Leicester Venue Announces Expansion

Leicester venue announces expansion
Leicester venue announces expansion
The University of Leicester has planning permission for a £14m project to convert a former hall of residence into a residential conference venue. The site will feature 117 en suite bedrooms, a 150 seat lecture theatre and break out rooms. It is due to open mid 2013.

New Amsterdam Hotel Set To Open

New Amsterdam hotel set to open
New Amsterdam hotel set to open
In August 2012 the Ramada Apollo Amsterdam Centre is set to open. With a surface area of more than 33.000 m2 Apollo Hotels & Resorts will be the largest Ramada Hotel in Europe and the first one in the Netherlands. The Ramada Apollo Amsterdam Centre will be a comfortable 4-star hotel with 18 floors, 446 rooms, a Grab&Go counter, 6 board/meeting rooms and the spectacular sky bar Floor17. The hotel will be located on the Amsterdam ring, exit 105 (Geuzenveld). The imposing building can be easily spotted from the motorway and also from surrounding areas. The centre of Amsterdam is 3.5 kilometres away while Schiphol Airport is 13 kilometres or 10 minutes’ drive away.

Durham Venue Starts Refurbishment

Durham venue starts refurbishment
Durham venue starts refurbishment
Ramside Hall Hotel and Golf Club, Durham has started a £15m development where 48 new bedrooms are being built. The hotel has function rooms for up to 600 delegates

Vienna Convention Bureau To Certify Green Meetings

Vienna Convention Bureau to certify Green Meetings
Vienna Convention Bureau to certify Green Meetings

The Vienna Convention Bureau supports sustainable action and environmentally friendly conference tourism. As a licensee of the Austrian EcoLogo, it is now authorized not only to assist conferences in matters relating to environmental impact, but also to certify them as “Green Meetings”.


The ecological footprint left by a congress has long been an important issue for congress organizers and congress destinations world-wide. For a long time now, the Vienna Tourist Board’s Vienna Convention Bureau (VCB) has advocated sustainability and responsible treatment of the environment. Now Nikolaus Berlakovich, Austria’s Minister for the Environment, has awarded the VCB the Austrian Green Meetings EcoLogo. This means that the bureau is now licensed to certify as Green Meetings conferences whose organizers take climate protection, regional value-added and social compatibility into account.

 

“Congresses of any size make an impact on the environment, whether it be due to their energy consumption, waste production, or CO2 emissions. The Vienna Convention Bureau has set itself the task of raising awareness of sustainable action in the conference industry, and supports initiatives and projects involving the themes of green meetings, sustainability and corporate social responsibility. As a licensee of the Austrian EcoLogo, we are not only pointing the way, but also aiming to enhance the competitiveness of Vienna as a congress city in the long term,” explains Christian Mutschlechner, Director of the Vienna Convention Bureau.

European Cost-Effectiveness Rated

European cost-effectiveness rated
European cost-effectiveness rated

Tallinn is the only eurozone capital to feature in the top five cities for value in the
new City Costs Barometer by Post Office Travel Money, which is dominated by
Eastern Europe’s cultural capitals. Key findings include:


• Latvia’s Riga is the cheapest of 23 city break destinations for the second year
running for meals and drinks, sightseeing, travel and hotel accommodation


• Lower meal prices and a weak currency helped Budapest overtake Prague.
The Hungarian capital is cheapest overall when hotel costs are excluded


• Riga, Tallinn and Belfast offer the cheapest three-star accommodation using
prices from Hotels.com, while hotels in Stockholm are Europe’s highest-priced


• Culture comes cheapest across the Irish Sea. Visits to museums, art galleries
and heritage attractions are a bargain in Belfast and Dublin

 

• Lisbon, Portugal also emerged as another cost-effective option for travel in Western Europe, compared to other Western European cities.