congress

Recognition from its peers: Luxembourg has been chosen to host its annual conference in 2023 by one of the world's leading convention centre associations, the AIPC. This choice is as much a tribute to the quality of Luxembourg's infrastructure as it is to the professionalism of its Convention Bureau. In mid-July, these professionals will be able to...

The announcement was made official on 31 January by the Metropolitan Council. Rouen is to get a Convention Centre by 2030-2031. The "Lapeyre" site has been chosen as the location for this new infrastructure, which will contribute to the transformation of the west of Rouen. It will include an amphitheatre with a capacity of 1,000 seats,...

"An exceptional year": this is the assessment of 2022 by the heads of the MICE industry in Montreal, who are visibly satisfied with the events business in the last financial year. According to the figures published on 26 January, the past year saw a marked upturn in MICE activity. More than 280 events were held at the Palais...

The Spanish Melia group is taking over an emblematic Barcelona hotel, the Rey Juan Carlos, ideally located on the Catalan metropolis' main thoroughfare, the Avenida Diagonal. The hotel positions Melia as a new key player in Barcelona's MICE corporate events sector, as the establishment is attached to the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, the city's...

Burgundy-Franche Comté occupies a prime position when it comes to business tourism in France. This success is based on its accessibility, modern meeting and conference facilities, places steeped in history and culture, addresses offering undeniable hospitality, not to mention its remarkable wine-growing terroirs and renowned gastronomy. For reasons of...

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...