In August, Prague Convention Bureau conducted a survey „How do you choose a destination for your event?“, addressed to travel agencies, corporations, organizers of meetings and incentive events and international PCOs (Professional Congress Organizers).
PRAGUE – 10 simple questions asked them, for example, about the most important factors in their selection of destination, accommodation or venues, their opinions on Prague as a congress destination, or where do they get information when planning an event. The total of 261 respondents took part in the survey. Most of them were from UK, USA, Germany, Benelux and France. The greatest response rate was from organizers of meetings and incentive events (72%).
72% of the respondents have already been to Prague and 43% of them have already organized an event here. The answers have shown that the most important factor for organizers, when planning an event, is geographical location of the destination and its accessibility (74%), price (68%) and attractiveness (57%). Relatively low are unique off-site venues (15%) and walkability (14%).
When asked what would convince them to organize a meeting in Prague, 52 % of them stated support from the local hosts or organizers, 48% creative and high-quality social programme (for organizers of meetings and incentive events it was even in the first place; from the markets point of view, social program was the most important for Benelux and Germany), and 45% consider financial support from the City as crucial (for the U.S. market this was in the first place), as well as a proactive approach of Prague Convention Bureau; the respondents also emphasized their personal experience with the destination, such as FAM trips. Less significantly was ranked surprisingly marketing and PR support from the city (31%).
As for venues, price has been stated in the first place in the selection process (83%), followed by flexibility of space and logistics (55%) and size and adequacy of space (54%). Relatively high number, 50% of respondents, stated free Wi-Fi for delegates as very important – associations even stated this response in the first place (79%). In-house AV and IT is important only for 16%. In individual answers, emphasis was put especially on human aspect – i.e. the client approach of employees in individual venues.
According to the results of the survey, event organizers most often get information about the destination on specialized platforms, such as Cvent, I&MI, Starcite, Travel-42, Venuefinder, ConventionPlanit (48%), and internet search engines like Google or Yahoo (47%) – this response was in the first place at the UK market – and convention bureau’s websites (43%) – information from the convention bureau’s websites obtain the most associations and from the markets USA. Specialized printed magazines serve as a source of information only to 39% of respondents, although in some markets such as Germany and Benelux they are still the most important source of information. Individual answers stated personal references and knowledge of the colleagues in the industry, as well as their previous experience with the destination, as a very important source of information.
When asked if they contact first a convention bureau while organizing a meeting, 54% said they do, and 92% of them said that they trust convention bureau’s recommendations in the selection of local suppliers – yes answered 100% of respondents from Benelux and Germany. The most often used expressions to describe Prague were the following: Beautiful, Fascinating, A gem of a city, Elegant, International, Unique, Friendly, Inviting, Cost effective, Magnificent, Amazing, Attractive, Exciting, Trendy, Lovely, SPECTACULAR!!, Stunning, Breathtaking, Old world, Magical, Cultural, Brilliant, Scenic, Dynamic, Relatively undiscovered, Fantastic, Majestic, Intriguing, Clean, Peaceful, Impressive, Gorgeous, Safe, Enchanting, Easily accessible, Romantic, Alive, The New European Chic, A fairytale city, EUROPE’S # 1 HIDDEN TREASURE, City of spires, Quintessential European Medieval City , a MUST European city.
Surprisingly, there were only few negative comments on Prague as a congress destination – some of them mentioning the need to renovate the congress centre, other the fact that Prague is not as cheap as it used to be. On the other hand, many respondents appreciated the positive development of the quality of services.
Prague Convention Bureau would like to include the results of the survey to its marketing strategy and activities for the following year.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
