{"id":42889,"date":"2015-10-29T12:19:04","date_gmt":"2015-10-29T11:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/rencontre-patrick-bontinck-president-directeur-general-de-visit-brussels-20151029.html"},"modified":"2018-04-13T11:45:14","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T09:45:14","slug":"meet-patrick-bontinck-president-and-chief-executive-officer-of-visit-brussels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/meet-patrick-bontinck-president-and-chief-executive-officer-of-visit-brussels","title":{"rendered":"Meet : Patrick Bontinck, Chairman and CEO of Visit.Brussels"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><span style=\"color: #a71f31\">What do the European institutions mean to Brussels?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Patrick Bontinck -<\/strong> It is estimated that 115,000 direct and indirect jobs are linked to the European Commission. Brussels is the city with the most international associations on its territory. In terms of hotel occupancy, we recorded seven million overnight stays in 2014, half of which were for business travel. We estimate that the European institutions alone account for 50 % to 60 % of these business overnight stays. So it's clear: without its status as the capital of Europe, Brussels would no longer be Brussels. It's quite unique to see, in such a small area, a population representing fifty or sixty different nationalities. Brussels has also become an excellent test market. It's a laboratory on a human scale where certain companies come to test their product before launching it on a European scale.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #a71f31\">Is there life after business in the European Quarter?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>P. B. -<\/strong> Ten years ago, it was just a neighbourhood for European civil servants. Today, it's a multicultural area in the throes of change, which is also attracting the inhabitants of Brussels themselves. It's no longer the neighbourhood you look at from afar. New projects are being launched, new restaurants are opening their doors. This will lead to much greater activity, not only during the day, but also in the evenings and at weekends.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>move away from the \"business district\" dimension and turn it into a gateway to Europe<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #a71f31\">How do you see the future of this district?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>P. B. -<\/strong> The European Quarter will become the third most important tourist attraction in Brussels, after the Grand Place and the Atomium. It contributes to people visiting Brussels: they want to see Europe. Our aim is to move away from this 'business district' dimension and turn it into a gateway to Europe.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #a71f31\">What role do the institutions play in this dynamic?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>P. B. -<\/strong> We have greatly improved our collaboration with the European institutions, which for their part have made a real effort to open up. We all share the same desire to humanise this capital of Europe so that people want to discover it. The Brussels government, for its part, is striving to introduce more diversity into its neighbourhoods, and this is bearing fruit. New York has managed to keep its business districts running 24 hours a day by introducing more diversity into its tower blocks. We should take inspiration from this model. As the Mayor of New York said, the best way to make a city safer is not to put police officers on the street, but rather to put people on the street, and at all times. So we need to stimulate diversity at every level. This is fundamental to the future of our cities.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"seriesmeta\">Article 2 of 4 in this dossier <a href=\"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/destination\/brussels-the-european-opening\" class=\"series-1003\" title=\"Special report - Brussels: opening up Europe\">Special report - Brussels: opening up Europe<\/a><\/div><p>Patrick Bontinck, CEO of Visit.Brussels, highlights the importance of the European Quarter for Brussels, its development and its ambitions for the years ahead. Interview by Florian Guillemin<\/p>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":60865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[125],"type-darticle":[],"n_magazine":[],"class_list":["post-42889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-quartiers-d-affaires","tag-bruxelles","series-bruxelles-louverture-europeenne","vapo-free"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Interview : Patrick Bontinck, pr\u00e9sident-directeur g\u00e9n\u00e9ral de Visit.Brussels<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Patrick Bontinck, pr\u00e9sident-directeur g\u00e9n\u00e9ral de Visit.Brussels, souligne l&#039;importance du quartier europ\u00e9en pour Bruxelles, son \u00e9volution, son 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