Meetings and incentive travel is firmly back on the menu for 2011 and is expected to accelerate throughout the year and beyond. Great Hotels of the World has revealed its top ten predictions for the most popular destinations for meetings and incentive travel during 2011 and beyond.
Meetings and incentive travel is firmly back on the menu for 2011 and is expected to accelerate throughout the year and beyond. Great Hotels of the World, the sales and marketing alliance for independent luxury hotels, has revealed its top ten predictions for the most popular destinations for meetings and incentive travel during 2011 and beyond.
1. Montenegro
After having experienced dramatic growth in the leisure sector over the past few years Montenegro is now rapidly emerging as a popular destination for meeting and incentive planners. Set on the Adriatic coast and often referred to as one of Europe’s best kept secrets, the country offers endless experiences for incentives and team building activities, as well as excellent facilities for conferences and meetings. The hotel industry is booming thanks to a huge investment in hotel development and infrastructure, and with most of Europe being less than a two hour flight away, Montenegro is fast becoming the destination of choice to provide new and memorable experiences.
2. Croatia
Widely known as the "Pearl of the Adriatic" due to its high tourism standards, Croatia has a lot to offer the meetings and incentives industry. With such attractive destinations such as Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Split and Hvar and well-connected through nine international airports, Croatia is fast becoming an attractive option for congresses, meetings and incentive trips as event planners look for first rate business travel destinations.
3. South Africa
With beautiful scenery, a sunny climate, cultural diversity and excellent value for money, South Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing MICE destinations. The World Cup provided a great opportunity for South African cities to showcase their MICE infrastructure and Johannesburg and Cape Town in particular, have become popular choices for buyers thanks to their capacity for hosting events of all sizes and budgets. Many new hotels and convention centres are being built and existing facilities are undergoing refurbishment. Safari incentive trips are also becoming more popular.
4. India
With the latest technology and facilities, warm hospitality, a rich heritage and natural beauty, India is a unique and exotic destination for meeting and congress, which can be combined with a leisure holiday. India boasts many world-class convention centres, as well as stunning scenery, transforming an annual business meeting into a glamorous and enjoyable event.
5. Lisbon, Portugal
Lisbon is emerging as one of Europe’s top MICE destinations thanks to its convenient location, modern infrastructure, good value, mild climate and varied choice of venues. The city has also been one of the most requested destinations through the Great Hotels’ MICE desk in the past year. Chosen for many high profile events in recent years, Lisbon’s reputation as an international business destination is soaring and this is set to continue throughout 2011 and beyond.
6. Turkey
With excellent transport links, Turkey is a convenient meeting point straddling Europe and Asia and perfectly equipped with a variety of venues and accommodation. Turkey’s luxury resorts, boutique hotels, fully-equipped congress centres and state-of-the-art meeting facilities all boast the highest standards of service and hospitality. When all this is combined with unmatched historical landmarks and modern shopping centres, it is easy to see why Turkey is an ideal meeting and incentive destination.
7. Greek Islands
Hotels with meeting and conference facilities are in abundance in Greece, and when combined with a mild year-round climate, continuously improving infrastructure and frequent flights, the country – above all its islands – has all it takes for perfect events. Crete, Rhodes and Mykonos are in particularly high demand with a 20% increase in enquiries year-on-year for meetings and incentives in 2011 with respect to 2010.
8. Iceland
Iceland offers an incomparable setting for incentive trips and also has some great meeting and conference facilities. Iceland’s incentive offerings are world-class, including visits to hot springs, volcanoes, glaciers, canyons, jeep safaris, camping, dog-sledding and cultural, historical and geological tours. Enquiries for incentive trips to Iceland have doubled in the past six months as planners look for unique and unforgettable incentive trip destinations.
9. Sardinia
Sardinia is an ideal destination for all kinds of events, including corporate meetings, employee incentives and conferences. With close proximity and frequent flights to most European cities, in addition to a wide range of top-class hotels and facilities, many leading companies are choosing Sardinia for their meeting and incentive trips and, as a result, it is fast becoming an exclusive and high-end destination.
10. Seoul, South Korea
As the second largest city in the world, Seoul is rich in culture, history, technology and food, with something to suit all tastes. The aim of the Seoul Tourism Organisation is to transform the city into one of the world’s top five convention cities; something that will not be hard to achieve thanks to its optimal tourism resources, services and convention facilities.
