Interview with Amélie Déchénais (Bordeaux Convention Bureau)

How is Bordeaux positioned to host congresses and corporate events?

Amélie Dechenais - Over the last four or five years, Bordeaux has been increasingly successful in hosting major business events, from conferences and trade fairs to seminars and corporate conventions. The development of our air services, with around a hundred destinations linked to Bordeaux including the main European hubs, has enabled us to develop our corporate activities where it is necessary to have direct services to company headquarters. The arrival of the LGV high-speed rail link, which puts the city within two hours of Paris, and the increased density of rail services have also been an undeniable boost to the hosting of national corporate conventions. On the hotel front, the city is set to open just over 500 rooms in 2021, with a further 400 due to open in 2022. Some fine brands have arrived, including groups that were not previously represented in the destination, such as HiltonRadisson or Marriott. Finally, we also had quite a few new features for events such as the Bassins des Lumières. This hybrid cultural venue also lends itself to the organisation of dinners and cocktail parties for up to 600 people. Until now, only the Palais de la Bourse and Hangar 14 have been able to host events of this size in Bordeaux.

With the opening of the Palais 2 l'Atlantique at the exhibition centre in May 2019, you've also extended the scope of what's possible?

A. D. - Before it was inaugurated, it was difficult for us to host conferences for between 1,500 and 2,000 people. With the transformation of the former Hall 2 of the exhibition centre into a multifunctional hall covering more than 7,000 m2, we're now in a position to take on this challenge, we are designed for conferences of 4,000 to 6,000 people. With a capacity of 3,000 to 4,000 people, the Palais 2 l'Atlantique operates independently, with plenary sessions, workshops in sub-commission rooms and catering all in one place. But if the event exceeds 4,000 participants, the plenary sessions and sub-committees can be organised in the hall, while the exhibition and catering areas move to Hall 1, which is directly linked to the Palais and covers 40,000 m2.

With the health crisis, have you still been able to make the most of this new venue?

A. D. - As the Palais was inaugurated in 2019, most of the events planned for it were due to take place in 2020, a potentially record year. We were fortunate to see a number of projects scheduled for 2020 postponed until the last quarter of 2021, including three of the biggest national conferences. In September, Bordeaux hosted the HLM conference, with 10,000 participants, followed in October by the conference of the Ordre des Experts-Comptables, with 4,000 participants, and at the end of November, the conference of the Association Française des Vétérinaires d'Animaux de compagnie, also with nearly 4,000 participants. As these were Franco-French conferences, they were able to take place without any problems, but we also received a number of European conferences, notably at the beginning of September. On the other hand, the international events were not able to take place. For example, the RoboCup, the world robotics championship, was due to bring nearly 5,000 professional participants to Bordeaux in 2020, not counting the general public expected to attend the competitions. The event has been rescheduled for 2023.

More generally, how has tourism in Bordeaux evolved in recent months?

A. D. - We saw a surge in June thanks to leisure customers and a number of business events. From July onwards, things went from strength to strength, with very good tourist numbers this summer and a sharp acceleration in activity from September to November. During this period, we maintained our leisure clientele, held a number of major congresses and saw a resurgence in the number of seminars and corporate meetings held in hotels. Before the government's announcements in December, we had a very full portfolio of end-of-year events and New Year's greetings in January. All have been cancelledand hotel privatisations. For some event suppliers, the slaughter is comparable to that of March 2020.

However, we can hope to see the end of this pandemic one day, so let's look to the future. What are the Bordeaux Convention Bureau's current projects?

A. D. - There are two points on which we are working together with our partners, the institutions and Bordeaux Métropole. The first concerns structuring high-quality hosting of strategic events for the region's sectors of excellence and competitiveness clusters. When you apply for an event in a specific sector, in most cases you need a local project leader, whether it's a scientist, a doctor, a researcher or an engineer. So we want to give the person responsible for the content of the event the advantages it needs to tip the balance in favour of the destination. This includes benefits such as free access to transport for participants, and town signage to welcome the event.

You mentioned two key points. What's the other hot topic for you?

A. D. - Another of our objectives is to be an exemplary destination in terms of sustainable development on the entire tourism industry. We want to encourage responsible business meetings that leave a positive legacy on the region. That's why, in May 2021, we're launching l'Agora Bordeaux Tourisme which brings together all the stakeholders on a regular basis - tourism players and institutions, as well as local associations and residents - in three workshops devoted to leisure tourism, local tourism, business tourism and professional meetings. The aim of these workshops is to find solutions and concrete actions to implement.

We want to encourage responsible business meetings that leave a positive legacy for the region.

So what are you thinking about?

A. D. - At the level of the Bordeaux Tourist Office, of which the Convention Bureau is a part, we are in the process of working with the metropolis of Bordeaux. on the tourism roadmap to be presented at the beginning of the year. Our ideas include training our partners and increasing their skills in certification and labelling, as well as helping organisers to set up eco-responsible events. As part of this, we are going to strengthen our practical guide with more precise line guides. At the same time, we are working on partnerships with charities so that organisers can easily get in touch with them and integrate them into their events, for example through a gala dinner to raise donations or a showcase for the association during the convention. It is through these local associations that the events will be able to leave a positive legacy of their visit to the region.

What concrete actions have already been proposed to the organisers?

A. D. - For example, the Alternative urbaine association, which helps people on social reintegration schemes to get back in touch with the world of work by showing them around their neighbourhoods, was involved in the HLM congress, dedicated to social housing, through an order for guided walks. I'm also thinking of an association like Cravate Solidaire, which helps people looking for work and provides them with clothes and coaching to help them prepare for a job interview. We could suggest to customers, for example in the bancassurance sector, that they set up an initiative with them as part of their event.

This idea of heritage is relatively new. Do you think it will take hold in the future?

A. D. - We're still in the early days of this idea positive legacy of the events. On the other hand, eco-responsibility has become as important a criterion in all specifications as accessibility, transport or host infrastructures. The current crisis has accelerated this trend, as companies have taken the time to draw up CSR charters, without forgetting to add a paragraph on events. This reinforces the importance of our approach.

In what ways is Bordeaux already committed to sustainable tourism?

A. D. - Our conference venues are ISO 14 001 certified, the Bordeaux tourist office is ISO 20 121 certified, a number of hoteliers have already or have just obtained an eco-responsible label, and the Traiteurs de France caterers with whom we work must be ISO 20121 certified. All these certified service providers are listed on our website, and those who haven't yet done so, we're calling them to encourage and help them get started. The reward for this commitment, Bordeaux moves up to ninth place in the Global Destination Sustainability Indexwhich ranks destinations according to 70 sustainable criteria. Only two French destinations, Lyon and ourselves, feature in the top 10 of this ranking, which is dominated by northern cities (editor's note: Gothenburg, ahead of Copenhagen and Aarhus). We came in ahead of several destinations that were already quite well structured, but which didn't continue their efforts during the crisis. That's where we differ.