News

GMIC talks trash

Council Sets Million-Ton Target for Waste Diversion, Recycling in 2009. A million tons of waste will be diverted, recycled, or composted if the travel, meetings, and hospitality industries embrace the challenge issued at the 2009 Greening the Hospitality Industry Conference, hosted by the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC).
Inspired by the conference theme, ACTION = SUSTAINABILITY, participants in GMIC’s two-day Leaders’ Track agreed on the Million Tons of Trash Challenge as a catalyst for meetings, festivals, and other live events to measure and reduce the carbon they emit, the waste they produce, and the water they consume.
The average meeting produces 20 pounds (9.1 kilograms) of waste per person per day. The Million Tons of Trash Challenge will be launched on April 22, Earth Day, and will continue through the end of the year. Meeting planners, venues, and hotels around the world will be invited to measure the waste they recycle or compost and enter the total weight in an online system, where GMIC will tabulate a running total. Organizations with the best recycling and waste diversion rates will be recognized, and the results of the challenge will serve as a best practices guide for the entire industry.
For more information on joining or sponsoring the challenge, please send an email here or visit this website. Source: www.greenmeetings.info

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GMIC’s Greening the Hospitality Industry Conference Wraps Up in Pittsburgh

Approximately 180 people attended the Greening the Hospitality Industry conference from February 24 to 26 at the LEED Gold certified David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh. The event was organized by the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) and attracted hoteliers, meeting planners, government representatives and others with a stake in the green meetings industry. Even with the turnout that was lighter than hoped for, GMIC still had plenty to celebrate. In 2008, it increased its membership by 320 percent and now has 345 members in 20 countries with three chapters in formation (Atlanta, Chicago, Florida/Caribbean). Many other communities around the United States have also expressed interest in forming chapters. “This organization is thriving,” said Amy Spatrisano, president, GMIC.
L. Hunter Lovins, author of “Natural Capitalism” and president and founder of Natural Capital Solutions said that those hospitality companies that pursue sustainability will benefit from increased financial performance, reduce their financial risk, drive innovation more quickly, attract and retain the best talent, have more productive employees, and earn greater market share.
Harry Lewis, an attorney in the EPA’s Pollution Prevention Division, said green meetings standards are currently being developed by parties including GMIC, the EPA, the Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX), Convention Industry Council (CIC) and ASTM International. Nine committees have been formed to address categories including: accommodations, AV/production, communications, destination selection, exhibits, food and beverage, meeting venue, onsite office, and transportation. More information regarding the meetings standards will be available soon but Lewis said he expects ASTM, the organization charged with establishing international standards, to finalize the meetings standards in late 2009 or early 2010.
Next year’s Greening the Hospitality Industry conference will be held in Denver. For details click here!

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AIM and AIMS join forces

AIM and AIMS, leading European companies in the congress and event management industry, announced today their synergic merger.
Gianluca Buongiorno, President and CEO of AIM Group underlines the complementary business of the two companies: "AIM has a strong background in the complete organization of medical congresses and offers service products relating to this area, such as association management, publications and educational seminars. AIMS, on the other hand, traditionally served corporate and governmental clients and is renowned for its excellent business travel, DMC and event management services. The high quality of their services naturally led to the development of congress services for institutional clients as well."
Together they create one of the strongest international groups with 400+ staff, more than 125 million Euro turnover and offices in 10 European countries and in China: a new indubitable benchmark in the international meeting industry.
During the next eighteen months the group will continue to carry both brand names, which have been built up over several decades: quality and continuity of the services is guaranteed and clients will find their home base undisturbed, but with the availability to access additional beneficial resources.
For more information please click here or here!

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MICE workshop in London

The representation office of the Hungarian National Tourist Office in London is planning to organise a MICE Workshop on 5th June, 2009, between 11:00 and 16:00 in the Strand Palace Hotel (www.strandpalacehotel.co.uk). Cost of participation: HUF 150,000 + VAT with one representative, HUF 190,000 + VAT with two representatives (refreshments, coffee and sandwiches during the day are included). Please send your application to trade@gotohungary.co.uk until 10th of April. The venue is suitable for hosting no more than 15 suppliers. If applications outnumber the available places, suppliers will be chosen on first comes first served basis.  We also help you to book rooms in the Strand Palace Hotel on a discounted rate of 112 GBP/ club single room/ night or 142 GBP/club twin room/night. The Tourist Office will provide all participants with the guests’ contact details, after the event.

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APEX Green Meetings: Free CDGs Open to All

As a part of the APEX initiative, City Discussion Groups (CDGs) are events akin to town hall meetings. CDGs are a vital part of the development of accepted industry practices for the meeting, convention, and exhibition industry. These groups will meet throughout the development of accepted practices to review and comment upon the recommendations of the Green Meetings and Events Practice Panel, whose work will culminate in the formation of Green Meeting and Events Voluntary Standards.  CDGs offer industry members an opportunity to participate publicly in the dialogue and action that will help shape the development of the standard.
To register now, click here!

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MPI launches new web resource to emphasise the value of meetings in crisis time

MPI has launched a new web resource MeetingIndustryCrisisCenter.org. The resource has been developed to keep the industry aware of up-to-date information from both MPI and other supporting organisations, whilst importantly providing solutions and guidelines to address the issue.

“There is a perception that meetings and events need to curtailed. In our view, it is quite the opposite with meetings and events providing the solutions not the problem. Organisations that use meetings and events effectively will stay closer to their employees and customers, emerging sooner and stronger from the crisis,” said Bruce MacMillan, MPI’s president and CEO.  He continues: “Despite challenging times, MPI’s recently unveiled EventView 2009 research showed that event marketing provided the greatest ROI compared with other marketing tools. That is good news for the industry, good news for companies investing in events and good news for our 24,000 members worldwide.” He adds:  “It is vital that governments recognise the importance of the meetings and events industry. Our industry is responsible for 15% of all travel, creates over an estimated 0 billion in spending annually, generates nearly 2.4 million jobs and provides around billion in tax revenue in the US alone.

We will ensure that MPI and the meetings industry voices are heard loud and clear amongst any Governments’ and media considering restricting budgets. We do not want draconian measures put in place that affect European jobs, communities and businesses.”
Further information can be found here and here.
Source: www.mice-contact.com

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Erkel upgrading to 4-star

Gyula’s Erkel Thermal Hotel will be renovated and upgraded thanks to a HUF 1.9 billion investment backed by development funds. One wing of the hotel will be renewed and the current 195 rooms will be transformed into 185 units, including 10-12 suites. A wellness centre covering 5-600 sqm is also planned and the hotel will be made fully accessible by the handicapped, too. In the next phase of development a conference centre able to host events gathering 5-600 people will be constructed. Although the finishing date of the construction is November 2010, executives of the hotel hope that guests will benefit from the upgrading from next May. The hotel will remain open during the renovation as the other wing of the building will keep receiving guests. Source: HTTH

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More foreigners at Hungarian congresses in 2008

The Hungarian Convention Bureau has compiled its report about international conferences and congresses in Hungary in 2008. According to the survey, last year 531 conferences were held with the participation of 119,500 persons and 57 international exhibitions were held.
The increase in the field of international events (compared to 2007) is of the order of 10%. In fact, the segment has been one of the most dynamically improving areas of Hungarian tourism. The average length of events was 3.9 days and 79.5% of the conferences were held in Budapest, while the most popular months were April and September. 77.3% of the events were organised in hotels, but the share of conference centres grew to 14.5%, while universities and other institutions took a 4.3% slice of the business.
More than three-quarters of the participants - more than in the previous year - arrived from abroad and the average number of participating nations was 9.2.
For more information please click here!

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Global Economic Crisis Barometer

The impact of the current economic downturn on the exhibition business is of key interest. UFI has decided to assess the impact of the situation by developing a “Crisis Barometer” based on the perceptions of our UFI members in 83 countries and including for the USA, the same survey conducted by SISO (Society of Independent Show Organizers) of its members. This “Crisis Barometer” will be developed from a quarterly survey. The next survey will take place at the beginning of April 2009. For questions related to this survey, please contact to the UFI!

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March