congress

Lille Grand Palais, Biarritz Tourisme, Congrès et Expositions de Bordeaux, ONLY LYON: last year, all these players in the MICE sector in France obtained ISO 20121 certification from AFNOR. The Nantes and Saint-Nazaire Convention Bureau is launching the year 2023 by obtaining this key certification, a mark of the organisation's environmental commitment.

How did 2022 end, and how is 2023 shaping up? Marta Gomes - There has been a very strong upturn in the number of face-to-face events, with performances that exceeded our expectations. Attendance figures are also good. The year 2023 seems to be off to a good start on a number of counts, but we remain...

An event that takes place every four years, teams from all over the world, dreams of stars... Sound familiar? Yes, the Villeroy & Boch Culinary World Cup! While the stars of the game were gathering in Qatar, 75 teams from 55 countries were competing in Luxembourg...

At the end of the year, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions met in Paris to promote their major MICE destinations through workshops for professionals. This was an opportunity for them to highlight the current and future developments in business tourism in their main cities. New infrastructures, new offers...

Paris, which used to top the ICCA convention city rankings, is no longer in the top three for 2021. Is this a bad thing for the destination? Corinne Menegaux - This in no way detracts from the fact that Paris is a prime convention destination. Apart from the last few complicated years, the 2023-2025 schedule...

French cities have no reason to be ashamed of their environmental commitment when it comes to business tourism. The latest Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) shows that Bordeaux has climbed from 9th to 5th place, while Paris has jumped from 55th to 25th. Of course, this ranking, which...

IFEMA Madrid is back on the international MICE scene. This was the message sent out on 13 July by the Madrid Convention Centre, which reported a busy, and therefore successful, first half-year. IFEMA Madrid's management noted that it had "spearheaded the revival of the trade fair sector...

Almost every week brings a new batch of sustainable certifications for MICE destinations. Following on from Lille Grand Palais and the Zénith de Lille in mid-June, and Biarritz Tourisme and its convention centres more recently, it is now the turn of Congrès et Expositions de Bordeaux to receive its ISO 20121 certification, the...

Organised last year in a hybrid format, UNIMEV's annual See You There (SYT) conference was held from 29 June to 1 July at the Jean Prouvé Convention Centre in Nancy, bringing together 300 players from the French events industry. It was an opportunity for them to draw a number of conclusions about their business...

"Meet-Work-Stay": the Postillion Hotels concept perfectly sums up the ultra-business positioning of the Dutch hotelier. A group that stands out for its truly integrated MICE destinations combining accommodation and vast conference centres, as demonstrated by the recent opening of the Postillion Hotel & Convention Centre in The Hague. This new venue for business meetings, almost...

What better way to showcase your ambitions for business tourism than by setting up a Convention Bureau? While most major French destinations have a department dedicated to business tourism professionals and the marketing of their MICE offer, this is less common in medium-sized cities. With the exception of Cannes...

A year as troubled as 2021 could only result in a shake-up of the ICCA rankings. The International Congress and Convention Association has just published its benchmark rankings, showing profound changes among the major MICE destinations. The top three no longer include Paris, which has held one or other of the top two positions since...

The Lille Grand Palais congress centre and the Zénith de Lille have just joined the list of professional meeting venues to receive ISO 20121 certification, in recognition of the responsible management applied to the events industry. While other event industry players in France can point to the same certification, the Zénith de Lille is the first venue in France to be...

Edinburgh's convention centre intends to take its future into its own hands. After the city's convention bureau ceased operations in 2020, initially on a temporary basis, the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) has reached an agreement with the Scottish capital's authorities to take over the management and running of the centre. And this...

A few weeks ago, the Hilton Group inaugurated the Hilton Garden Inn Bengaluru Embassy Manyata Business Park, with a catalogue of 353 rooms. Far from marking the culmination of the hotel group's ambitions in Bangalore, this opening paved the way for a wider project, specifically targeting the business clientele, a segment of the hotel industry that is...

Situated between 2 and 3 hours from Paris, London and Brussels, Le Touquet-Paris-Plage occupies a privileged position when it comes to business tourism in the Haut-de-France region. However, recent investments have strengthened its position in the wake of the health crisis, at a time when companies are looking for quality locations, if possible in the heart of the...

New York is maintaining its appeal as a destination for the European public. And after two years with a low profile in its European outbound markets, the American metropolis is back with a marketing and communications campaign. A comeback that is all the more necessary given that New York - like other destinations in Europe - will have to make do without...

So why was Bern chosen as Switzerland's federal capital rather than Geneva or Zurich? This choice was justified by the need to avoid a concentration of power in a single metropolis. Some will say that the city of 140,000 inhabitants is a little provincial for a capital city. But no matter. Berne is a true reflection of...

On the one hand, a priceless cultural heritage, with all the liveliness and appeal of city life; on the other, the invigorating air of the ocean, the great outdoors and the vast forests. Nature and history: Bordeaux has everything it takes to establish itself as a top international tourist destination....

As part of the modernisation of Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, Viparis set out to extend the range of services it offers to Parisians and visitors to the park, and to create links with the city and its surrounding area, bringing life to the Porte de Versailles outside of trade and public events.