throughout the world.

Organization of special events tailored to business type or location, catering services for a full gourmetexperience, spa and wellness services, daytrip programmes, creative workshops and entertainment all are meticulously planned, down to the finest detail.

Atlas d.d., Tel.: + 385 1 4698 008, Fax: + 385 1 4698 052 www.atlas-croatia.com, congress@atlas.hr, incentive@atlas.hr

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88 PR

GRAEME BARNETT, EXHIBITION DIRECTOR OF EIBTM

80% of European respondents predicting better business conditions than in 2010

Can you please introduce some statistics, forecasts for EIBTM 2011?

Graeme Barnett possesses over 16 years of experience in the global exhibitions industry working for Reed Exhibitions, the name behind the world’s leading portfolio of trade and consumer events.

Having spent 5 years working on a number of key projects in the UK business (including acquisitions & venue development & planning) Graeme moved to Reed Travel Exhibitions in 2001 as Event Director on World Travel Market, responsible for the development and execution of the events strategy following its move to ExCeL in 2002.

In 2006, Graeme joined Reed Travel Exhibitions Meetings & Incentives portfolio to head the team responsible for the successful launch of GIBTM in Abu Dhabi (in 2007) together with the re-launch of CIBTM in Beijing in 2009.

Graeme has recently been promoted to Exhibition Director, EIBTM and will be responsible for leading the events’ future development and growth. Graeme also takes responsibility for the development of the global sales strategy for RTE’s Meetings & Events portfolio

EIBTM is independently audited by ABC so all numbers relating to the event are not qualified until post show. We don’t predict numbers other than to say that each year we bring together over 14,200 meetings industry professionals from across the globe, more than 8,300 meetings and event planners and buyers are expect this year and we can say that we will have more than 3,800 top level international decision makers guaranteed through the Hosted Buyer programme.

Perhaps of greatest importance from a stats perspective is the number of business appointments that we expect for 2011. Last year some 57,300 PSA’s took place and we look to deliver even more this year as the number of meetings per Hosted Buyer is to increase from 6 – 7 per day so we expect up to a further 4,500 diary appointments during the show.

What is new this year? Will there be any novelties?

There are lots of exciting new features and events this year. Perhaps the most visible will be the Future Events Experience – This new live experience will provide an insight into how future conferences and meetings will be run and how social technologies are going to re-shape attendees experiences. In partnership with SyncPartners, the ‘Future Events Experience’ will incorporate innovative speaker presentations, a live demonstration area, technology showcase and networking opportunities for all.

For 2011 we will be launching our first event APP, enabling EIBTM participants to get full information about the event and plan their visit on their mobile device. During the show, there will be news and updates as well as reminders about key events taking place during the show.

We also currently have the following new exhibitors: Great Hotels of the World, Hungarian National Tourist Office, the Moscow

Exhibition & Convention Agency, Finland CBV, Morocco, NH Hotels, and Cyprus Tourism Organisation, The Kingdom of Bahrain, Riga Tourism Development Bureau, Concorde Hotels & Resorts, Taj Hotels, the Balearic Islands and H10 Hotels.

New technologies are becoming very important in the meetings industry. How will you incorporate them in your show?

EIBTM has always focused on this growing area and our Technology Village has increased in size exponentially. Asides from the Future Events Experience, EIBTM will be running a number of Technology Education sessions.

The now famous Technology Hour will take place everyday in the Lecture Theatre on the Show floor and topics will highlight what’s relevant and what impacts this industry today and tomorrow. From social media and mobile technology to iPads and tablets, there will be a range of debates and discussions.

We have also had record-breaking levels of entry this year for the EIBTM Technology Watch awards. The EIBTM Technology Watch is the most high profile and longest running technology recognition scheme for innovation in the meetings and events industry. The programme is dedicated to creating a platform for companies to demonstrate new and innovative technology solutions that make a real difference to the meeting and event planner’s business.

Last year there were many exhibitors from region of SE Europe at EIBTM. What are predictions for this year?

This year we have Slovakia and Serbia increasing their stand space. Returning in 2011 are Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro and coming back after a year’s absence is Romania. We also have a brand new exhibitor in Georgia! Add to this Italy and Turkey and the area of SE Europe is well represented.

89 PR

Do you believe buyers from SE Europe are important for your show? How many did you have last year and would you like to increase these numbers?

The quality of Hosted Buyer that comes to EIBTM is high with big spending volume and budgets on average of over $1m according to research undertaken by Reed Travel Exhibitions over the past two years of the show. By country we will have Hosted Buyers from Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Turkey, Montenegro, Austria, Bulgaria and Romania.

Every country is of great importance to us as they all work together in contributing to the global element of the show, bringing global business opportunities.

Do you believe SE Europe meetings industry is doing well? Where do you see our advantages and disadvantages?

That is difficult to say without having direct access to official inbound business tourism figures for each individual country and comparing like for like data over recent years.

What I can say is that destinations in the SE Europe region offer a really good mix of culture, infrastructure and meetings facilities which for obvious reasons are high on the list of essentials for meeting planners. The general economic uncertainty has and will continue to force many European meeting planners to look closer to home so this should present destinations and service providers with opportunities to win increasing level of business. Without doubt the ever increasing network and availability of low cost airlines has opened up new and existing destinations which has led to the emergence of new entrants such as Georgia who will be exhibiting at EIBTM for the first time.

Advantages remain the variety of product offer available – the disadvantages remain for some of the lesser known destinations ability to market themselves to the global audience and in some cases the lack of high quality venues and sufficient hotel rooms.

In last issue we published interview with Mr. Roger Tondeur and he said that now their main focus is Brazil, India and China?

Do you also focus on these markets or is Europe still the main focus of EIBTM? The BRIC countries have been important for quite a while, interestingly Reed Exhibitions as a company is now setting its sights on other developing countries. EIBTM as a whole though aims to be representative of the world and with more than 3000 exhibitors representing over 90 countries expected this year, the BRIC countries are still important to our event and this year India has some 14 exhibitors so far, China is represented by both Beijing and Shanghai Tourism Administration along with their sharing partners and Embrator will once again fly the flag for Brazil.

How important do you believe CVBs are for destination, country? What is their major role?

The primary role of most CVB’s is to represent their destinations and to help in the development of the community by bringing in meetings, conferences, events and business travellers. CVB’s are in many cases the first point of contact for meeting planners to assist them in locating meetings space, accommodation, local attractions and other sites. There are many advantages not least because they act as a liaison between the planner and the community they serve so they have the “whole picture” at their finger tips to help across the board with RFP’s. Many offer the service at no cost to the planner or co-ordinator.

There are some economists that are already predicting a new economic crisis. What is your opinion – should meetings industry start preparing for it?

At last year’s EIBTM, Rob Davidson presented the annual EIBTM Industry Trends Report where he outlined a vision for the general economic climate as a “mixed picture” and the

full report is available on www.eibtm.com, but highlights showed that there is a clear majority feeling optimistic about the future and MPI Business Barometer this year also showed 80% of European respondents predicting better business conditions than in 2010 and increases in the number of meetings to be held plus a 5% increase in average meetings and events spend. So it’s not all doom and gloom, but stock market jitters might make things volatile but we all still have to meet, look to the future, plan strategies and develop businesses despite the ups and downs of economics.

The Global Meetings & Events Exhibition 29 November – 1 December 2011 Fira Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain

Five star business opportunities for the meetings and events industry See you at EIBTM 2011

Find out more at www.eibtm.com/kongress EIBTM is part of the Reed Travel Exhibitions Meetings and Events Portfolio

organised by

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CARINA BAUER, CEO OF IMEX GROUP

PR

Total economic output of the meetings industry in the US is $907 billion

There are many global and European industry trade shows out there– why should someone participate at IMEX America?

As CEO of IMEX Group Carina Bauer, and her team’s mantra, is creating mega exhibitions and mega business, educational and networking opportunities for the worldwide meetings, events and incentive travel industry. A part of IMEX since 2002 and CEO since 2009, Carina is responsible for operations, strategic partnership management, PR and select marketing initiatives for the IMEX in Frankfurt Show (celebrating its 10th anniversary in May 2012) and IMEX America (debuting in Las Vegas October 11-13, 2011.)

We think IMEX America (October 11th - 13th, 2011 at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas) is both unique and of great value to meetings industry professionals in Europe, North America and around the globe for a number of reasons.

When the show opens its doors it will be the largest tradeshow in the US – and the biggest hosted buyer event ever in that market – to address the business, networking and educational needs of the US meetings, incentive travel and events industry. As evidence of that we have 2,000 pre-qualified hosted buyers attending plus over 1,800 exhibiting companies from around the world. We also expect a few thousand additional trade attendees to attend.

Having this dynamic group of global industry professionals together in the US will stimulate new business in North America, Europe and globally, forge new relationships and provide an opportunity to share and bring back to the office best practices and fresh ideas.

Building on this, there are really five core reasons to attend: #1 New Business - The volume of north American and global industry business that our unique tools, such as the Online Appointment System is expected to generate is strong (as proven at IMEX Frankfurt where business volumes done at the show rose again last year by 12% compared to 2010). #2 Networking - The amount of networking opportunities that exist across the whole week – thanks to the co-location of 14 other key industry events and hundreds of other exhibitor events and receptions in Vegas around IMEX America – is unparalleled. Key co-located events include Site Nite North America, the PCMA International Summit and Site’s International Conference and more. #3 Education – All education – over 90 sessions in total – is rich in strategic business and skill/career developing content and provided free of charge, with new signature

education being provided by our Premier Education Provider, MPI. #4 It’s Free – The show itself is also free of any registration or entry fees, which is extremely unusual in the US. #5 Las Vegas – Vegas is a city which has an excellent reputation for delivering strong shows, conventions and large-scale business events as well as offering unparalleled entertainment and social opportunities.

Countries from SE Europe are smaller compared to many others who will participate or exhibit at IMEX America. Why should someone from such a small country be at IMEX America?

Countries and organizations of all sizes – from the very smallest on up have found business and educational value at IMEX in Frankfurt (which will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2012) and we expect the same positive dynamic at IMEX America.

The response from South East European countries and organizations to the first IMEX America has been strong and the reason is they want their own ‘slice of the pie’ – e.g. their share of the extremely powerful and influential US outbound market. CIC’s “Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy” study (2009/2010) revealed that the total economic output of the meetings industry in the US is $907 billion. Although this figure relates to direct impact on the US economy it also demonstrates the huge potential within this enormous market.

Equally, success is not all about size – as the global meetings market clearly demonstrates.

Smaller destinations especially can leverage their history, their character, their cultural and natural assets as well as other positives such as infrastructure, language and high levels of service to ‘punch above their weight’ in this market.

IMEX America presents all exhibitors with a chance to meet thousands of buyers who have a wide variety of meetings, incentive travel programs and events to place all year long.

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Do you believe SE Europe meeting industry venues are interesting to American buyers?

Yes. One of the great things about IMEX America is that hosted buyers and planners will be on the lookout for new and interesting destinations, ideas and relationships for future association and corporate programs.

South Eastern Europe offers great value and fresh options and with many leading global companies having offices and teams in the region (especially in the pharma, IT and financial service sectors). The region’s increasing strength and reputation in providing outsourcing and shared services also means it is achieving a consistently higher profile around the world.

Just one example is Estonia, which has just announced a strong increase in its technology conference business. According to a recent update, the country is now being perceived as a leader in e-government and e-banking and its extensive Wi-Fi network is also proving a strong draw for conference and event organisers.

Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Greece and Hungary are all going to be significant exhibitors at IMEX America and there are many more companies exhibiting either with DMCs, hotel groups, agencies or other organisations that provides meetings industry services in the South East European region. Countries represented include Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.

Which North American and other global destinations and organizations will exhibit at the show?

Among the 1,800 exhibiting companies at IMEX America will be an extraordinary diversity from the North American market, including 66 cities, regions and destinations which will be taking their own booths. Some of those exhibiting are: Anchorage, Boston, Canada, Chicago, Colorado, Hawaii, LA Inc, Las Vegas, Memphis, Monterey County, New Orleans, NYC, Orlando/ Orange County,

Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Scottsdale, St Louis, Texas, Travel Portland, Visit Florida, Washington DC and Yosemite. Hundreds of private sector companies, service providers, DMCs and hotel groups will also be exhibiting from the USA. Latin America has shown a strong appetite for space with Mexico, Argentina, Panama and Costa Rica all confirmed. Caribbean exhibitors too will be out in force including the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and the Caribbean Tourism Organisation.

Among the new show’s major European exhibitors will be Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Tourism Authority, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, London & Partners, Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey. In addition, Germany, Italy and Portugal are all taking very sizeable booths.

From other important world markets, Dubai and South Africa are confirmed plus a strong showing from Asia Pacific including Japan, New Zealand, China, Korea, Seoul, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Malaysia, who will all have a big presence and purpose-designed booths that will add colour, culture and visual interest to the show.

A total of 54 hotel groups will be taking their own booths, many of whom are working with the hosted buyer team to deliver their key clients to the show. Hotel groups include Associated Luxury Hotels, Carlson Hotels, Disney Resorts, Fairmont, Raffles, Swissotel, Four Seasons, Gaylord, Hard Rock, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Leading Hotels of the World, Marriott, Melia Hotels, Preferred, Ritz-Carlton, Starwood and Wyndham. The major Las Vegas properties are also represented including the Venetian/ Palazzo, MGM Group, Caesars Entertainment and the Wynn/ Encore.

THE HEART OF WHAT’S HAPPENING.

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The last word

Linda Pereira

THE FUTURE OF SE EUROPE MEETING INDUSTRY SEEMS BRIGHT Croatia has made great strides in all these areas hen I sat down to write this I suddenly thought, what does South East Europe mean? Who does it include? I actually (believe it or not) asked a few people which countries came to mind when speaking about South East Europe and the answers were very different.

At times even causing heated discussions. Did it include Greece and Cyprus? Did it include Hungary or even Turkey? It makes a big difference in our industry. Some destinations in this group are mature tourism destinations but only fledglings in the Meeting Industry and others are just emerging in both.

W

When we consider South East Europe we immediately associate some key words with the region, novelty, recent historical events, gastronomy, beautiful people and beautiful landscapes.

With the exception of novelty, none of the other words feature highly on the list of requisites for a meetings destination. I have, I must say, been guilty in the past of too quickly dismissing this region as too similar to differentiate between them and just looking

at it as a whole, or even to sit on the sidelines and wait for a little more experience locally before deciding to take my events there.

Recently (over the last 5 years) I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit a few cities in the region personally and have asked my staff to carry our followup research whenever my first impressions resulted in the destination being eligible for our in-house MI destination requirements list.

The conclusions have been that while some cities make wonderful incentive destinations, providing a large variety of options as regards activities, wow factor and quality services, they would not pass the test for anything other than small meetings. Others boast the infrastructure which is perfectly apt to host meetings right now but have not yet acquired enough reputation as regards professional expertise and others have all the right qualities but not the right positioning. Others have the hotel rooms but not the meeting venues; others have the venues and not enough rooms across all the categories – a must for association meetings. However most do not really know their own profile and what they are suited for and so have not been branding themselves correctly – in our industry this is of the utmost importance. Meetings, most destinations forget, are not about tourism.

They make use of the tourism infrastructure but they are about the business of knowledge

or business objectives. That is the language that must be spoken and here I believe is where the communication fails when promoting the region.

As a mere example Croatia has made great strides in all these areas. I am continually impressed but how much their figures are growing.

They have been able to reposition themselves for the MI sector and have become extremely pro-active. I have seen the destination grow in leaps and bounds, aggressively marketing to my colleagues and just as regards travel figures from my own destination, Croatia saw an increase of 39% in the number of travellers from Portugal just for 2010. Local suppliers have dedicated time to creating professional associations (namely the brand new meeting planners association), investment in certification for its professionals among other initiatives. Another excellent example is the very proactive Convention Bureau of Slovenia.

The professionalism in their targeting of international clients, their dedication to the sector both at a political and supplier level is impressive. The fact that they host Conventa which has metamorphosed into one of the

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most well-organised regional trade shows, has proven a wake-up call even to seasoned meeting industry professionals like myself.

But then Slovenia, like the region in general, has a lot of advantages. Very young, very well-educated travel and hospitality industry professionals, who understand the true meaning of “hospitality” and who are hungry for the business. They believe that if they raise their sights and see the possibilities they can achieve anything. This can-do attitude is one of the best features of the destination. The quality-cost ratio and the novelty factor are also added benefits.

If, like me in the past, our industry “boxes” all the countries of the region together and just sees them from one perspective, they will all seem very similar. This is not only a mistake but deprives the industry of expanding to new experiences and new ventures. If we exclude Turkey and Greece from this analysis (only because they a considered mature destinations), then none of the remaining group of countries appears in the top 40 worldwide meeting destinations and many of them not even in the top 100. For the region this is, from my perspective, actually great news. It means there is tremendous room for growth. They have a clean slate as a starting point and as such an open horizon in front of them. But here is where the truth becomes painful. They must implement well-thought

out marketing and branding strategies, differentiated from their tourism strategies.

There is a profound need to speak “client”. To create entities who understand the business of meetings, who speak the language and can deliver the project. It is necessary to take advantage of the compactness and endless possibilities of offerings that allow clients to benefit from more than two destinations because of closeness. The discourse must be one of benefits rather than logistics.

Differentiation but complementarity is added value for the region.

Local suppliers and meeting industry professionals must present a united destination positioning and the story that is then told must be one voice.

In conclusion the message I would leave for the region is one where the future seems bright. Of course to become a star in the meeting industry the region must up its marketing game and make it more accessible internationally. It would definitely benefit from greatly increased accessibility, more educational visits, from Ambassador Programmes but they already have a lot

of other advantages. Young dedicated professionals, already actively “networking” themselves onto the buyer’s horizon and the politicians are listening and watching.

They must be able to differentiate themselves positively from local competitors while still benefitting from synergies born out of such proximity.

A meeting industry business plan must be implemented but countries such as Slovenia and Croatia have, so far, taken the right road. They clearly understand that part of the experience is the variety of landscapes, restaurants and places to visit all compacted into short distances, the friendliness of the locals, the surprising taste of their wines and the exquisite quality of the food, now they must learn to sell the business value, and especially in today’s economy.

So what are we waiting for? Let’s talk business!

Linda Pereira, Executive Director of CPL EVENTS

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Meeting services spot

SLOVENIAN TOURIST BOARD Dimičeva 13 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia +386 1 5898 550 info@slovenia.info www.slovenia.info

CVB (National, Regional or Local CVB (CVB - Convention and Visitors Bureau) BELGRADE CONVENTION BUREAU Masarikova 5/IX 11000 Belgrade Serbia +381 11 3061-400 office@tob.co.rs www.tob.co.rs www.belgradetourism.org.rs

DUBROVNIK & NERETVA COUNTRY TOURIST BOARD 20 000 Dubrovnik Croatia +385 20 324 999 www.visitdubrovnik.hr info@visitdubrovnik.hr

MONTENEGRO CONVENTION BUREAU Rimski trg 47 81000 Podgorica Montenegro +382 (0) 20 235 157 mice@montenegro.travel www.montenegro.travel

LJUBLJANA TOURISM / CONVENTION BUREAU Krekov trg 10 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia +386 (0)1 306 45 94 convention@visitljubljana.si www.visitljubljana.si/meetings

OPATIJA CONVENTION & INCENTIVE BUREAU HR-51410 Opatija, V. Nazora 3 Croatia +385 51 271 710 convention.bureau@opatija-tourism.hr www.opatija-tourism.hr

SLOVENIAN CONVENTION BUREAU Dunajska 156 1000 Ljubljana +386 (0)1 569 1260 info@slovenia-convention.com www.slovenia-convention.com

RIJEKA CONVENTION BUREAU Užarska 14, 51000 Rijeka Croatia +385 51 315 716 convention@tz-rijeka.hr www.tz-rijeka.hr

MARIBOR TOURIST BOARD Partizanska 47 2000 Maribor Slovenia +386 2 234 66 08 www. Maribor.travel www.maribor-pohorje.si zzt@maribor.si

SERBIA CONVENTION BUREAU Čika Ljubina 8 11000 Belgrade Serbia +381 (11) 655 7 102 scb@serbia.travel www.scb.travel ZAGREB TOURIST BOARD AND CONVENTION BUREAU Kaptol 5 10 000 Zagreb Croatia T: +385 1 48 98 555 www.zagreb-convention.hr info@zagreb-convention.hr

PCO (Professional Congress Organiser)

GO SMART. GO CREATIVE. GO MICE.

GO®MICE d.o.o. Štihova ulica 4 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia +386 (0)1 430 51 03 info@go-mice.eu www.go-mice.eu www.go-mice.eu

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Meeting services spot

CANKARJEV DOM, CULTURAL AND CONGRESS CENTRE LJUBLJANA Presernova cesta 10 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia +386 (0)1 2417 122 congress@cd-cc.si www.cd-cc.si/congress

KOMPAS DMC Praﾅｾakova 4 1514 Ljubljana Slovenia www.kompasmice.om Contact: Ms Petra Tolja petra.tolja@kompas.si T: +386 1 2006 448

KONGRESNO-TURISTIﾄ君I SERVIS ALBATROS Ribenska cesta 2 4260 Bled Slovenia +386 (0) 45 780 350 Info@albatros-bled.com www.albatros-bled.com

LIBERTY INCENTIVES & CONGRESSES SLOVENIA Robbova 2 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia +386 1 232 11 71 info@liberty-slovenia.com www.liberty-incentive.net

DMC (Destination management company

DUBROVNIK TRAVEL Obala S. Radica 25 20 000 Dubrovnik Croatia +385 20 313 555 Croatia@DubrovnikTravel.com www.DubrovnikTravel.com

DMC (Destination management company

INTOURS DMC Demaco d.o.o.

Dalmatinova 3 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia +386 1 430 3550 www.intours-dmc.si info@intours-dmc.si

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Meeting services spot

Event agency

GRAND HOTEL UNION Miklošičeva 1 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia +386 (0)1 308 12 70 hotel.union@gh-union.si www.gh-union.si

MAYA TEAM Padlih borcev 1 5220 Tolmin Slovenia +386 (0)5 380 05 30 info@maya.si www.events-teambuilding.com

BERNARDIN GROUP Obala 2 6320 Portorož-Portorose Slovenia +386 (0)5 690 70 00 booking@h–bernardin.si www.bernardingroup.si

UNIQUE SLOVENIA Rakovnik 132 1215 Medvode Slovenia +386 (0)1 361 62 44 www.unique-slovenia.si miha.rott@unique-slovenia.si

TERME MARIBOR d.d.

Ulica heroja Šlandra 10 2000 Maribor Slovenia +386 (0)2 234 43 20 marketing@termemb.si www.termemb.si/EN

Congress & Exhitbition Centre

CANKARJEV DOM, CULTURAL AND CONGRESS CENTRE LJUBLJANA Presernova cesta 10 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia +386 (0)1 2417 122 congress@cd-cc.si www.cd-cc.si/congress GR - LJUBLJANA EXHIBITION AND CONVENTION CENTRE Dunajska cesta 18 1001 Ljubljana Slovenia +386 (0)1300 26 00 info@gr-sejem.si www.ljubljanafair.com

Congress Hotel

MONSADRIA d.o.o.

Pot za Brdom 4 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia +386 (0)1 47 02 745 www.hotel.mons.si info@hotel.mons.si THERMANA d.d., HOTELS AND RESORTS Zdraviliška c. 6 3270 Laško Slovenia +386 (0)3423 20 00 info@thermana.si www.thermana.si

Hotel with conference facilities

BOHINJ PARK EKO HOTEL Triglavska cesta 17 4264 Bohinjska Bistrica Slovenia www.phb.si info@phb.si +386 (0)8 200 4000

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Meeting services spot

FALKENSTEINER CLUB FUNIMATION BORIK Ulica Majstora Radovana 7 23000 Zadar Croatia +385 (0)23 206 630 ana.belamaric@falkensteiner.com www.borik.falkensteiner.com

TERME OLIMIA d.d.

Zdraviliška cesta 24 3254 Podčetrtek Slovenia +386 (0)38297848 alenka.brglez@terme-olimia.com www.terme-olimia.com/si

HOTEL DRNČA Dvorska vas 37a 4275 Begunje na Gorenjskem Slovenia + 386 08 200 5000 info@hotel-drnca.si www.hotel-drnca.si

TERME ČATEŽ d.d.

Topliška cesta 35 8251 Čatež ob Savi Slovenia +386 (0)749 36 700 www.terme-catez.si info@terme-catez.si

HOTEL LEV Vošnjakova ulica 1 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia T: +386 (0)1 231 77 97 E: Info@hotel-lev.si www.hotel-lev.si

Other Congress Services

MAISTRA Obala Vladimira Nazora 6.

GRAD HR-52210 Rovinj Croatia +385 52 800 250 info@maistra.hr www.maistra.com

ADRIA AIRWAYS Zgornji Brnik 130h 4210 Brnik Slovenia +386 (0)4 259 4555 events@adria.si www.adria-airways.com

PERLA, CASINÒ & HOTEL Kidričeva 7 5000 Nova Gorica Slovenia +386 (0)5 336 36 66 conference.perla@hit.si www.hit.si

ALKIMIST, PREVAJALSKA AGENCIJA Obirska ulica 4 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia info@alkemist.si www.alkemist.si +386 (0)59073273

SAVA HOTELI BLED, d.d.

Cakarjeva 6 4260 Bled Slovenia +386 (0)4 579 16 07 info@hotelibled.com www.hotelibled.com

DNEVNIK d.d.

Kopitarjeva 2 in 4 1510 Ljubljana Slovenia pr@dnevnik.si www.dnevnik.si +386 (0)13082150

SPORT CENTRE POHORJE Mladinska ulica 29 2000 Maribor Slovenia +386 (0)2 614 0950 tea.kozar@sc-pohorje.si www.pohorje.org

CATERING JEZERŠEK Jezeršek gostinstvo d.o.o.

Sora 1a 1215 Medvode Slovenia www.jezersek.com info@jezersek.si +386 (0)1 361 94 21

HI[A KULINARIKE

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Meeting services spot

KLARO d.o.o.

Peruzzijeva 84b 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia www.klaro.si info@klaro.si +386 (0)1 280 7770 MEETINGS:review Hammer Hill Studios Stanbrook CM6 2NH Thaxted United Kingdom +44 1371 831555 www.meetingsreview.com PARTHEN OF MEETING ESSENTIALS Stroombaan 4 1181 VX Amstelveen The Netherlands +31 (0)20 572 73 74 info@parthen.nl www.parthen.nl RESTAURANT & CATERING BORBONA Verovškova 55 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia +386 (0)1 620 77 15 info@borbona.si www.borbona.si

TURIZEM KRAS DESTINACIJSKI MANAGEMENT d.d.

Jamska cesta 30 6230 Postojna Slovenia +386 (0)5 7000 100 info@turizem-kras.si www.turizem-kras.si

Legend

CVB (National, Regional or Local CVB (CVB - Convention and Visitors Bureau)

PCO (Professional Congress Organiser)

DMC (Destination management company

Event agency

Congress & Exhitbition Centre

Congress Hotel

Hotel with conference facilities

Other Congress Services

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