At a press conference on Monday, March 19, 2012, Vice-Mayor Renate Brauner, Director of Tourism Norbert Kettner and the Director of the Vienna Tourist Board’s Vienna Convention Bureau, Christian Mutschlechner presented the results of Vienna’s 2011 Meeting Industry Statistics. All key indicators were up: the number of congresses and corporate events by 7% compared to 2010, with bednights generated increasing by 6%, and national value-added growing by 9% to reach a new record level. This year the Vienna Tourist Board’s Vienna Convention Bureau became an authorized certification agency for “Green Meetings” and already has its congress calendar for 2012 crammed full.
“The trend in the international congress industry,” explained Brauner, “reveals that delegates are staying an appreciably shorter time and traveling increasingly seldom in company. We presented this trend at our congress press conference last year in the light of a survey, concluding that growth in bednights in the congress and conference business can be attained only if the number of events increases. Vienna successfully achieved this in 2011, as 3,151 congresses and corporate events were held last year, 7% more than in 2010. The resulting bednights rose by 6% to 1,412,133, equivalent to 12.4% of Vienna’s total volume of bednights last year. Throughout Austria, the Vienna meetings industry not only generated value-added in the amount of 838.4 million euros – an increase of 9% and a new record level – but also secured more than 16,200 jobs. Vienna has been successful as a meeting destination for decades now, and this success story continued in 2011 despite increasingly difficult conditions in the industry. My hearty congratulations to all those involved in this success.”
Director of Tourism Kettner explained the reasons behind this success, emphasizing that: “Vienna is in the fortunate position of enjoying a first-class reputation in the meetings industry world-wide for its entire infrastructure, its congress facilities, its hospitality sector, and its companies specializing in meeting services. Another very important aspect is its international accessibility, especially by air. Maintaining such an image for decades necessitates continuous improvement in all areas in order to ensure that one’s services remain ‘state-of-the-art’ at all times. In this respect, the latest additions to the hotel sector – many of which are tailored specifically to the modern, style-conscious business traveler – are very auspicious, as is the Central Train Station currently under construction and the urban development in the environs. The opening of Vienna’s new University of Economics and Business Administration in the winter semester of 2013 will also have an immediate effect. The Vienna Tourist Board was involved in the planning process, making it possible to ensure that the auditorium complex is ideally incorporated into the nearby facilities of Reed Messe Wien. This means that its infrastructure will be perfectly complemented during university vacations.
Visitors travelling to Vienna’s congresses and corporate conventions are particularly heavy spenders: they spend 475 euros per person and bednight, whilst the comparable figure for all visitors to Vienna is just over 260 euros.
The 638 international congresses made the biggest impact in the 2011 review of the Vienna meetings industry. Although they accounted for only 20% of all events, they produced 67% of bednights and 72% of value-added in this sector. Human medicine themes still dominate this sector (42%), though not as strongly as before, as the fields of economics and politics, other natural sciences, IT and communications made up a lot of ground in 2011.
Highlights of Vienna’s meetings industry in 2012
•European Congress on Radiology, 20,000 participants, 1.-5.3., Austria Center Vienna
•European Breast Cancer Conference, 5,000 participants, 21.-24.3., Austria Center Vienna
•European Geosciences Union, 10,000 participants, 22.-27.4., Austria Center Vienna
•European Congress on Periodontology, 6,500 participants, 6.-9.6., Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center
•European Respiratory Society, 19,000 participants, 1.-5.9., Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center
•World Congress on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, 1,100 participants, 5.-8.9., Hofburg Vienna
•European Society for Medical Oncology, 12,000 participants, 28.9.-2.10., Austria Center Vienna
•European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 7,000 participants, 13.-17.10., Austria Center Vienna
•European Resuscitation Congress, 1,900 participants, 17.-21.10., Hofburg Vienna
•World Congress for Intelligent Transport Systems, 8,000 participants, 22.-26.10., Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center
