Some cities around the
world serve as true crossroads, appealing and convenient
enough to draw people from distant lands. Such places are critical
to the global meetings industry, as they enable far-flung attendees
to meet each other halfway, both literally and figuratively,
whether from opposite coasts, cultures or continents.
The cities profiled on the following
pages are vibrant, growing meetings destinations, natural gateways
that offer entree, infrastructure and all the amenities a planner
could hope for.
Miami: A dynamic
gateway city for
attendees from
Latin America
Miami
Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau
www.gmcvb.com
With three professional sports teams,
possibly the world’s largest collection of art deco architecture
(more than 800 buildings) and the only everglade ecosystem on the
globe, Miami has more than its fair share of attractions. Throw in
its sunny climate, vibrant Latin culture and geographic proximity
to South and Central America, and this city becomes a natural
springboard for organizations hoping to draw international
attendees from the Latin American market to their events.
In 2002, the prestigious financial
publication America Economia ranked Miami the “Number 1
Best City for Doing Business in Latin America,” no small feat
considering it beat out heavyweights such as Sao Paulo, Brazil;
Mexico City; and Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the title. In June
2007, Miami ranked 21 on the MasterCard Worldwide Centers of
Commerce index, which measures the world’s top 50 cities for
conducting financial business.
All of this helps explain why Larkspur,
Calif.-based Ad:tech, a leading organizer of conferences and
exhibitions for the interactive marketing community worldwide,
didn’t bother to solicit other cities’ bids to host its inaugural
show targeting the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets. “Miami
is the gateway of Latin America,” says Andrew Ianni, Ad:tech’s
senior global analyst and programming chair. “It has a diverse and
growing Spanish-speaking population from across the region, a
dynamic that made this city an ideal host for our show.”
Ianni says the first Ad:tech Miami,
held in June at the Miami Beach Convention Center, drew thousands
of attendees and exhibitors from throughout Latin America,
including Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. “Registration and turnout
exceeded expectations,” he notes.
The city is bolstering its
infrastructure to help support such events. Earlier this year,
Miami International Airport, which is in the midst of a $4.8
billion capital improvement program that will add a new terminal,
opened its International General Aviation Center. The
14,000-square-foot facility, which operates 24/7, is designed to
handle private international jets. The center has an area where
customs and border protection agents can process international VIP
passengers as well as cargo and crew, giving meeting planners an
alternative to commercial travel for high-level company executives,
high-profile speakers and attendees.
The Greater Miami Convention &
Visitors Bureau, which handles marketing for the city’s three major
convention facilities -- the MBCC, the Miami Convention Center and
the Coconut Grove Expo Center -- offers planners a multitude of
pre-event and on-site services to assist with international
attendees, from bilingual meet-and-greet volunteers to promotional
marketing materials and customized event websites crafted entirely
in Spanish.
Honolulu:
The Americas
meet the
Pacific Rim
Hawaii
Hawaii Visitors and Convention
Bureau
www.gohawaii.com
For many planners, Hawaii is a shoo-in
as the premier American destination for inbound Pacific Rim
travelers. It has long been a favorite choice for corporate and
incentive meetings, thanks to its luxury resorts, magnificent
beaches, championship golf courses and lush, exotic landscape. But
earlier this year, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau
decided it was high time to kick things up a notch by aggressively
marketing the 50th state as the destination for
associations hoping to expand their international base across the
Pacific.
In April, the bureau sent a delegation
to take part in the inaugural 2007 Incentive Travel &
Conventions Meetings China trade show held at the INTEX Shanghai
exhibition center -- an event that drew 1,200 Chinese and
international business leaders. Two months later, the HVCB and a
sales team from the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu headed to
the U.S. East Coast in a two-week-long effort that specifically
targeted associations with a defined interest in the Asia-Pacific
market.
That such efforts are bearing fruit was
evident in June, when the Washington, D.C.-based Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers held its 50th annual
International Microwave Symposium at the HCC. It was the first time
the six-day event, which generated an estimated $23.6 million for
Honolulu and drew 10,000 attendees, was held outside the U.S.
mainland. According to conference organizers, while registration
numbers were typical of past annual conferences, the call for
technical papers generated a blizzard of contributions, the
second-highest number in the association’s history, with entries
coming from as far off as China, Japan, Korea and Thailand.
“The most rapid growth in the microwave
industry is occurring in Asia, so Hawaii’s central location was
seen as a plus for attracting that segment,” says Dr. Wayne
Shiroma, symposium chairman.
In the meantime, in January, the HVCB
and the HCC launched Business-
Aloha.com, a new online resource for planners, featuring practical
cost-saving tips on holding a meeting in Hawaii, including
information on statewide meeting venues and accommodations, as well
as special offers by industry partners.
In addition, the HCC has rolled out a
number of tactics to help planners build attendance at their
events. For example, the facility creates customized online digital
videos, lasting from 10 to 45 seconds and featuring client VIPs
promoting an event, which then are sent to potential attendees via
e-mail.
Vancouver, B.C.:
A Western welcome
for the East
Vancouver, British Columbia
Tourism Vancouver
www.tourismvancouver.com
Toronto might be Canada’s financial
capital, but Vancouver is its San Francisco, a bridge to both the
East and West. “We are a nine-hour flight from Europe and China,
which puts us right in the middle,” says Richard Yore, director of
sales, meetings and events for Tourism Vancouver, which represents
the Greater Vancouver Convention and Visitors Bureau. According to
Yore, meetings and conventions held at the Vancouver Convention
& Exhibition Centre in 2005 (the latest available audit
figures) showed a 15.1 percent increase in international
attendance.
Others are taking notice of this
British Columbia city’s sway on global travelers. In May, the
Amsterdam, Netherlands-based International Congress and Convention
Association ranked Vancouver as North America’s top destination for
international meetings, citing the 50 international events it
attracted in 2006, compared with the 28 it drew in 2005. What’s
more, ICCA ranked the city 24th in the world, well ahead of
Toronto, San Francisco, New York City and Seattle. “The ranking is
a testament to our efforts to sell Vancouver as an international
meetings destination,” says Yore. “The synergies we’ve developed
with the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre have proved
very important and really have paid off.”
It doesn’t hurt marketing efforts that
the city, surrounded by water on three sides and nestled against
the rugged Coast Mountain Range, offers myriad outdoor activities
and a mild climate as well as all the sophistication and culture of
a major metropolis.
With the growth in demand for meeting
and convention business escalating, Vancouver has embarked on a
number of projects to boost its ability to play host. The Vancouver
Convention & Exhibition Centre is in the midst of a US$750
million expansion, which will almost triple its meeting and exhibit
space to 500,000 square feet when it opens in late 2008. In
addition, Vancouver International Airport is undertaking a capital
improvement program of nearly US$1 billion to help accommodate the
19 million passengers projected to use the facility by 2010. On the
hotel front, planners will find a bevy of luxury projects,
including the 415-room Fairmont Pacific Rim and the 120-room
Shangri-La, both slated to open in 2009.
Tourism Vancouver has developed a
strategy to help planners build international attendance for their
events, which has proven very effective, says Yore. Besides
providing typical marketing materials touting Vancouver as a
destination, he explains, “We sit down with planners and do a lot
of marketing strategies, like putting them in touch with local
industry that can support them, whether it’s engineering, medical
or academic, and we help arrange sponsorship for them.”
Frankfurt, Germany:
Easy access from
all of Europe and beyond
Frankfurt, Germany
Frankfurt Tourist+Conference Board
www.frankfurt-tourismus.de
With the presence of more than 400
financial institutions and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange --
continental Europe’s largest -- it’s easy to understand why this
western German city often is referred to as “Bankfurt.” It’s also a
major transportation hub, with some 40,000 flights by 110 airlines
arriving and departing Frankfurt International Airport every week
to 109 countries, making Frankfurt a major gateway to both the
Eastern and Western hemispheres.
Two years ago, in a nod to the city’s
hub dominance, the Frankfurt-based Star Alliance airline network
enhanced its Conventions Plus group travel program. Planners now
can take advantage of group discount fares of 10 to 20 percent,
applied to travel to and from some 755 cities in 132 countries via
the network’s 17 carrier members.
There are eight major convention
facilities in Frankfurt. The largest, Messe Frankfurt, features
more than 3 million square feet of exhibit space. An expansion,
which will add approximately 227,000 square feet, is expected to be
completed by 2009. According to Frankfurt Tourist+Conference, the
city’s convention and visitors bureau, of the 59,149 conferences
held in Frankfurt last year, 13,900 attracted international
attendees, a 7.7 percent increase over 2005.
Two major properties at Frankfurt
International Airport give new meaning to airport meetings. The
enormous 1,008-room Sheraton Frankfurt Hotel & Towers offers 56
meeting rooms, and the 573-room Steigenberger Airport Hotel will
add two more meeting rooms by year’s end, bringing its total to
38.
Singapore:
Today a major
world crossroads
Singapore
Singapore Tourist Board
www.stb.com.sg
Bustling Singapore is another major
portal between East and West. In 2006, it hosted 127 international
conferences, earning the rank of top Asian city (and third
worldwide) for such events by the International Congress and
Convention Association. And now this tiny tiger is poised to roar
even more loudly.
According to the Singapore Tourist
Board (an offshoot of the Singapore Exhibition & Convention
Bureau), meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibitions
generated 25 percent of the city’s 8.9 million visitors in 2005, a
number the board aims to grow to 35 percent by 2015. And to get
there, the organization has launched initiatives such as the
Corporate Outreach Program, which strives to tap into the more than
7,000 multinational corporations based in Singapore to encourage
them to consider staying in the city for meetings.
In addition, the board’s BE (Business
Events) in Singapore program is targeting the 60 international
organizations based in the city -- Habitat for Humanity
International, the International Air Transport Association and WWF
International (formerly the World Wildlife Fund), among them -- to
promote the city as a meetings destination.
Buttressing the tourist board’s efforts
are several major projects, including a US$26 million investment
over the next three years to enhance Orchard Road, the city’s
premier shopping district. Construction also is underway on the
Marina Bay, a complex that will be home to the city’s new financial
hub, the Marina Bay Financial Centre. In addition, the 2,500-room
Marina Bay Sands is being developed by Las Vegas Sands and will
feature more than 1 million square feet of meeting and exhibit
space, more than twice the space at the nearby Singapore Convention
& Exhibition Centre. Opening is set for 2009.
Berlin-based conference organizer Messe
Berlin, which hosts ITB Berlin, one of the world’s largest travel
shows, is a recent convert. In May, organizers announced the launch
of ITB Asia 2008 in Singapore. In explaining the move, Raimund
Hosch, president and chief executive officer of Messe Berlin, cited
the projects outlined above, as well as the 2.8 billion potential
attendees living within a seven-hour flight of the city.