Successful anniversary celebration of the Convention4U in Feldkirch

On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, the Convention4u returned to Vorarlberg from June 24 to 25, 2019 – the state of the first annual conference of the Austrian Conference Industry. 150 industry members accepted the invitation of the Austrian Convention Bureau (ACB) to Feldkirch.

Currently, the meeting industry is addressing exciting topics. The Convention4u program therefore spanned a range from learning psychology to sustainability and a new leadership culture. 19 national and international speakers provided input in a total of 20 sessions, partly implementing new and interactive formats.

Convention4U

Vienna in 4th place in the UIA International Meeting Statistics

Following the ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) 2018 ranking, which placed Vienna as the second most popular destination for international meetings, the UIA (Union of International Associations) has now published its own meeting statistics: As last year, Vienna once again comes in 4th place worldwide.

Of the international meetings hosted in Vienna in 2018, 401 met the UIA criteria for inclusion, placing it 4th in the list topped by Singapore (1,117). In second and third place came Brussels (733) and Seoul (431) respectively. Amongst the top ten Vienna is followed by Tokyo (313), Paris (259), Madrid (190), London (183), Barcelona (148), and Geneva (145).

Full article

Vienna Convention Bureau

ICCA announces Tirol as destination for 2020 Association Meetings Programme

The International Congress and Convention Association announced today during the Closing Ceremony of the fourth edition of the ICCA Association Meetings Programme, which was held in Durban, South Africa from 18-20 June 2019, that the 2020 edition of the event will be held in the Tirol region of Austria. The destination of Tirol and cities of Innsbruck and Alpbach will act as joint hosts.
The four hosts of the ICCA AMP 2020 are Convention Bureau Tirol, Convention Service Innsbruck, Congress Messe Innsbruck, and Congress Centrum Alpbach.

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Convention Bureau Tirol

Lufthansa Group Airlines Win Four Airline Oscars

Lufthansa was chosen as “Best Airline in Europe” and “Best Western European Airline” for the third straight year. The award was presented this year at a Skytrax ceremony held within the context of the Le Bourget aviation and aerospace exhibition in Paris.

Austrian received the award for its catering in the Premium Economy Class – “Best Premium Economy Class Onboard Catering” and Swiss in the category “The Worlds Best First Class Lounge” for the outstanding SWISS Lounge in Zurich. Skytrax, the market research institute specialising in aviation, had previously surveyed some 20 million passengers from over 160 countries worldwide.

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Austrian Airlines

Convention4U was Live!

From June 24th and 25th a live broadcast connected to the Convention4u 2019 in Feldkirch. On Monday, the keynotes started with the topic “Events 4.0 – Where does this path lead to?” with Thorsten Knoll.

Click here for some impressions from the event:

More information about the Convention4U

Upper Austria's succeeded in maiden voyage of the "MICE-Train"

As the sun was shining, so did the event organisers of this year’s maiden voyage of the “MICE-Train”. Over 80 customers and 15 parntners of the Upper Austria Convention Bureau attended at the rolling conference venue.

From the UNESCO City of Media Arts en route to the Imperial city in the Salzkammergut: the premiere of the MICE-Train from Linz to Bad Ischl showed the variety Upper Austria has to offer. The beauty was not only found within the landscape, but also with the “Majestic Train” – a truly, imperial event location on rail. During the trip, the partners presented their portfolio about the supply of conventions, seminars, congresses and events to the attendees.

Upper Austria Convention

Montforthaus Feldkirch as main sujet for the Austrian National Tourist Office

Every year, the Austrian National Tourist Office chooses its marketing sujet for the meeting industry. This year’s sujet displays Austria with its innovative architecture, in an urban enviroment, embedded in the enchanting mountain landscape. It exactly distinguishes Austria’s quality as a central meeting destination – a country that shows welcoming and dedicated hosts with their special sense for an adequate individual meeting planning.

The conference sujet of the Austrian National Tourist Office can be seen on the homepage’s header of convention.austria.info.

Montforthaus Feldkirch

Break The Ice Forum - MICE Europe in Werfenweng

Get lasting M.I.C.E. relationships in a fun and an informal way at the Break the Ice Forum from 27th to 29th June, 2019. At this extraordinary B2B event, important MICE-buyers gather during an exklusive two-nights stay at the Travel Charme Bergresort Werfenweng in order to build long-term relationships.

Break The Ice Forum

Tourism Association Werfenweng

Travel Charme Bergresort Werfenweng

That was IMEX in Frankfurt!

This year, IMEX took place from Tuesday, 21. May to Thursday, 23. May 2019. in Frankfurt. 38 exhibitors were represented at the Austrian stand E160.

Convention Bureaux and destinations, venues and event locations, hotels, DMCs & PCOs, and Lufthansa Group with Austrian Airlines were present.
First time exhibitors were: Andaz Vienna Am Belvedere, Hotel Schloss Weikersdorf, MICE at MQ, and Pletzer Resorts.

Next year, IMEX will take place from 12th to 14 of May 2020!

See more impressions on our Social Wall!

Vienna continues to lead the way: second place in the 2018 ICCA congress statistics

The latest global congress figures just confirmed by ICCA for 2018 saw Vienna retain its second place. With a total of 172 events, the city ranked behind Paris (212) and ahead of Madrid (165). Christian Woronka, head of the Vienna Convention Bureau (VCB) and Market Management at the Vienna Tourist Board explained: “We are delighted with another excellent finish for Vienna this year in a highly competitive market. The Austrian capital’s strong performance – driven by its focus on the visitor economy – is down to the outstanding cooperation between all of the players in the Viennese meeting industry: from the congress centers and venues, to the hotel industry and agencies, as well as the customers that we were able to attract to Vienna. I would like to thank them all for their contribution, and congratulate my colleagues in Paris on their first place!”

Vienna Convention Bureau

500 managers from the luxury travel industry in Vienna

Following a joint initiative by the Vienna Tourist Board and the Austrian National Tourist Office (ANTO), the world’s largest luxury travel network Virtuoso will be returning to Vienna in March 2020 – exactly twenty years after it was founded. Past participants include Cube Travel, Goldman Travel Corporation, Pro Travel, Smartflyer or Valerie Wilson Travel.

There is nowhere more suitable than Vienna as the location for Virtuoso’s 20th anniverary event, as the city brings together so many of the assets that its target group is looking for. Luxury travel accounts for around a fifth of global expenditure – and with a 30% share of the total, city trips are the most popular type of luxury travel. We will make the most of this opportunity to showcase Vienna’s strengths in the highly competitve luxury segment, explained Vienna Tourist Board Managing Director Norbert Kettner.

Press release Vienna Tourist Board

The best MICE destinations: Austria in 2nd place

Austria is experiencing growing success year after year in this sector. For the first time, it is ranked 2nd.

According to the 8th edition of the PRO SKY Destination Report 2019, conference trips to Austria and Germany are booming. Austria is convincing with its appealing destinations throughout the year, exciting team building offers, increasing environmental awareness as well as its excellent cuisine.

MICE experts believe that incentive travel is getting more essential. Still, major prerequisite by far is security.

Destination Report 2019 (German version)