REPORT – IMEX 2006 – FRANKFURT: 38 VIPs joined 22 politicians from across Europe at the IMEX Politician’s Forum at the Steigenberger Frankfurterhof Hotel in Frankfurt. The size and scope of the group made it the…
REPORT – IMEX 2006 – FRANKFURT: 38 VIPs joined 22 politicians from across Europe at the IMEX Politician’s Forum at the Steigenberger Frankfurterhof Hotel in Frankfurt. The size and scope of the group made it the largest, and potentially most influential, gathering of political and business leaders since the launch of the Forum four years ago.
Political representatives from Switzerland, Hungary, Brussels (Belgium), Norway, Turkey, UK, France, Germany, Georgia, Sweden, Croatia, Poland and Scotland all took part in a day of incisive debate and industry presentations. In the moderator’s chair for the second time was Michael Hirst, OBE, Chairman of the Business Tourism Partnership, UK.
In response to the group’s express desire for a more detailed understanding of the economic and social factors that drive the meetings industry, organisers IMEX, JMIC (Joint Meeting Industry Council) and the EFCT (European Federation of Conference Towns) changed the format of the Forum for 2006. For the first time politicians visited IMEX prior to the Forum and attended two tailor-made presentations on the Finland and Vancouver, Canada stands. Each of these detailed how the respective destinations had raised awareness and increased understanding of their community’s meetings industry by working in close partnership with their local, regional or national governments.
Other changes included a stronger emphasis on measuring the ‘true’ value of the meetings industry at local level and guidance on how to apply benchmarking and other measures effectively and accurately. The politicians were also given the latest statistics and trends forecasts for the European meetings industry to demonstrate its long-term potential as an important growth industry. These format changes ensured that the 60-strong group left with a far stronger understanding of the economic benefits to be gained from actively embracing their local meetings communities than they had before.
The day’s presentations also included a talk entitled ‘Meetings mean Progress’ from Barbara Maple, President of JMIC and another on “Changing Conditions, Changing Messages: How Evolving Market Conditions are Impacting What We Say to Government, by Rod Cameron, President of Criterion Communications. IMEX Director of International Relations, Tom Hulton, also presented the findings of a dedicated survey which revealed the views of 9 destinations that had achieved notable success in working with their local governments to attract more meetings to their communities. These included Vienna, Biarritz, Adelaide, Istanbul, Graz and Goteburg.
Speaking from the viewpoint of politicians, UK MP, John Greenway, offered the group his guidance on “How to develop this key relationship from the Politician’s perspective”.
In response to what he had heard during the day, Thorsten Rudolph of Priener Tourismus GmbH, said, “It is very good that the politicians and experts have had this opportunity to meet together. I have found it very interesting, especially the input of what’s happening in the market and how to address that market – a valuable day.”
Murat Yalcintas President of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce added, “It is important that politicians understand that the MICE business creates wealth for the whole city. Today was a real eye-opener and I got a lot out of it.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
