MICE

In the shadow of Vienna's coronation in the ICCA rankings, and while everyone was on the lookout for this post-Covid MICE atlas, the news passed relatively unnoticed. Yet it is indicative of the rise of an ambitious destination, a newcomer intent on carving out a place for itself in the sun of major international events. For the...

Nearly three months after work was completed, the new MICE facilities at the Village Club du Soleil were unveiled in mid-June. The operator, which was founded in Marseille in the early 1960s, has invested to give a new dimension to the corporate side of its Phocaean site. It will have cost some 350,000...

Canua Island will not be making its inaugural season off the coast of Mandelieu-la-Napoule. The 1,750 m2 event barge has failed to obtain the navigation and outfitting permits it needs to operate. The hundred or so employees, including 20 sailors, were made redundant even before setting sail for the first time. With a capacity of...

The 40-page report published by the IACC on 12 June is based on the testimonies of 275 meetings planners worldwide. The association of meetings and events venues, which has some 400 members around the world, has thus been able to identify changes over time in practices, expectations and projections, sometimes with strong...

As one of the hotel groups with the strongest presence in Africa's major cities, the Radisson Group is actively pursuing its development strategy. As part of this growth drive, the hotel group has signed a contract to open seven new hotels in the first half of 2023, adding a total of 1,400 new rooms...

"The most important building to open in Wellington since the Sky Stadium was built twenty years ago": that's how the new Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre is presented. And when you know the importance attached to the local rugby stadium, you can appreciate the significance of the event. The opening of the new...

Following in the footsteps of Vienna, crowned by the new ICCA rankings as the world's leading congress destination, Prague has also been able to capitalise on the return of international events. With 616,000 participants expected to attend nearly 4,000 events in 2022, the Czech capital is playing a leading role. Admittedly, this means that business is only...

With the pandemic behind them, analysts of the world's MICE business can get back to work on their rankings. After the ICCA and its ranking of the world's conference cities, Cvent took advantage of the IMEX trade fair in Frankfurt to unveil its 'top lists' of meeting destinations and meeting hotels...

Employees scattered like jigsaw puzzles, management split up, teams struggling to find each other: the changing world of work, accelerated by the pandemic, is turning companies' habits upside down. In some cases, companies have simply abandoned the idea of having offices and switched to full remote working. This is nothing new, but this...

As MICE activity picks up, Catalonia is 'the' Spanish province of choice for business event organisers. With Barcelona as its standard-bearer, the destination is making the most of its assets, from its Mediterranean coastline and the natural spaces of its hinterland, to its Catalan culture and tasty cuisine, its original activities and its accessibility, in...

Put on hold for the past four years, the Coach Omnium study of the French MICE market is back in action, as is the activity itself. A "resurrection", as Marc Watkins, the firm's founder, describes it, made possible by a new partnership with the 1001 Salles Group. As industry experts have discovered...

After Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon and Marseille, InterContinental will soon have a new flagship hotel in France, in Chantilly. IHG has been entrusted with the management of the Château Mont Royal, recently acquired by the BMF and PFH groups. The hotel will be undergoing a phase of renovation before joining the InterContinental brand next year.

Coincidentally, just two days after an equivalent announcement by American Express Meetings & Events, its competitor CWT is now using its 'metre' trump card on the sustainability issue. On 20 April, CWT Meetings & Events announced the launch of a new carbon footprint calculator dedicated...

German tourism is doing well, according to the German tourist office - ONAT or DZT (Deutsche Zentrale für Tourismus). This is the message conveyed by its management in France. Last year, the country recorded 28.5 million international arrivals. This represents a jump of 143.5% compared with 2021. This is still a long way from...

Having emerged from the pandemic a year ago, events professionals have returned to near-normal activity as 2022 progresses, close to that recorded in 2019. The Palais des Festivals et des Congrès de Cannes, host of this year's Heavent Meetings show, is expecting to host 140 events this year for a total of...

Belambra is providing further proof of the sustained growth of the MICE sector in France. The French leader in holiday clubs will be dedicating four of its sites entirely to business customers during the peak seminar season. In May and June on the one hand, and in September-October on the other, the clubs at Anglet, La Grande Motte,...

Stroll through the hotel lobby as if you were there, go from meeting room to conference area, visit the rooms, or even the presidential suite: rather than traditional photo galleries, the Radisson group is inviting you to take a real digital tour of the property. Its digital transformation strategy is now taking shape...

The Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) will soon be celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, in 2025. Will Scotland's leading conference venue have returned to its pre-pandemic levels by then? It certainly seems to be on the right track, according to the results published by its management on Monday. "Our figures for 2022...

Japan clearly intends to take on a new dimension on the international tourism scene, particularly in the MICE segment. The project approved by the Japanese authorities on 14 April will provide the destination with a new master asset. The project includes a vast complex of almost 500,000 m², due to open...

After two years of pandemic, including eleven months of total inactivity, the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès de Cannes has finally returned to normal activity since its reopening in March 2022. "We're back to pre-Covid levels, with 63 deals signed by the end of March and a profitable business once again. 2023 will be...