The establishment of the alliance, aimed at making European MICE market stronger, was announced at the IMEX America fair. The objective of the alliance is to strengthen its members, and consequently the position of Europe, by constructive and active cooperation between the member states and by creating a common knowledge base that would facilitate everyday work.
According to the statistics of ICCA in 2013, Europe is the most popular continent for alliance conferences. Almost 2.5 million people travel to Europe on business every year and nearly three times as many conferences are staged there than in Asia, which was ranked second on this list.
It was more than a year ago that Erik Bakermans, the marketing manager of the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Convention and Matthias Schultze, the director of the German Convention Bureau brought up the idea of European partnership. The number of those joining the initiative increased rapidly. The convention representatives of 8 countries attended the first meeting, among others Anikó Ferenczy, the director of the Hungarian Convention Bureau. The alliance now includes 16 member states.
The initiative is met with great interest: the members of the alliance have met three times during the past 18 months. Next year, the meeting of the members and the other candidates for European Convention Bureaux membership will be held in Copenhagen.
Source: Turizmus.com
Photo: Ferbies/Shutterstock.com
