The value of meetings for destinations: the new frontier

Beyond the direct and the indirect economic impacts, destinations and all industry players are realising the value of meetings can be huge: social and cultural legacy, investment opportunities, professional education and improvement in health. As a result, some DMOs start looking beyond tourism like Auckland, which has a Tourism, Events and Economic Development office. Legacy is especially important as David Noack Pérez from the Madrid Convention Bureau explains: “We are working with medical societies which ask us to define a project in which the congress leaves a lasting impact; so we show concrete changes in the way this medical discipline will work better locally after the congress, involving all stakeholders.” He shared how in some medical societies, the destination selection is based more on a legacy than on the technical project.

Meetings bring education, costs, jobs and possibly CSR actions, and all these will move beyond being mere add-ons to become an essential element of our industry.

Economic development. South Africa’s Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo, chief convention bureau officer, reminds us that “our strategy is aligned with the developing sectors in our country. Meetings help us showcase our innovation and they leave an important legacy”.

As an example, after a pediatric cardiology congress, a factory manufacturing medical equipment for children was set up in South Africa, and the International AIDS conference led to the development of two HIV/AIDS research centres in Africa.

New skills. DMOs need new skills, especially expertise in identifying and implementing connections between public and private entities. Ahmed Mohammednoor Al Obaidli, director of Exhibitions Department at Qatar Tourism Authority sees their role as a catalyst to create collaborations between public and private entities. Sandrine Camia, director of the Monaco Convention Bureau says her role moves “from a passive destination marketer to an active business enabler.

Being a marketer is not enough; people want us to knock on the door, to impact, to be entrepreneurial”. She adds that placing business tourism in the realm of economy as well as tourism gives them a new legitimacy. The change is important and will be challenging, it will require education and awareness-building. PCMA is creating a global movement around the power of events to affect economic and social progress, organisational success and personal and professional development, as PCMA’s Sherrif Karamat told us. We are an engine of economic development; we are not here to fill beds anymore. Quite a change and quite a challenge for an industry, which frankly, may not be fully equipped for that yet. But if we have the right learning frame of mind, the future is even brighter than the (really cool) present we have!