Malaga, Barcelona, Vienna and Florence were the only cities mentioned during the roundtable discussion held on 11 March in Venice, keyed to helping the Italian city to start up its own convention bureau.
Last Monday, 11 March, Francisco Quereda, director of Malaga Convention Bureau (MCB) – belonging to the department of tourism of Malaga City Council – participated in a roundtable organized by Confindustria Venecia, an organization representing Venice’s service industry.
Under the slogan, “The Convention Bureau: MICE Industry Strategy. The best national and international case studies to illustrate how to set up a successful convention bureau”, the most consolidated cities in terms of tourism, or those that have shown the best evolution or strategic positioning in the MICE market, were invited, such as Vienna (the world’s leading MICE destination), Barcelona (the leader in Spain and the world’s third most popular destination), Florence and Malaga.
During the Monday session, the aim of the roundtable discussion was to allow the guest cities to share their experiences in the MICE industry and conduct a forum for addressing doubts and providing Venice with all the necessary information for planning and starting up its own convention bureau.
In his presentation, Quereda put the accent on the fact that the city had been invited due to progression of the Malaga Convention Bureau, which was created within the department of tourism seven years ago specifically for developing business tourism by means of promoting Malaga as a MICE destination.
Not for nothing Malaga is the only city in the world to have organized and hosted the three most important global MICE events (SITE, ICCA and MPI) and the most important Spanish MICE industry event (OPC España) in little over two years.
Elias Bendodo expressed his satisfaction in a recent statement: “It is very significant that Venice, one of the world’s top tourist destinations, wants to draw on Malaga’s experience in the MICE industry. It is obvious that the city of Malaga has consolidated its position, in a very short time, as a yardstick in Europe and even in the rest of the world, with a lot to contribute to those destinations that have still to exploit this market. Malaga is an example to follow, as well as being well on the way to rubbing shoulders with consolidated destinations, such as Barcelona and Vienna.”
