Greater Bogota Convention Bureau

The Greater Bogota Convention Bureau, which is the entity that promotes and positions Colombia’s capital city as a MICE destination, presents its 1 st trimester report and the results are both positive and encouraging for the events industry in Bogota.

As a part of its commercial strategy in 2020, the GBCB identified 112 event opportunities, presented 18 bids, and confirmed 12 events for Bogota.

Among these 12, 3 events took place from January to March 2020, before the Colombian government declared lockdown. “In fact, within the first 3 months of the year we welcomed 19 international clients from Europe, United States and Latin America, who we accompanied on 7 site visits where we featured the city’s attractive offer to carry out their events in the coming years”, declared Liliana Orbegozo, Executive Director.

The Greater Bogota Convention Bureau has 95 members who operate in different economic sectors and contribute to the events industry. In the context of the crisis set forth by the COVID-19 emergency, the Bureau conducted a survey to measure the impact on its members. Among the 42 responses, the results showed 533 cancelled events, while 347 were postponed. These represent more than USD$12.5 million in losses.

“Faced with this situation, we decided to support our members by providing the option to freeze membership fees for 2 months. Likewise, we developed a communication strategy to keep them informed on the latest aid and benefit programmes for the industry, offered by the local and national government. The strategy included an effort to strengthen their online channels, enhancing their visibility through our social media,” said Liliana Orbegozo, Executive Director of the GBCB.

The GBCB has worked hand-in-hand with the District Institute of Tourism (IDT) in order to contribute to the recovery strategy for the tourism industry in the city, from the Bogota Tourism Council for Covid-19, the IDT’s initiative focused on aiding the recovery of the MICE industry. According to the IDT, once the emergency is over, the city would have a negative economic impact of more than UK£41.6 million for the meetings and entertainment industry.

The Executive Director, Liliana Orbegozo, offers reassurance to the industry, while also honouring the difficult times ahead. “The Greater Bogota Convention Bureau has always looked towards the future, targeting high-impact events for the next few years. As long as we continue doing so, the MICE tourism industry in Bogota will continue growing and developing.”

The Greater Bogota Convention Bureau will continue to play a fundamental part in the industry’s recovery, keeping in mind that the estimated time of reactivation for international tourism is between the end of the year and the beginning of 2021. Within the first trimester’s report there are 9 events won for Bogota, which will take place starting in 2021 and will bring more than 19,000 foreign participants to the city, and 22 events to be confirmed, which are expected to bring more than 27,000 foreign visitors to the city. Considering this, the Bureau will contribute to mitigate the economic impact of the current situation between 2021 and 2027.

According to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), each foreign participant has an average daily expenditure of 466 dollars. “If we multiply that amount by the number of participants and the number of days of each event, we will have an important economic impact for the city in the next few years”, added Orbegozo.

Historically, tourism has proven to be a key driver of international economic recovery, given that it triggers economic and social development for destinations. “For this reason, we must continue sowing and working towards the future, to build an industry that has demonstrated resilience and unity in the face of adversity,” concluded Liliana.

EMITT 2021, ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Stand bookings are now open for EMITT 2021, the No.1 exhibition in the Eurasia region serving the tourism and travel industry.

The international convention centre is set to be built near the CheonanAsan KTX Station in the city of Cheonan, with an expected completion date of 2023.

Located directly south of Gyeonggi Province, Chungnam Province is an emerging hub of transportation, logistics and economy. The region’s key industries include display, steel, petrochemical and automobile industries, making it an attractive convention destination for related industries. Cheonan boasts easy access to nearby regions, including direct access to Seoul via KTX train in under 40 minutes.

The need to establish a convention centre in the region has been raised steadily in the past, as there are currently no large-scale convention and exhibition facilities in the province.

The new convention centre will offer exhibition facilities (9000m2) and conference facilities (4768m2) across a total of 5 floors. Inside the convention centre will be one large convention hall, 3 mid-sized conference halls, and 5 small meeting rooms. Additional facilities will include exhibition halls, public relations centres, venture-education facilities, and restaurants. The province intends to finalise the plans in the coming months and will select a winning design through a competition in the second half of the year.

With the establishment of the new convention centre, Chungnam-do expects economic benefits and regional image enhancement by attracting large-scale international events. The province is planning to attract both local and international exhibition projects and looks forward to increased job opportunities for the local community as well.

“We will foster the convention centre as a B2B (business-to-business transaction) specialized industrial support centre that links exhibitions, conferences, and investments,” said Jeong Byeong-rak, director of the Chungnam-do Future Industry Bureau. “We anticipate the construction will bring new vitality to the overall regional economy.”

ASIA PACIFIC VISITOR NUMBERS LIKELY TO REDUCE BY 32% IN 2020, BUT RETURN IN 2021

Under the newly updated forecasts from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the most likely scenario for international visitor arrivals into and across Asia Pacific in 2020 is that visitor numbers are likely to reduce by 32% year-on-year. Taking into account the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume of arrivals is now expected to reduce to fewer than 500 million this year.

That effectively takes visitor volume back to levels last seen in 2012. At this stage, growth is expected to resume in 2021, returning to forecast levels by 2023. Much of course depends on how quickly and completely the COVID-19 pandemic is contained and controlled. A more optimistic scenario suggests arrivals still falling in 2020 but by 16% year-on-year while a pessimistic narrative predicts a reduction of approximately 44%.

The impacts are expected to be most severe in Asia, especially Northeast Asia, which is now predicted to lose almost 51% of its visitor volume between 2019 and 2020 (most likely scenario), followed by South Asia with a reduction of 31%, and then Southeast Asia with a 22% drop in visitor arrivals. West Asia is projected to lose almost 6% in visitor arrivals, followed by the Pacific with a projected contraction of 18%, and the Americas with a loss of a little under 12%.

Recovery rates relative to 2019 are expected to occur in most destination regions/sub-regions in 2020, however, Northeast Asia is likely to take a little longer and exceed the 2019 volume of arrivals in 2022.

The same is essentially true for visitor receipts as well as they are expected to drop by 27% between 2019 and 2020 under the most likely scenario, reducing to UK£475 billion, significantly below the original 2020 forecast of UK£649 billion.

Asia is expected to lose more than UK£136 billion (-36%), with Northeast Asia predicted to lose more than UK£98.4 billion (-48%) under this most likely scenario, followed by South Asia with a UK£1 1 billion loss (-33%) and Southeast Asia with a UK£27.7 billion shortfall (-20%). The Americas is projected to lose more than UK£28 billion (-13%) and the Pacific UK£14.4 billion (-18%).

THOURIA

A LONG LOST GREEK CITY by Caroline-Artemis Laspas

The ancient Greek city of Thouria, located in the southern Peloponnese, is located 10kms away from the city of Kalamata. The 1st references to Thouria can be found in Homer’s works, (8th century). The name of the city means brave and impetuous. Ancient Thouria was the most important city of West Messenia and the 2nd most important, after the foundation of Ancient Messene.

It was a region under Spartan rule for almost 400 years, yet the ancient Greek city of Thouria, was able to manage and thrive by itself despite being under the shadow of Sparta. Its peak came during the classical period of ancient Greece.

First excavations in 2007 revealed an ancient wall. Over the years, further discoveries have highlighted a temple and an ‘asclepion’ - an ancient healing centre, which had not been recorded in any ancient or modern source. For over a decade, archaeologists have continued excavating the site. In 2016 an exciting discovery of the remains of a theatre made

The presence of such a construction in Thouria would indicate the importance of the city as theatres were a mandatory feature of any notable city across Ancient Greece. Also discovered was part of an orchestra pit and well-preserved stone figurines, as well as a large rectangular stone duct to drain rainwater.