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MICE Destinations

Case study: German-based agency trendhouse successfully delivers an incentive in Edinburgh, Scotland, for best performers of a direct selling company

In Spring 2017, the Munich-based event agency trendhouse organised an incentive in Edinburgh, Scotland, for best performers of a direct selling company. Trendhouse is a reputable events and communication agency that specialises in complete event management and strategy. The agency takes a personal and hospitable approach to its clients and is known for going the extra mile with attention to details to each client project. 

Their clients are both based in Germany and internationally, particularly due to their proximity to Switzerland and Austria. This incentive was organised for a group of best performers of a direct selling company in Austria.

Edinburgh matches the client brief 

Trendhouse was hired for the second year by the client to organise a reward incentive for best sellers. In the previous year they went to Athens, Greece, and after being at a southern destination, the client requested a northern destination, and pre-selected Iceland, Scotland and Lapland. 

Monaco roadshow in Germany inspired event planners to experience the #UnexpectedMonaco

When an event has a red carpet, you know that it will be a good one. Such was the case for ‘Unexpected Monaco’ event on 13 February at the prestigious Relais & Châteaux Restaurant Lafleur in Frankfurt, followed by an educational workshop the next morning, 14 February, at the stylish La Brasserie am Luisenplatz in Wiesbaden. 

The Monaco Convention Bureau and six of their partners came for a roadshow in Germany and hosted events in Munich, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Wiesbaden. I had the honour of joining them for the last two events and here I want to share with you my insights. This time, the focus was on both presenting the destination but also offering an educational ‘think tank’ format, teaming up with Maximice. The topic of the think tank was General Data Protection Regulations (more specifically, the GDRP) and was presented by the well-known lawyer Thomas Waetke, who’s firm specialises in IT, event law and data protection. 

Case study: German-based agency ‘Nice :-)’ successfully delivers international automotive conference in Monaco

Monaco is a prime destination for automotive events and this past October it was chosen to host a conference for a reputable German car brand. The German-based agency ‘nice:-)’ – from Essen – was responsible for organising this event A – Z, and together with the support of the Monaco Convention Bureau and local partners, delivered a successful annual event for the international brand. Organising this annual automotive event for the fourth year now (which takes place at different destinations each year), the standards and expectations were high. Monaco was selected based on key requirements: a maximum three hours flight time from Germany and with an international airport no further than 30 minutes away from the hotel and event venue. Additionally, the client was looking for hotel capacity that could accommodate all delegates together in one hotel. In addition to ticking all these boxes for basic requirements, Monaco was able to bring added value to create a desire to host an event in the Principality. Its international and prestigious appeal, competitive prices off season, the context of the F1 Grand Prix being held in Monaco and the variety of incentive activities in the region for a spouse and partner programme that took place alongside the conference, convinced the automotive client to choose Monaco.

Convention Bureau Karlsruhe & Region ‘Stammtisch’: strengthening and growing regional MICE business  

On 4 September 2018, I attended the 55th Stammtisch of the Convention Bureau Karlsruhe and the Region. This event took place at the Hotel Restaurant Steuermann in Karlsruhe and welcomed regional partners for informal networking. A regular networking event, termed the German ‘Stammtisch’, has established itself in Karlsruhe and the region over recent years to become the main meeting point for all regional partners who work directly and indirectly in the MICE industry. 

These meet-ups take place every two months at a different location and over dinner, partners can exchange their experience and ideas, network and strengthen relationships. These events, as a result, foster regional MICE offerings.  

Over-tourism and the MICE industry – looking for solutions 

The term over-tourism came to global attention slightly over two years ago and has since continued to make the headlines. The phenomenon is not new – we have been discussing the negative impacts of mass tourism in recent years but using different terminology. The name over-tourism was coined by the founder of the Skift publication, Rafat Ali, and is self-explanatory as well as alarming in its nature. Hence, from the very beginning, it received significant press attention and is now used by tourism professionals all around the world, looking for ways to solve the problems associated with it. 

The current state of over-tourism globally 

According to the McKinsey report ‘Coping with success: Managing overcrowding in tourism destinations’, there are ten countries that account for almost two-thirds of all arrivals internationally. The European countries on that list are France, Spain and Italy. France is the most visited country in the world. The problem is not the large amount of tourists who are visiting the county, but rather the uneven spread of tourists and their concentration in particular areas, and there is therefore significant urgency to solve this problem. 

Many articles have been written about over-tourism. I read them with great interest to understand how destinations are coping with the high influx of tourists, what measures are being taken, how it affects the local population and what else can event and tourism professionals do to reduce its negative impact. 

To solve the problem, we need an integrated approach that involves all stakeholders. The recent UNWTO report ‘Overtourism? Understanding and Managing Urban Tourism Growth Beyond Perceptions’ suggested that ‘Tourism congestion needs to be addressed through cooperation: tourism and non-tourism administrations plus private sector, plus communities plus tourists.’

I agree with the suggestion that more companies within the private sector need to get on board to combat over-tourism, and sell products and services which help spread the tourism flow to less crowded areas and off the high season. Additionally, private travellers need to take more educated decisions and understand the pros and cons of visiting crowded locations. 

The report went on to list 11 strategies to manage visitor flows in urban destinations. These approaches include focusing on hosting events in less visited parts of the city, promoting events and experiences off peak seasons, promoting new itineraries highlighting hidden attractions, reviewing regulations such as opening times and capacity to improve tourist flow at peak times, analysing current visitor segmentation and placing a focus on attracting low-impact target audiences, engaging local communities in developing local products and creating city experiences that benefit both travellers and locals, improving local infrastructure, engaging with local stakeholders, creating awareness and educating visitors. Such strategies will require monitoring with data. You can find the full list of strategies and further examples here.