Edinburgh wins bid to host ICCA Congress 2020

Edinburgh wins bid to host ICCA Congress 2020
High profile team helps to secure prestigious international conference for Edinburgh

Edinburgh, 13 May 2016 – Edinburgh has won its bid to host the biennial International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Congress 2020 in what is estimated to be a £2 million boost to the local economy that will see over 1,200 delegates in attendance.

The team bid partnership comprising the Scottish Arbitration Centre, Convention Edinburgh, Conference Partners, Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) and VisitScotland, also gained national high profile support including the UK Prime Minister, Scotland’s First Minister and representatives of the national and international arbitration and legal communities.

The ICCA’s 2020 Congress, which is supported by VisitScotland’s Conference Bid Fund, is the world’s largest conference devoted to international arbitration. The ICCA is a worldwide non-governmental organisation devoted to promoting the use and improving the processes of arbitration and other forms of international commercial dispute resolution. Its activities include convening international arbitration congresses and conferences, sponsoring authoritative dispute resolution publications, and promoting the harmonisation of arbitration and conciliation rules, laws and practices.

In securing the bid win, Edinburgh bet off stiff competition from Copenhagen, Stockholm, Vienna, St Petersburg, Vancouver and Mexico City.

ICCA President, Donald Donovan, said: “We are delighted to be going to Edinburgh in 2020, and congratulate the bid committee on having prevailed in the face of stiff competition from a strong field of bidders. After recent ICCA Congresses held in Rio, Singapore and Miami, this year’s event in Mauritius, and a 2018 Congress scheduled for Sydney, ICCA looks forward to bringing the Congress to Europe in 2020. We’re confident that ICCA Edinburgh will provide a spectacular platform from which to pursue ICCA’s mission to address the toughest issues facing international commercial and investment arbitration.”

Andrew Mackenzie, Chief Executive of the Scottish Arbitration Centre welcomed the news that the ICCA’s 2020 Congress will be hosted in the Centre’s home town and said: “We look forward to showing the international arbitration community what Scotland has to offer and are confident that this conference will put Edinburgh firmly on the map as venue and a seat of international arbitration.”

Lesley Williams, Head of Business Tourism at Convention Edinburgh said: “The successful bid to bring ICCA 2020 to Edinburgh is a testament to the solid collaboration between all parties involved with the project. Not only will this high profile conference bring around 1,200 delegates and generate almost £2 million for the local economy, it will play a crucial role in raising Edinburgh and Scotland’s global reputation in international arbitration.”

Nicola McGrane, Managing Director at Conference Partners said: “We are delighted with that the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) has chosen Edinburgh to host their 2020 Congress. The partnership working with the bid partners throughout the bid process was crucial to the success of bringing ICCA 2020 to Edinburgh. We believe this team approach has been reflected in our success and highlights the warm welcome delegates will experience in Edinburgh in 2020.”

Marshall Dallas, the EICC’s Chief Executive, said: “We are thrilled that Edinburgh and the EICC have been chosen to host this prestigious international conference in the face of significant global competition. It is a testament to the hard work from the team and our supporters – overall it is great news for the city and the economy. It seems fitting that the ICCA Congress is being held in a city and nation renowned worldwide for its proud and progressive legal tradition.”

Rory Archibald, Business Development Manager at VisitScotland, said: “Winning the right to host the ICC World Congress is another coup for Edinburgh, and is testimony to the capital’s enormous appeal to conference organisers, as a city which boasts cutting-edge facilities as well as incredible history and heritage. Business events is an industry worth nearly £2 billion to the Scottish economy and we are delighted to be supporting this prestigious event through the VisitScotland Conference Bid Fund.”

For further information on Convention Edinburgh and its services at www.conventionedinburgh.com @conventions
—
#EICC #conventionedinburgh #VisitScotland #ICCA #MICE #MICEnews #investEdingburgh

Tokyo – the most liveable city in Monocle magazine’s 2015 Quality of Live Survey

Tokyo – the most liveable city in Monocle magazine’s 2015 Quality of Live Survey.

Rising from the 2nd place in 2014 and 4th in 2013, Tokyo was named the most liveable city, followed by Vienna, Berlin, Melbourne and Sydney, in the 2015 Quality of Live Survey in the Monocle magazine.

In addition to the criteria surveyed traditionally, such as safety, international connectivity, public transport, tolerance and environmental issues, Monocle has added 22 new metrics, including several that look at housing and the cost of living, from the price of a three-bedroom house to the cost of a coffee, glass of wine and decent lunch. Furthermore, access to nature, urban design, business conditions, pro-active policy development and medical care has been more emphasized.

Summarizing this year’s survey results, Monocle magazine stated, “Tokyo claims the hotly debated crown due to its defining paradox of heart-stopping size and concurrent feeling of peace and quiet”.

—
#Tokyo #Japan

Brand new edition of travel trade guide for European City cards puts the spotlight on 40 destinations !

Brand new edition of travel trade guide for European City cards puts the spotlight on 40 destinations!

Targeting travel operators and intermediaries, this new edition of the digital brochure presents you with all you need to know about 40 city cards from 23 countries!

The guide has been put together by a collaboration of 40 city tourist offices working under the auspices of the European City Cards Knowledge Group. As well as offering a succinct overview of how the cards can work for you, the e-brochure provides much practical information, including details of commissions and contact details for each and every city. With the help of the brochure, the travel trade is able to make optimum use of city cards so as to create new business and at the same time enhance the customer experience.

Olivier Occelli, chairperson of the European City Cards Group says: “this e – brochure is trendy, cost effective, practical for the readers, and most important, easy to forward. You just scroll on the document and follow the links you are interested in.”

City Cards are a great way to see the sights and save money!

The cards offer free and/or discounted admission to leading visitor attractions, combined in many cases with public transport options, as well as discounts at shops, bars and restaurants. It is a truly perfect way to discover a city.

40 cities in one!
The cities and City Cards you can find out in the e-brochure are: Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona, Belfast, Berlin, Bratislava, Brugge, Brussels, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dijon, Dublin, Geneva, Ghent, Gothenburg, Hamburg, Helsinki, Innsbruck, Krakow, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London, Lyon, Nantes, Nice, Nürnberg, Oslo, Paris, Prague, Reykjavik, Split, St Petersburg, Stockholm, Tallinn, Turku, Valencia, Vienna, Vilnius, Zagreb, Zaragoza and Zürich.

The e-brochure is available for free and on http://www.europeancitiesmarketing.com or by directly contacting individual cities.

City Cards are also available on http://www.europeancitycards.com, and their mobile phone applications are downloadable for free at the Appstore and at the Android Market.

Rush of Bookings for Chicago 2013

AIBTM 2012 The Americas Meetings Week Closes With a Rush of Bookings for Chicago 2013
Exhibitors from around the world and across the United States reported that business was brisk with Hosted Buyer appointments, group presentations and drop-in traffic at this week’s AIBTM 2012 in Baltimore.

The structure of this year’s AIBTM Americas Meetings Week kicked off with a day of education and more than 2,250 people in attendance, over 50% up on the previous year. The number of exhibiting companies on the show floor also increased, up from 183 to 194 including 55 new to the event this year, and all resulting in a 5% increase in overall growth of the event.

Education was a highlight with a variety of speakers, sessions and keynotes. Supported by all of the major industry associations including PCMA, ICCA, Site, ACTE, MPI. Taking place pre-show enabled both exhibitors and Hosted Buyers to attend sessions that included PCMA Executive Edge, Site Young Leaders Program, MPI’s Practitioner Series and many others. Research also formed part of the continuing program including the delivery of MPI’s updated BVOM and Eric Rozenberg, non-exec Chair of RTE’s global meetings and events portfolio presented the first US regional version of the AIBTM Global Meetings Research findings (www.aibtm.com). New this year was a number of keynote sessions which kicked off each day with innovation, motivation and inspiration as the lead topics. Speakers included Roger Rickard, Partner and Chief Advocate of Revent LLC, Peggy Duncan, Personal Productivity Expert and Alfredo Quinones aka Dr Q among the many.

Commenting on one of the live panel discussions on public policy and the meetings and travel industry, Lindsey Lassiter, Navy League of the United States said “I work for a military meeting association, so most of our events include active-duty personnel. It is helpful to know if we are going in the right direction or need to go in another direction. We work closely with a lot of legislative folks, so it is good to know we are doing the right thing”.

The second CEO Summit welcomed some 30 industry leaders from the US and around the world who had anticipated the stream of knowledge and opportunities the private event would offer. “For me, I look forward to the opportunity to hear trends and projections on the future of the meetings industry and business in general”, said attendee Michael Owen, CEO and managing partner of EventGenuity LLC in Nashville. “But as important as anything else is the peer connection and in my view after attending maybe half a dozen EIBTM CEO Summits this was the best ever. It was provocative and it gave me inspired thought that I can apply directly and immediately to my business”. He added.

The first “Market Focus SPOTLIGHT on Europe” debuted on the final morning with a turnout of approximately 162 Hosted Buyers and some 15 European exhibitors conducting open-market style appointments and mixing with each other to discuss business in Europe. The one hour session had been organised as a direct response to the AIBTM 2011 post-show research, which confirmed that 60% of US Hosted Buyers have a direct interest in placing business internationally.

This year’s Hosted Buyer programme had representatives from 29 countries. “First, I really like AIBTM because I can meet with so many different vendors in one place,” said Samantha Friedman of Resort Meetings Consortium in Chicago. “I also like booking my appointments so I get a mix of what I want. I have been to other Hosted Buyer programmes where there are too many appointments in a day, so you are exhausted at the end. I have seven today and I can spread things out so I can attend some education sessions and look around the exhibits that are interesting”.

Packing in even more appointments into her day was Maggie Johnston, with Assurex Global in Dublin, Ohio who attended AIBTM last year. “When I come to a show like this, I like the Hosted Buyer programme” she said. “I have 15 appointments today, more than scheduled last year, so I can meet with the people I need to talk to. I like getting into a routine and I get a lot of business done as well as connecting names to faces.”

Donna Hunt from HelmsBriscoe summed up her experience simply. “I am very much impressed with the exhibits. I have been to other shows where you walk around and you can’t always get the information you want, so I like this format”.

By the close of play the show floor had already booked over 50 exhibitors for Choose Chicago which will be the next host city for AIBTM from June 11th – 13th 2013. Those already signed include; Las Vegas Meetings by Caesars Entertainment, Event Ready, Greater Raleigh CVB, Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, Long Beach CVB, Philadelphia CVB, PSAV Presentation Services, Star Travel DMC, Visit Charlotte, IHG, Hyatt Hotels, Dominican Republic, Canada, Greater Miami, Marriott, Melia Hotels, Moscow Exhibition & Convention Agency, Nassau, Napa Valley, NYC & Company, Philadelphia Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, MGM Resorts, Myrtle Beach, Vienna, Vancouver Hotel Destination Association, The Peabody Orlando, San Francisco Travel Association, Rosen Hotels & Resorts and Hello USA.

“Two years on and it’s great to see that AIBTM has established itself in the US. The quality of education, business concluded and networking achieved gives us a positive close to this event and a great launch pad for our move to Chicago.” said Craig Moyes, Portfolio Director, IBTM Global Events Portfolio, Reed Travel Exhibitions.

Finally, it was announced during the show that AIBTM will rotate starting with 2013 in Choose Chicago at McCormick Place and in 2014 at Orlando Florida and the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC). The dates will be:

Choose Chicago: June 11th – 13th 2013

Orlando, Florida: June 10th – 12th 2014