MICE CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE

By Zuzana Adamson

Between 22nd and 24th January 2020, the CONVENTA show was once again organised in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The organising company, Toleranca Marketing, together with the Slovenian Convention Bureau, created a platform for business meetings between MICE buyers interested in the CEE region, and exhibitors from countries like Slovenia, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovakia, among others.

CONVENTA is an established, boutique B2B event, connecting meeting providers from the region of New Europe with meeting planners from all around the Europe and beyond. It pulls inspiration from everything that exceeds established guidelines, successfully breaking boundaries when it comes to organising business events.

The GR – Ljubljana Convention & Exhibition Centre – which comprises 20 multifunctional halls that occupy a surface area of 12,323 square metres, complemented by 8,844 square metres of external exhibition space, was the main venue for the event, while the welcome reception was held in Cankarjev Dom, another of the city’s large venues.

Meanwhile, the 4-star Grand Hotel Union property, a classy building in the art-nouveau style located in the city centre, hosted the afterparty and networking dinner.

At the press conference, the organisers underlined the importance of bringing new buyers and confirmed that in 2020, 85% of buyers were attending for the first time. Representatives of the Slovenian Convention Bureau informed the media of the development and construction of new venues and accommodation capacities (900 additional rooms) ready for the presidency of the EU that Slovenia will hold in 2021. Another interesting fact is that in Ljubljana, international visitors still prefer hotels to Airbnb accommodation, which represents only 10% of the market here.

From left: Gorazd Čad, Director of Toleranca Marketing, Miha Kovačič, Director of Slovenia Convention Bureau and Tatjana Radovič  from Ljubljana Convention Bureau

Photos by Marko Delbello

Once again, our MICE CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE magazine was a media partner of the event, so the delegates took the opportunity to read copies of our printed magazines and update their subscriptions for the next issues and our online platform.