European National Convention Bureaus Form Strategic Alliance

October 22, 2014

European-CVB-Group-Amsterdam-sept-2014-400Europe’s position as the leading continent for business events is set to be strengthened with the launch of a new initiative by European national convention bureaus. The first of its kind, this strategic alliance aims to strengthen the position of Europe across the globe as a meeting and event destination.

The idea was conceived more than a year ago by Eric Bakermans, marketing manager for Holland meetings, conventions and events, Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, and Matthias Schultze, managing director of the German Convention Bureau. To date the initiative has welcomed 17 members. The aim of this informal group is knowledge sharing and cooperating to further strengthen the position of each individual member as well as boosting Europe’s standing as the leading continent for business events in the world.

“Europe is the No. 1 meeting destination worldwide for association meetings, hosting nearly 2.5 million business visitors a year, according to the ICCA Statistics Report 2013. The number of meetings held is nearly three times as many as the second largest market. This is a compelling proposition, and we wanted to create an initiative which builds on this success and enables convention bureaus from across the continent to join together,” said Schultze.

“Matthias and I started the initiative to address the need for knowledge sharing on specific issues, which affect our daily work as national convention bureaus. We’re aware of the need to work towards combining our efforts to utilize these strengths and expertise to market throughout the world,” added Bakermans.

National convention bureaus across the continent have responded well to the creation of the strategic alliance which boasts 17 members including the Austrian Convention Bureau, Czech Convention Bureau, Estonian Convention Bureau, Finland Convention Bureau, GCB German Convention Bureau e.V., Hungarian Convention Bureau, Meet in Reykjavik, Montenegro National Tourist Board/National Convention Bureau, NBTC Holland Marketing, Norway Convention Bureau, Poland Convention Bureau, Serbia Convention Bureau, Slovak Convention Bureau, Slovenian Convention Bureau, Switzerland Convention Bureau and VisitDenmark.

The group has met three times over the past 18 months and has generated immense interest. The next step for the new initiative will be a meeting of members and other interested European national convention bureaus in Copenhagen next year to further progress the alliance.

(Pictured left to right) Miha Kovacic (Slovenian Convention Bureau), Thorsteinn Orn Gudmundsson (Meet in Reykjavik), Barbra Steuri-Albrecht (Switzerland Convention Bureau), Eric Bakermans (NBTC Holland Marketing), Mladjan Miskeljin (Serbia Convention Bureau), Leena Sipilä (Finland Convention Bureau), Kadri Karu (Estonian Convention Bureau), Petr Kuklík (Czech Convention Bureau ), Matthias Schultze (GCB German Convention Bureau e.V.), Steen Møller (VisitDenmark), Anikó Ferenczy (Hungarian Convention Bureau), Frode Aasheim (Norway Convention Bureau), Christian Mutschlechner (Austrian Convention Bureau)

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