Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau concluded its IBTM World 2015 participation with a large number of meetings that recorded sufficient interest on the part of foreign professionals for holding conferences in Athens.
The ACVB team gave an overview of the Athens business tourism product and the new social activities highlights this year in Barcelona as co-exhibitor at the Greek National Tourist Organization (EOT) C70 pavilion, in the international exhibition and business tourism conference IBTM 2015.
Negative effects
The event was overshadowed by the tragic events in France and the insecurity climate prevailing in recent days, mainly in Europe is expected undoubtedly to have negative effects in conferences and corporate meetings on the continent’s destinations, at least in the near future, MICE market analysts estimated.
Prior to the November 13 Paris attacks, estimates for the 2016 season MICE market, were quite optimistic and positive, despite some reservations regarding growth rates of developed countries economies and major markets, such as Brazil and Russia, that could affect primarily the corporate meetings market. On the contrary, strong demand was recorded in other major markets such as China and India.
Trends Watch Report 2015
IBTM’s annual market research for 2016 (Trends Watch Report 2015) recorded notable trends for further market development especially in Europe, with increased budgets for events, on behalf of organizers and corporate administrations.
Regarding Athens, this year’s IBTM showed foreign professionals and exhibition visitors interest to be stable.
Information and relevant material
The ACVB team participated in more than 60 scheduled and unscheduled meetings with buyers and professionals from many countries.
Primarily, professionals attention focused on obtaining information and relevant material for the destination and services offered by the ACVB to parties interested in organizing events in Athens.
Evident interest
Increased interest for incentive travel as well as organizing certain major international conferences in Athens, during the 2017-2019 period, was also evident.
During the meetings, some questions about the refugee issue were raised but there were mainly of an informative nature and did not involve some kind of concern.
Emerging trend
An emerging trend in the international market, concerns the so called “drag and drop sites”, that is the use of abandoned or inactive transport sites (e.g. old containers, railway trains, buses, planes, etc.) especially retrofitted to hold a conference or a corporate meeting and offering a different experience compared to conventional classrooms and venues.
Research also indicated an infiltration attempt by the sharing economy in the MICE market but, as it was noted, the relevant first attempt that took place this year from a known market platform did not achieve the anticipated success.
Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau profile
The Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB) is a division of the Athens Development and Destination Management Agency (ADDMA). It focuses on both the MICE and City Break/Travel Trade sectors offering destination management & marketing services.
The ACVB serves as the focal point between meeting planners and the local meetings industry. It provides meeting planners with the appropriate tools and assistance so as to facilitate the organization of their event in Athens.
