News

Budapest Congress Center is renewed and given a new name

Budapest Congress Center was renewed in an 8 million euro innovation by Accor-Pannonia Hotels Rt., and awaits its guests with its new name: Budapest Congress & World Trade Center. The conference room for 1800 pax has been furnished with a new design and now it has the most modern, European standard audio-visual technology and stagecraft also. 18 board-rooms and a 900 m2 exhibition hall is connected to the biggest conference room of the country. „The purpose of the renovation was to meet the requirements of the international conference guests with the services of the Budapest Congress & World Trade Center”, said Mr. Patrick Bourguignon, the chief executive of Accor-Pannonia Hotels Rt., at the press conference of the renewed Congress Center. „We place emphasis on the new name: World Trade Center is a well known trade-name in the world, it assigns the meeting points of the business sphere in 100 country in the world.” Reviewing the renewed services of the Budapest Congress & World Trade Center, Mr. Zoltán Király, the marketing director of Accor Pannonia Hotels Rt. says: „several conference centers are managed by Accor Hotels (e.g. in Dubai and Bukarest) as a part of the World Trade Center network, so we could use the foreign experiences in the expansion of the services. We worked out a more flexible pricing system according to the influence of international expectations, we laid on the newest tendency in catering services and we offer everything under one roof, conference venue, accomodation and catering services, to raise the comfort of our guests.

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German specialists in Hungary

The Incentive Congress Journal organises each year a conference and workshop to its partners, leaders of the largest incentive houses in Germany, and this year’s 8th ICJ Congress took place in Budapest. Gerald W. Huft said that Hungary would be a great destination for incentives if it would be a bit better known. As he mentioned the top preferences are nowadays South Africa, Dubai, Spain and Germany. He also emphasized that the German market and the number of german meeting planners is growing day by day.

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Trust in Hungary – magazine discusses Chances of the EU enlargement

Germany’s renowned professional interest magazine CIM (Conference & Incentive Management) published a first interim result of the eastern enlargements’s effects on the Europen MICE - markets in its June 2005 edition. The article strongly emphazises the confidence of foreign clients in the Hungarian MICE – Market and mentions numerous new meeting venues outside the capital region which greatly enrich the variety of choice for visitors. Please read yourself the condensed version of the CIM – magazine’s online article:

Trust in Hungary
Ever since joining the EU trust in Hungary’s (conference) industry has been growing — outside of Budapest too. New conference centres are opening across the country. One year after the EU east enlargement Germans were on the whole positive about the new members and particularly friendly towards the Hungarians, revealed a TNS Infratest survey. This applies before the expected introduction of the Euro in 2008 and especially to firms. Just this May SAP will open a research centre in Budapest. "Since our EU-membership we notice stronger interest and confidence in Hungary - and a higher number of conferences“, observes Dr. Hilda Faragó, Secretary General of the National Tourism Board.
Meeting across the country
Transport connections are provided by airlines such as the national carrier Malév Hungarian Airlines or twelve low cost carriers, i.e. EasyJet. They not only fly to Budapest, but also to Sármellék on Lake Balaton and Debrecen on the Rumanian border. Here the Debrecen Convention Centre will be inaugurated with plenary for 750 by the end of the year. Although two out of every three conferences still take place in Budapest the rest of the country is catching up. "Seven to eight new conference centres have opened up from East to West in the last years," explains HCB boss Sztojanovits. For example in Sopron near Austria the Liszt Ferenc Convention and Culture Centre for 600 participants, on Lake Balaton in Balatonfüred the Conference and Cultural Centre (1,320 persons) as well as in Hungary’s east the Congress Center Szeged (700).

This was a condensed version of the CIM magazine’s online article, whose complete version (German and English) is accessible on www.cim-publicatons.de. The most detailed print version of the article can be found in CIM 3/05, issued on June 17, 2005.

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AITO celebrates partnership in Budapest

The AITO Specialist Travel Agents’ overseas conference took place in Budapest from 9 – 12 June 2005 with the theme of ‘The Perfect Partnership’, to celebrate the strong bond shared between AITO tour operators and AITO Agents. Chairman of the AITO Specialist Travel Agents’ Panel, Andrew Brownrigg comments: “Budapest was the perfect setting for this year’s AITO Agents conference. Buda is located on one side of the River Danube and Pest is on the other, and yet they link into one beautiful capital city. The conference enhances the remarkably strong bonds that already exist between AITO Agents and AITO operators. Ultimately, it is the consumer who benefits from these special links.” This year’s conference was hosted by the Hungarian National Tourist Office and the Hungarian Convention Bureau.

Pictures of the Gala Dinner

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2005