European Cities Marketing announced new President

European Cities Marketing announced new President, Executive Committee and Board Members reflecting on strategic focus on City Marketing

ECM General Assembly last week saw the implementation of ECM Strategy 2017-2020 first steps, with the creation of an additional Vice-President position dedicated to City Marketing.

 

During ECM International Conference in Dubrovnik gathering 200 persons last week, Dieter Hardt-Stremayr (Graz, Austria) was elected the Association’s President for a duration of 2 years. The General Assembly also appointed Petra Stusek (Ljubljana, Slovenia) as Vice-President dedicated to Leisure & Tourism and Eduard Pieter Oud (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) as Vice-President dedicated to City Marketing.

 

The newly elected board members are as follows: Ignasi de Delàs (Barcelona, Spain), Bettina Reventlow-Mourier (Copenhagen, Denmark), Barbara Jamison (London, United Kingdom), Nicolas Lefebvre (Paris, France) and Marta Stawińska (Poznań, Poland).

Bettina Bunge (Dresden, Germany) pursues her role as Vice-President dedicated to the Meetings Industry and Philippe Vignon (Geneva, Switzerland) carries on with his role as Treasurer. Pier Paolo Mariotti (Bolzano, Italy), Erwin Van de Wiele (Ghent, Belgium) and Goran Pavlović (Opatija, Croatia) continue their mandates as ECM Board Members.

“It’s a real honour for me to have been elected ECM President once again. It really shows the trust that ECM members have in me. But this responsibility is also a challenge considering the difficult times and the transformations that DMOs are facing. But I am convinced that our strategic approach focusing on city marketing and the balance between residents, business travellers and visitors will help our destinations in their holistic position to stand still. I am really thrilled to take part in this adventure.” said freshly elected ECM President, Dieter Hardt-Stremayr.

Current ECM Executive Committee:

Dieter Hardt-Stremayr, President (Managing Director, Graz Tourist Office)

Petra Stusek, Vice-President Leisure & Tourism (CEO, Ljubljana Tourism)

Bettina Bunge, Vice-President Meetings Industry (Managing Director, Dresden Marketing)

Eduard Pieter Oud, Vice-President City Marketing (COO, Amsterdam Marketing)

Philippe Vignon, Treasurer (General Manager, Genève Tourisme & Congrès)

Board Members:

Ignasi de Delàs, (Deputy General Manager, Turisme de Barcelona)

Pier Paolo Mariotti (Meeting Manager, EURAC Convention Centre Bolzano)

Bettina Reventlow-Mourier (Deputy Convention Director, Wonderful Copenhagen)

Erwin Van de Wiele (CEO, Ghent Tourist Office)

Barbara Jamison (Head of Business Development – Europe, London & Partners)

Goran Pavlović (Head, Opatija Convention and Incentive Bureau)

Nicolas Lefebvre (CEO, Office du Tourisme et des Congrès de Paris)

Marta Stawińska (Senior Project Manager – Tourism Development, Poznań Tourism Organisation)

 

European Cities Marketing

www.europeancitiesmarketing.com

 

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#CityMarketing #ECM #EuropeanCitiesMarketing #DestinationMarketing #Tourism #MICEnews #MICEmedia

 

European Cities Marketing to launch the first Manifest on DMOs’ future

European Cities Marketing to launch the first Manifest on DMOs’ future

The report will look at the daily change and disruption occurring in European tourism; it sets out a vision on how Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) can empower to take on a leading role in city marketing and management.
This first ECM Manifest has been produced in partnership with TOPOSOPHY and will be launched during forthcoming ECM International Conference in Dubrovnik, May 31 – June 3, 2017.

After turbulence caused by terrorism, political shocks and major shifts in consumer travel behaviour, Marketing professionals attending this year’s European Cities Marketing (ECM) International Conference from across Europe and overseas will have one thing on their minds: disruption has become the new normal.
As most destination marketing organisations are still operated along traditional lines under the direction of local government, reacting rapidly to support tourism partners through these changes can be highly challenging.

This vision will be visible through a new paper titled The Future of DMOs: The ECM Manifest which will be presented in the opening session of the ECM International Conference, and distributed online from the start of the event.

“At last year’s Conference, TOPOSOPHY presented a landmark report for city marketers in Europe on the Sharing Economy. This year’s report focuses on the Future of DMOs. It gives a real vision of how they should re-organise their activities internally and externally, and emerge with a strengthened role in order to face the future with confidence”, said Manolis Psarros, CEO of Toposophy.

Commenting on this vision, ECM President Ignasi de Delàs added: “Throughout Europe, DMOs are facing similar demands to re-think what they do. Budget cuts, political pressure and shifts in consumer behaviour mean that it’s time for DMOs to find a new, strengthened role in attracting all types of talent, ideas and investment for their cities, regions and nations. ECM is already playing a strong role in supporting cities when disturbance is the only constant in urban travel. As practitioners, we want to share our vision with the tourism and meetings industry and this report is the perfect example of our work.”

The ECM International Conference will be held from May 31-June 3, 2017 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. It will bring together Europe’s city marketers and tourism professionals with industry thought leaders and leading tourism academics from around the globe to debate and navigate the new normal in urban travel and tourism.

For more information and to receive your copy of the Manifest, please go on ECM Website www.europeancitiesmarketing.com

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#EuropeanCitiesMarketing #ECM #TOPOSOPHY #MICEnews #MICEmedia #MICEindustry #CityMarketing

European cities are strategizing the DMO of the future

European cities are strategizing the DMO of the future

At the European Cities Marketing Meeting in Gdansk, February 22-25, 2017, European cities will debate the future role of the City Marketing and Tourism organisation. Industry thought leaders will challenge the attendees. Ideas and insights will be shared on how to create best value for the city, industry partners and the visitors. These experienced city marketing experts will share their most precious insights and learning for a full conference on the future of DMOs.

Speaking about the next ECM Meeting, Ignasi de Delàs, ECM President, said: “Here is the thing: just over the last 10 years, digitalisation and globalisation of travel have forever altered the patterns and the practice of urban tourism. New technology has radically changed the behaviour of consumers and empowered them with a world of insights, resources, tools and experiences that outmatches any old classic tourist information centre. Together we will search for new models and modes of tomorrow. We might not find the silver bullet or a model that will fit all. But we are confident that Strategizing the DMO of the Future is the meeting that will give attendees lots of inspiration and empower them and their team to start their own transformative journey.”

Among key speakers, Frank Cuypers, Senior Strategist at DestinationThink.com and Dr. Roger Carter, CEO of TEAM Tourism Consulting will provide opening keynotes about the future of the DMO. DMOs have to redefine their role and the meaning of marketing in order to stay relevant. But how do DMOs should reengineer themselves in a disruptive marketplace, where the only constant is change?

The next day Chris Fair, President of Resonance Consultancy will explain in his keynote what he believes in: DMOs need to morph to DMMOs – Destination Marketing and Management Organisations in order to align with the trends that will shape travel and tourism tomorrow.

See how Tel Aviv decided to put technological innovation at the heart of the city’s destination strategy. How Copenhagen rebooted its DMO. The Polish strategy for CVBs that consists in Creating Value & Business! Or Germany‘s example of collaboration with neighbour cities and their joint benchmark initiative and market approach to international markets.

Also, participants will get the latest from Aalborg, Gothenburg, Amsterdam, Ghent and Dublin in our series of City Showcases where ECM colleagues share their answers and offer all the inspiration needed.

The conference will be moderated by Philippe Vignon, CEO of Geneva Tourism & Conventions.

More information and programme can be found on: http://www.europeancitiesmarketing.com/

Hotel industry in Europe keeps a positive trend

Hotel industry in Europe keeps a positive trend for the first quarter of 2016 despite terrorism fear

The latest ECM-MKG European Destinations Observatory report* points out that for the first quarter of 2016, European hotels keep up the positive trend with a 0.6 point increase in Occupancy Rate and 1% growth in Average Daily Rate** allowing the RevPAR*** to improve by 2%.

Despite widespread growth, contrasts can be observed when it comes to individual country performance. Factors such as the migrant crisis – affecting tourism in certain destinations – and the security environment following the Brussels attacks in March impacted hotel performance in several key destinations across the continent.

While some capitals are affected by the terrorism fear…

As the city was directly hit by terrorism, Brussels’ RevPAR dropped by 7.4%, mostly due to a 5.5 points decrease in Occupancy Rate. Other European capitals, such as London and Berlin, were also affected by these events, raising doubts about European security in the eyes of foreign clientele.

At the same period France (except the capital) regained a growth track especially thanks to RevPAR improvement in the whole country: Reims (+13.1%), Lille (+8.2%) or Marseille (+7.4%), Paris is still recovering from the consequences of the November attacks on tourism with a RevPAR decrease by 9.2%.

… others seem to recover “market shares”

Prague has reached a strong RevPAR, with 18.3% growth for this indicator. The organisation of several international medical trade shows in Prague significantly stimulated hotel performance. Amsterdam was also among the frontrunners in the European landscape (+17.1% in RevPAR), as hotels benefitted from the organisation of the Fespa Digital Amsterdam and other international business events. Budapest also registered positive results, with a 10.7% increase in RevPAR due to gains in Occupancy Rate (+2.7 points) and Average Daily Rate (+5.1%). Polish hoteliers benefited from the European men’s handball championships at the beginning of the year. Warsaw and Poland report increases in the RevPAR by respectively 1.3% and 6.1% on the first quarter. Austria posted a RevPAR increase by 5.7%, it is better than the capital, Wien (+0.6%).

In Northern Europe, Edinburgh observed a RevPAR increase by 7.5%, a trend totally different from London or Liverpool which decreased by 4.5% and 1.8% respectively.

Finally, performance across Southern Europe continued to improve, boasting higher results than in the 2015 first quarter. RevPAR in Lisbon grew by 2.4%, it strongly increased in Spain with San Sebastian (+34%), Zaragoza (+25.9%), Malaga and Seville (+21.7%), Barcelona (+16%) and Madrid (+12.8%). Rome and Turin are on a positive trend, with RevPAR increase by 2.4% and 4.2%.

All ECM members have exclusive access to the complete ECM-MKG European Destinations Observatory report with all the graphs and analysis.
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#ECM #EuropeanCitiesMarketing #MICEnews #MICEmedia

AT IMEX AMERICA 2015

AT IMEX AMERICA

TODAY: Monday, October 12, 2015
AND TOMORROW: Tuesday, October 13, 2015

HIGHLIGHTS
Issued at 6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, Monday, October 12

TODAY
Smart Monday, powered by MPI drew hundreds of participants to high class educational sessions on a diverse range of key topics delivered by MPI, IAPCO, ICCA, ASAE, HSMAI, DMAI, SITE, GBTA, GMIC, PCMA, IAEE and ECM. The feedback was terrific; people found value in the day.

Adrienne Tooley, Meeting & Event Manager, Koncept Events, said, “When you’ve been in the industry a few years, you want something new and more advanced. Smart Monday and IMEX offer very high caliber, high-level speakers that are in strong touch with what’s happening in the industry.”

“To have a whole day before the show to come in early and get education here at Smart Monday is great,” said Lanie Collins, Marketing Association & Event Manager at Nicola Wealth Management. “Since I‘m the only one in my company who does meetings, it is terrific to be surrounded by and talk to other people who just ‘get it’, and I also get credit for what I am learning towards my CMP.”

The first MPI morning keynote session of the week, which was sponsored by New Orleans CVB/New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, was presented by Lee Papa on “How to Live and Lead Mindfully.”

The second PCMA Business School at IMEX America, sponsored by Synchronicities, was presented and led by Bob Kulhan, a professor at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. It revealed how to leverage improv techniques in the office.

Gabriela Marquez, BCD Travel M&I, Mexico, “This session has really encouraged me to break from my comfort zone and prompted fresh thinking. It was also a fun way to network and the interactive nature of it helped to break the ice with fellow participants. I’ve learned to really listen, not to judge, and to take risks.”

Association Focus, the exclusive event presented by ASAE and ICCA and attended by around 180 association executives, provided a broad range of valuable tailored education and peer networking opportunities. This will be followed by Association Evening, sponsored by SLS Las Vegas, at the stunning Foxtail Nightclub where invited exhibitors will join the delegates.

Thelma da Sousa of the Pacific Coast Oto Ophthalmological Society said, “This is the third year I’ve been here because there is so much you can learn. The content and range of the sessions is superb. There are so many that I want to go to that I wish there was more time.”

1,200 buyers and suppliers are going to Site Nite North America at the new Omnia nightclub, Caesars Palace.

TOMORROW
New exhibitors: There will be more than 80 new booths with exhibitors from all corners of the world, including Guam and Taiwan from Asia, Hungary and Zagreb from Europe, Paraguay and Ecuador from Latin America, plus Cincinnati, Oklahoma and Wisconsin from the U.S., to name just a few.

New education features: Magician Tim David will be the MPI keynote speaker. Sponsored by the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, he will explore the “Human Connection – A Lost Art in a Noisy World.”

The new Play Room, sponsored by Play with a Purpose, will provide short, hands-on “quirkshops” around creativity, a theme incorporated throughout the program.

A new resource on the show floor, TECHnexus, will provide buyers with hands-on experience of the latest technologies and is available every day in the tech area.

The #IMEXpitch Event Technology Startup competition will take place at 4:30 p.m. at the Inspiration Hub. A short list of five companies will pitch their ideas to industry experts.

Meditation Room: New for this year, this device-free area hosts regular sessions on yoga, mindfulness and meditation as well as provides quiet spot to recharge.

Press Conferences: There is a packed program of press conferences taking place at the Press Center and covering a wide range of destinations, venues and initiatives.

PRESS CENTER – sponsored by Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority
The onsite Press Center is located on Level 1 – Casanova Room 501 – The Venetian® | The Palazzo® Congress Center.

It offers: free Wifi, laptops and work stations, latest news from the show, its exhibitors and partners, mobile phone charging point, complimentary refreshments.

You can reach the PR team during the show at the Press Center or on the following numbers:
Press Center Onsite – (702) 691-8608
Emma Ward – (214) 883-7586
Jen McNeil – (214) 587-3819
Chris Lewis – (469) 404-6690

Useful weblinks
Latest IMEX & Exhibitor news releases – www.imexamerica.com/press/news-releases/
Press images – www.imexamerica.com/press/images-audio-video/
At a glance schedule www.imexamerica.com/events/at-a-glance/schedule/

Istanbul CVB’s General Manager Joins Board of European Cities Marketing

Istanbul CVB’s General Manager Joins Board of European Cities Marketing

LONDON (11 June 2015) <strong>– Istanbul Convention and Visitor Bureau’s General Manager, Ozgul Ozkan Yavuz, has been appointed as one of the 14 members of the Board of European Cities Marketing in Annual Conference and General Assembly last week in Turin (3-6 June 2015).

Yavuz says: “I’m delighted to become a member of the Board of European Cities Marketing and look forward to sharing Istanbul’s experiences as a top international meetings destination and in turn learning from other European cities as part of ECM’s vision in sharing knowledge. This year’s ECM Annual Conference and General Assembly was on the theme of ‘Creating the city – How new events and infrastructure projects can change the image’ and we had a strong insight of the feedbacks on the combination of both events and investments and their effects on the city. ECM is a strong platform which can bring development in both city tourism and meeting industries.”
Istanbul CVB plays a key role in Istanbul’s rapid rise in popularity as a congress destination in line with the International Congress and Convention Association’s (ICCA) recent 2014 Rankings Report for Cities and Countries in which Istanbul maintains its top 10 position as a global congress destination. ICVB’s goal for 2023 is for Istanbul to rank in the top 5 convention destinations in the world and the top 3 in Europe. Istanbul was also recently named Best MICE Destination Europe at the Business Destinations Travel Awards after groundwork prepared by ICVB.

European Cities Marketing is a non-profit organisation improving the competitiveness and performance of the leading cities of Europe. ECM provides a platform for convention, leisure and city marketing professionals to exchange knowledge, best practice and widen their network to build new business via conferences, forums, knowledge groups and CEO events. It also provides essential research, insight and tools to bench-mark city performance; improve operational efficiency and make better business decisions. It is the only organisation to work with both the leisure and meetings industry and city marketing.

http://bit.ly/1G1VLK9

European City tourism to resume positive growth in 2014

European City tourism to resume positive growth in 2014, bolstered by international bednights and the recovery of traditional markets

European Cities Marketing (ECM), the network dedicated to increase competitiveness and performance of leading cities in Europe, releases its annual ECM Benchmarking Report later this year. Preliminary figures for 2014 indicate positive increase in bednights hosted by European cities with an impressive intensification of the Chinese market and the recovery of long-established source markets like Italy or Spain.

Comparative data for an initial sample of 63 cities shows 4.3% increase in international bednights since 2013. International bednights continued to grow at a faster year-on-year grow rate than domestically-sourced nights (+4.3% vs. +2.9% respectively), representing just over 65% of total bedights (235.1 million in 2014). The European Cities Marketing Benchmarking Report, the reference for urban tourism in Europe is to be available next June and will show data of more than 110 cities.

London and Paris once again claimed the highest number of international bednights with small positive increases over the previous year. Other top ten cities made more notable leaps in internationally-sourced bednights; four of the top ten cities hosted between 4% and 6% more international bednights since 2013, while Berlin showed impressive growth by 6.4% and Amsterdam greatly increased international bednights by 10.4%.

The USA, Germany, and the UK provided nearly a quarter of the international bednights spent in European cities in 2014. Each of these source markets increased by between 4-6% since 2013. Spain and Italy resumed positive growth rates as source markets after continual decreases in number of bednights spent in European cities over the past few years.

The 2013 star growth market, China, showed impressive growth by 13.2% in 2014 to make up about 1% of bednights spent in European cities. In 2013, the Chinese market was already growing by 11.4%.

Japan, however, continued to show a decline in bednights since the previous year (-4.1%) and Russia decreased even more with -7.9% after having grown by an impressive 9.4% in 2013. The decline of the Russian source market was expected due to the decrease in the oil prices, devaluation of the ruble, and sanctions taken against Russia because of the country’s conflict with Ukraine.
“These results provide crucial insights into European city competitiveness and competitor sets”, declares Ignasi de Delàs, President of European Cities Marketing. He continues: “Internationalisation is one of the key-words in the tourism-development of many countries. The ECM Benchmarking Report clearly shows that the continuous success of city tourism in Europe is based upon a rich mix of source markets.

In 2014, international bednights grew about 1.9 times the rate of domestic tourism growth in European cities. Bednight numbers representing tourists from China, one of the BRIC markets, are still growing tremendously over the previous year. However, with an average of 65% of international guests, European cities can cope with negative growth of markets like Russia or Japan, thanks to the recovery of the Spanish and Italian markets.

Despite all economic or political factors, it is proven that the cities’ strategic focus on international visitors is the main reason for the triumph of the cities, which gives City Tourism Managers every reason to be confident in the strength of the European tourism industry.”

European Cities Marketing, the network of leading city tourist offices, convention bureaux and city marketing organisations, reports on the state of the European tourism industry with its annual issue of the ECM Benchmarking Repot. Data is provided by the cities themselves and compiled by MODUL Research. Early data from a sample of 63 cities show healthy overall growth in the European city tourism industry.

The 11th edition of the annual European Cities Marketing Benchmarking Report will be presented during ECM Annual conference in Turin on June 3-5, 2015 and will be available on www.europeancitiesmarketing.com.

If you are interested in further information about the ECM Benchmarking Report, would like to join the annual conference, retrieve latest data on the development of European Cities or quarterly predictions of Europe’s tourism professionals on the expected tourism performance, please get in touch with Flavie Baudot from European Cities Marketing.

European Cities Marketing

European Cities Marketing
Future Leaders 
Scholarship Award 2015, 
”and the winner is…”

For the second year in a row, European Cities Marketing, in association with MODUL University Vienna, organized for its members a friendly competition based on best practices. The winner, who will receive a full scholarship for a part-time 2 year MBA at MODUL University, has been revealed during ECM Spring Meeting that was held in Gijón at the beginning of the month.

The Scholarship Award is a friendly competition around best practices in the tourism industry – and is open exclusively to ECM’s members. It allows a young talented professional, employed by one of 110 ECM member organisations to study for a part-time two year MBA at MODUL University in Vienna. The entire study costs of €25,000 are covered by collaboration between ECM and MODUL University Vienna.

The ECM association continues to develop its established role as a catalyst for developing future leaders. For this reason, the second edition of the “ECM Future Leaders Scholarship Award” has been launched in March. All applications have been thoroughly studied by the jury.

The competition is judged on the submission of best practice case studies based on topics/themes that are crucial for the competitiveness of tourism in European cities. The topics are deliberately linked to the themes of ECM’s latest conferences to try and pull various threads together and to encourage further learning. It also enables ECM to gather a great deal of best practice case study material that can be shared amongst members.

This year’s winner is Boudewijn Bokdam, project manager at Amsterdam Marketing, convinced the jury with a brilliant case study that describes the transformation process of a city that aims to become recognized as a wider region (“Transforming cities into attractive regions in a sustainable way: The Amsterdam tourism case”).

About his Scholarship Award win Boudewijn Bokdam said: “I am very honoured to have been awarded this scholarship and would like to thank European Cities Marketing, MODUL University Vienna and Amsterdam Marketing for giving me the opportunity to study at this amazing university. I took great pleasure on working on the case study as I believe that the constant growth of tourism, which we can observe in many cities today, needs innovative and sustainable solutions. The ECM Future Leaders Award presented the perfect opportunity to describe Amsterdam Marketing’s approach to the development of the region so that other destinations can benefit from our experiences as well.” 

 

 

 

IMEX Group announces growth in partnerships for 2014

IMEX Group announces growth in partnerships for 2014

The IMEX Group, organiser of two global trade shows for the meetings, incentive travel and events industry, has announced a number of new association partnerships together with several added-value developments to existing agreements.

New industry awards use IMEX as launch platform
Two new awards have been added to the roster being presented at the annual IMEX Gala Dinner in May. A new ‘Destination Marketing Award’ will be presented by Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) in recognition of a successful marketing or branding campaign undertaken by a single destination. The Award comes at a time when many destinations are powering ahead with the use of social media and using more advanced marketing techniques to differentiate their product offerings.

In addition, a new International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) International Excellence Award will recognise an individual or organisation who has made “exceptional strides in creating, launching and managing an international event in the exhibitions and events industry” over the past year.

New German association partners
As part of IMEX’s long-term business strategy the company is starting to offer more tailored professional education to special interest groups in the German meetings and events sector. A new partnership with the German Association of Scientific Medical Societies (AWMF) sees the trade body co-locating a tax seminar on the morning of IMEX Association Day in Frankfurt to allow its members to attend the Association Day event in the afternoon as well as the evening networking reception.

IMEX is also formalising its partnership with the Association of German Travel Managers (VDR). The result is an initial agreement for the VDR to market the Exclusively Corporate @IMEX day to its members to encourage them to attend as hosted buyers. More joint initiatives are planned as the partnership grows.

Asian association growth taking shape
Continued, rapid expansion in the Asian meetings market in recent years has given rise to several new industry associations in the region, as well as growth in the number of hosted buyers attending the IMEX shows. The Philippines Council for the Advancement of Association Executives is one such association currently exploring ways of working together and, as a significant first step, its Executive Director will pay a formal visit to IMEX in Frankfurt in May.

ECM boost to Declaration of Support
The longstanding partnership between IMEX and ECM – European Cities Marketing – has also been expanded and has already resulted in a significant boost to joint meetings industry advocacy efforts. In December ECM handed over 20 political signatories for the IMEX Declaration of Support during its CEO Meeting of Capital and Major Cities. This brings the number of signatories to the Declaration to just one short of its first-year target of 100 named supporters.

Partners foster new research links
During the year IMEX will also be collaborating with the International Association of Conference Centres (IACC) and Development Counsellors International (DCI) on a research study about generational differences in the meetings market. Results are set to be announced at IMEX in Frankfurt in May.

Co-located Board meeting draws more senior buyers
ISES, the International Special Events Society, has elected to co-locate its 2014 board meeting with IMEX America in Las Vegas in October for the first time. The society’s members collectively plan and deliver over 1 million events annually and represent a powerful group of buyers within the US events market.

Commenting on the announcements, IMEX Group CEO, Carina Bauer said: “IMEX America and IMEX in Frankfurt have both been built on a strategy of forming close, mutually beneficial working relationships with key industry associations. Today’s announcements demonstrate that there is still plenty of scope for innovation and expansion at both the shows. We will continue to work with relevant, specialist groups to ensure that IMEX offers ‘something for everyone’ while maintaining clear focus on our ultimate purpose: to enable and create face-to-face business between buyers and exhibitors.”

IMEX in Frankfurt opens on May 20 at Messe Frankfurt. Association Day and Exclusively Corporate @IMEX both take place on Monday May 19. Online registration is now open.

ECM announces a stronger partnership with IMEX

ECM announces a stronger partnership with IMEX and hands over 20 Declarations of Support to the Meetings Industry

IMEX and ECM sealed their close cooperation with the signature of a new partnership agreement last month. ECM also reaffirms its whole support to the sector, handing over 20 declarations signed by Politicians backing up the Meetings Industry during ECM CEO Meeting of Capital and major cities in Amsterdam on December 8-9.

A strong agreement focusing on trends, education, connection with key players and Politicians
Under the deal, both organizations will focus on trends and inspirations that are crucial in this ever changing industry ; each year IMEX comes up with new innovations and business opportunities and benefit in return from ECM knowledge on latest trends.
“ECM also advocates the value of the Meetings Industry and gives once again full support to the IMEX Politicians Forum via an active participation in shaping up the programme”, explains Heike Mahmoud, Vice-President for the Meetings Industry. The next edition will take place on May 20, 2014 in conjunction with the IMEX trade exhibition in Frankfurt.
Regarding educational opportunities, the IMEX Group is part of the selected ECM Summer School Faculty, bringing intelligence regarding how to maximize CVB’s presence at a trade shows and social media trends. The ECM Summer School is the only opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills required for a successful career in conference, meeting and event management. It sets the background and context to this most lucrative sector of tourism, illustrating its subject with up-to-date and cutting edge examples of European best practice. Course content is both relevant and practical, and at the same time is incisive and cutting edge.
“The ECM meeting of Chief Executives of Capital and major cities held in December each year also enables a continuous contact between IMEX and the key players in the main European cities. We are keen on sharing key messages and developments in the Meetings Industry.” adds Tom Hulton, director of International relations, IMEX Group.

The last CEO meeting of capital and major cities in Amsterdam, last December 8-9 was the appropriate time chosen by ECM to hand over 20 declarations of Support of the Meetings Industry to Tom Hulton, Director of International Relations, invited there as a special guest. In front of 21 leading European Cities, Tom Hulton demonstrated the economic impact of the Meetings Industry through concrete examples of congresses and through specific studies.
In response, Dieter Hardt-Stremayr handed over the declarations of Support signed by Politicians of 20 European cities. The declaration is intended to act as a public roll-call of politicians who understand the full economic impact of the meetings and events industry on their communities. It also highlights the industry’s role in building and sustaining local knowledge economies, creating employment, encouraging regeneration and stimulating infrastructure investment.

“Getting in total more than 100 declarations of support shows the importance of ongoing political advocacy in our industry and reminds us of the full economic power of meetings and events, and their role in building knowledge economies.” declares Ray Bloom, Chairman, IMEX Group.
“Our relation with IMEX has always been one of great professionalism. We are very proud of this new milestone and want to congratulate IMEX on their achievements and their valuable contribution to the international Meetings Industry as a whole” comments Ignasi de Delàs, ECM President.