News

World Conference about travel diseases in Budapest

Budapest hosted the 9th World Conference of The International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM), the most important such organization, between 24th-28th May. The most prominent personalities of the profession participated on the event, and talked about the most imporant current problems, such as the malaria, the swine-flu epidemic, the hepatitis A, and the travelers’ diarrea. According to the participants, it is crucial that each and every country pays enough attention to travel related health issues, provide information to travelers, and prepares them to the possible dangers of traveling. Attandees dealt separately with the special group of travelers such as pregnant women, adventure tourists, and visitors of dangerous Far-East and Africal regions.

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QUAESTOR: Green Certified

The QUAESTOR Travel Agency participated in this year’s Green Office contest, and won the Green Office Certification. In every field of the organization’s operation environmental consciousness is becoming more and more important, this is what lead to the green developments in the central office. The aim was the optimization of the operational expenses and the minimalization of its negative environmental effects, and to raise the environmental consciousness of the employees. QUAESTOR is also working on the promotion of responsible travel in its new catalogues and on its new website as well.

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HCB Goes Green

Knowing that tourism contributes greatly to climate change, the Hungarian Convention Bureau considers promoting environmental practices to the actors of the Hungarian meetings market one of its most important tasks. According to the Green Meetings Industry Council, an average participant of a conference produces 9.1 kilograms of waste per day. The study of the Environmental Protection Agency made in 2001 showed that the participant of a 3 day conference is responsible for the emission of 635 kilograms of greenhouse gases.
As one of its firsts steps towards environmental responsibility, the HCB has offsetted the amount of CO2 that’s emitted by the operations and trips of the Bureau in a year with the help of the CO2NTRA company. Besides, the employees of the HCB are committed to continue environmentally responsible operations, including selective waste collection and the limitation of printed materials (all publications of the HCB are available in a .pdf format).
Please browse our website website, www.hcb.hu for further tips of how to green your meetings, or contact us for information about green certified hotels and venues! 

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GMIC talks trash

Did you know that the average meeting produces 20 pounds (9.1 kilograms) of waste PER PERSON, PER DAY?
Join event industry leaders who are pledging to divert 1 Million Tons of trash from worldwide landfills in 2009.
The Million Tons of Trash Challenge was conceived by leaders and members of the Green Meetings Industry Council during the 2009 Action=Sustainability Conference.  The purpose of the Challenge is to build momentum and awareness toward the ultimate goal of reducing the environmental footprint of meetings and events, thereby building a more sustainable industry.
Our challenge website offers tips, resources, case studies, and networking opportunities for anyone who wants to reduce event trash.
We invite all who are involved with events to sign up and commit here to reduce and divert waste and to measure and submit statistics using our online calculator.
Follow us on Twitter and check back often to see Blog updates and new case studies that will motivate the industry to make a difference and change our event waste habits forever.
Questions about how to participate in the Trash Action Challenge? Please email challenge@greenmeetings.info.

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Budapest- 6. on the annual ICCA ranking

ICCA has published the long-awaited full country and city rankings for international association meetings taking place in 2008. According to these data, Budapest maintained its 6th place among the most popular MICE cities in the world. With 95 international conferences organized in the Hngarian capital, Budapest forerun cities like Brussels, London or Prague. The top of the ranking is occupied by Paris and Vienna, while Barcelona and Singapore came to the second and third place respectively.

The most preferred MICE destinations of the world are the USA, Germany and Spain. Final results will be published in June.

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Zsámbék’s first 4-star opens

The Espa Bio & Art Hotel opened on 15 May in Zsámbék, 20 km from Budapest. The conference and wellness hotel offers 38 rooms (including 4 bio-comfort rooms), pool, sauna, steam-bath, massage, beauty therapies, a meeting room, 2 section rooms, squash courts and bowling. Further information here!

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GMIC Introduces Green Meetings Portal

In partnership with The Conference Publishers Inc., the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC) has launched a new Web site dedicated to knowledge sharing in the realm of green meetings, it announced last week. The new site, the Green Meetings Portal, is intended to be a "one-stop knowledge source on green meetings practice, policy and technology."
"The Green Meetings Portal will give the meetings industry a single window on the green strategies that will help it survive and thrive."

The Green Meetings Portal features a dozen different theme areas, ranging in subject matter from green facilities, food and beverage, and transportation to corporate social responsibility, climate change and carbon.

For more information about the new Web site, visit it at SustainableMeetingsPortal.com.

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MeetGreen Creates ’Eco-Event Zone’ for Meetings

In partnership with Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), Portland, Ore.-based event management company MeetGreen—formerly Meeting Strategies Worldwide—has unveiled a new program with which to promote green meetings and events.
Introduced last week, the program uses so-called "Eco-Event Zones" to encourage ongoing, long-term sustainability initiatives among meeting planners and the cities that host them. It works by encouraging planners who are hosting meetings in the same city—the same "zone"—to collaborate on finding and creating green meetings opportunities in their host destinations, and to work together in order to understand the cumulative impact they can have by greening their pre- and post-event processes.
"Too often we see meetings as a singular event, rather than a transformative process," MeetGreen’s Shawna McKinley said in a statement. "This initiative shows meetings are about much more than a few days sharing in education or networking. Conferences and events are multi-month or multi-year processes that can positively transform the cities where we meet and change how we look at an event footprint if we work together with our stakeholders."
For more information about Eco-Event Zones, visit MeetGreen’s Web site at www.meetgreen.com.

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Debrecen’s Főnix among the leading arenas

The European Arenas Association has welcomed Főnix Csarnok in Debrecen as a new member of the prestigious club of 27 institutions from 21 countries. Members of the EAA include the leading indoor multifunctional institutions of Europe.

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Hungexpo: old-new CEO

The owner of Hungexpo Co., French GL Events, appointed Mr János Barabás CEO from 1 May. The new executive held this position from 2002-2006 and was until recently vice-president of Hungexpo’s board. Mr Barabás’s aim is to further improve quality and to focus on events.

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Sustainable Events Summit launches

The Sustainable Events Summit 2009 has now launched and we’re looking forward to a great day of debate, discussion and commitment to action on May 22nd.
The second annual Sustainable Events Summit takes place on Friday 22 May at One Wimpole Street, London. With sustainability currently a huge issue in the events industry, and organisers eager to learn best practice which will allow them to implement sustainable measures, this is a timely moment for this summit to take place.
The event took place last year, and over 200 delegates enjoyed  speakers such as Tom Feegel, Chief of Staff at Live Earth, who outlined the current state of play in the industry and the pressing need for change. We hope to build on that platform to deliver a series of presentations, workshops and debates which will push the agenda from thinking and talking to doing and acting.
We hope that this second Sustainable Events Summit will lead the way towards the cleaner, greener events industry we all want.
More info here!

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Károlyi-Csekonics Residence-new venue in the heart of Budapest

István Károlyi’s and Margit Cserkonics’s Palace was an important and special place for social life in the 19th century, and it got its splendor back in 2007. It is now a special exhibition venue with a unique atmosphere, situated in the heart of Budapest, in the Villa District.
Its representative rooms and imposing halls can be an elegant host of gala events, meetings, conferences, presentations, and weddings, from 5 to 400 guests. When a ball takes place here, the original function of the palace is revived: during the construction of the Palace, the Károlyi family aimed to create a building that enchants and entertains its guests. The elegant, spacious interior and the well-thought service areas make event organizers’ work easier.

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May