The European elections are approaching. But for many citizens and quite a few event professionals, the European Union seems far away. Yet the European Parliament and the European Commission influence our (professional) lives on a daily basis. The EU Dialogue and the EU project BEFuture build bridges to Brussels and underpin the role of the meetings industry in the sustainable transformation.
Europe is headed for the polling booths. From June 6 to 9, 2024, some 370 million citizens in 27 countries of the European Union are called upon to elect the 705 members of the European Parliament. In view of a war in Europe, it is worth remembering the founding idea of the EU after the Second World War: to unite the members through economic cooperation and avoid armed conflicts. Today, the EU internal market guarantees the free movement of goods, services, people and capital, thus creating four freedoms for people and markets. Congresses and trade fairs provide science and business with platforms for exchange, thus making an important contribution to competitiveness, growth and prosperity in the European Union – especially in its transformation into a climate-neutral economic area by 2050.
EU Dialogue – driving positive change
From the strategic role of the meetings industry for Europe in terms of innovation and transformation to its operational challenges, this is what the "EU Dialogue – Driving Positive Change in the Meetings Industry" on April 17, 2024 in Brussels was all about. The official event as part of the Belgian EU Council Presidency was organized by visit.brussels in concert with the Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC), the City Destinations Alliance (CityDNA) and the European Exhibition Industry Alliance (EEIA).
When the government of the Brussels Region requested a conference on tourism for the Belgian Council Presidency, Elisabeth Van Ingelgem, Director Convention & Association Bureau at visit.brussels, proposed the topic of the meetings industry, and her idea was accepted. A great collaboration with the teams of the Belgian Presidency and the trade associations began, said Elisabeth Van Ingelgem: "The main objective of this event is to raise awareness about our sector and start a dialogue with the European authorities."
This is all the more important as the meetings industry does not have a permanent point of contact at the European Parliament or the European Commission, let alone a permanent place in one of the Directorates-General (DG) and the many departments. The EU Dialogue at the Sparks Congress Center brought together almost 200 participants from 15 countries at 13 sessions with 52 speakers. In addition to the 180 event professionals, 13 European politicians among others from the Directorate General GROW for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs also took part. The EU representatives were actively engaged and did not limit their participation to the panels but sought to engage in conversation during the breaks.
"Such high-level gatherings not only boost revenues for businesses across the continent but also offer academic and scientific development thanks to the exchange of ideas circulating in a room full of experts," said Rudi Vervoort, Minister President of the Brussels Capital Region, in his welcoming address on the value of meetings for the future of the European Union. Marta Gomes confirmed this in her opening speech. Meetings are her life, admitted the President of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), referring to those moments when people from all over the world come together to discuss global problems. The Deputy Executive Director of Viparis sees this all year round in her twelve Paris venues and concluded: "Europe is a leading destination worldwide and business events are a big part of this success."
Strategic value of business events
The "Strategic value of business events" in terms of knowledge exchange, networking and collaboration was explored in the first session of the same name. At the beginning, James Latham, Founder of Intellectual Capitals and The Iceberg, emphasized: "Meetings are not tourism!" After all, the members of the European Society for Medical Oncology will not travel to Barcelona in September for the culture experience, but to fight cancer. "We are change agents – not travel agents," is how he characterized the function of event professionals. James Rees, President of the Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC), affirmed: "The business events sector builds and operates the marketplaces and meeting places for various industries to gather, exchange ideas, and create solutions for the pressing challenges we face today."
Roland Bleinroth followed up. The President of the European Major Exhibition Centres Association (EMECA) spoke on behalf of the European Exhibition Industry Alliance (EEIA), the alliance of EMECA and the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) in Europe. The Managing Director of Messe Stuttgart knows what he is talking about when he said: "Trade shows are creating markets." With two out of three of the leading international trade fairs in Germany and three out of four in Europe, Europe has a leading position. "This represents a significant advantage for our European exhibitors and visitors and creates a significant economic impact for the hosting region and country. We need to preserve this," he warned. In view of geopolitical challenges, it is essential for Europe to remain competitive. Bleinroth: "EEIA has been the voice of our sector in Brussels for many years and we look forward to continuing this important exchange with policymakers."
Unlike the meetings industry, the exhibition industry has been in constant contact with the European institutions for twelve years – in the person of Barbara Weizsäcker. According to the Secretary General of EEIA and EMECA, the timing was perfect to present the added value of events and exhibitions ahead of the European Parliament elections. The EU Dialogue exceeded her expectations: "We achieved an unprecedented engagement in discussions on the most critical challenges, policy areas and opportunities to collaborate driving innovation, trade, economic growth, green and digital transformation in our own venues and operations as well as in all industries for which we provide the platforms," summarized Weizsäcker, adding: "We discussed with our fellow travel and hospitality colleagues how to make the ecosystem achieve net zero by 2050 and how to increase resilience."
EU trade policies' impact
Barbara Weizsäcker knows that the European Union's trade policies have a direct impact on the industries and regions concerned and therefore on the respective business events. She moderated the panel "Bridging markets – EU trade policies' impact on business events". One example since the pandemic is the shortage of visas for participants who want to visit conferences and exhibitions in Europe. Many applicants from Asia and Africa already fail to get an appointment at consulates. Tomislav Tadic, Team Leader in the Visa Policy Unit at DG Home, acknowledged the delays. His team is working on this and visiting the Schengen consulates. He has noticed positive changes in the issuing of visas, but pointed out that it is challenging to prioritize requests: "What is more important: a visa for a trade fair or an event or visiting the family or travelling as a tourist?"
"Navigating green policies, the meetings industry path to a sustainable future" was the title of the session on the EU carbon neutral economy by 2050 and the challenges regarding infrastructure and investments, legislation and reporting obligations. Astrid Bartels, Head of Unit, Access to Finance at European Commission, provided information on the EU Sustainable Finance Framework and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). When it comes to reporting standards for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), she took the audience to task: The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) is developing voluntary standards for SMEs and invites the public to participate in the "Public consultation on new Sustainability Reporting Standards for SMEs under the CSRD" until May 21, 2024.
BEFUture and the European Green Deal
In the session "EU Tourism Pathway, embracing green and digital transition for a more resilient meetings industry", Marie-Hélène Pradines presented the EU Tourism Pathway program. The Head of Unit Tourism & Textiles at DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs at the European Commission, wanted to know: Who has heard of the program? And who has read it?
Transition pathway for tourism: Taking stock of progress by 2023: https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/678c08ab-bc06-11ee-b164-01aa75ed71a1/language-en
Sònia Serracarbassa was one of the few who raised her hand twice. The director of the Catalunya Convention Bureau has dealt extensively with EU programs and won a major EU project for the meetings industry: BEFuture. It is about Shaping the Future of Europe's Business Events sector through a regenerative, resilient and sustainable tourism industry transformation. The EU is funding the 30-month program with a sizeable four million euros. "BEFuture contributes to the Tourism Transition Pathways in many ways such as integrating sustainable practices in the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) sector, emphasizing environmental responsibility, carbon footprint minimization, and promotion of regenerative practices," explained Sònia Serracarbassa. "These strategic contributions mean that BEFuture plays a pivotal role in shaping a sustainable and innovative future for European tourism through adherence to the tourism transition pathways, a common goal set by the European Commission."
The EU Dialogue was a very interesting and important meeting for her. For Sònia Serracarbassa, BEFuture is a good reference in the meeting industry and an important asset at the EU Dialogue because it is the first project for the meeting industry recognized as eligible in a call for proposal of the Single Market Programme, supporting and funding trans-national and cross-ecosystems projects. She emphasizes: "Before, they only supported leisure tourism projects. The BEFuture project falls under the first call for proposal of the Single Market Programme where the MICE industry is recognised as eligible. Therefore, the BEFuture project is in effect a huge step forward for the recognition of the MICE industry as a contributor to EU's priorities related to strengthening the competitiveness and sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)."
"Today, everyone is talking about positive impact. The conference demonstrated what this term means for the meetings industry. We now have a clear idea of how the sector can contribute to organizing events that highlight the advantages of a destination, its intellectual capital and its infrastructure, while maximizing its overall impact towards greater diversity, equality and inclusion, but also towards an industry that is aware of social and environmental issues and is ready to make sustainable changes to the way it operates," summed up Patrick Bontinck, CEO of visit.brussels. For Elisabeth Van Ingelgem it is certainly a story that needs to continue! Let's hope that her peers in Budapest and Warsaw will continue the dialog during the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU (July to December 2024) or the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU (January to June 2025).
Kerstin Wünsch
Editor's note: We are currently testing machine translations of articles. This article has been automatically translated into English by DeepL and checked by an editorial team member. We look forward to your feedback.
https://emag.tw-media.com/mai-2024/european-union
PHOTO (COLOR): MEP Istvan Ujhelyi from the Transport and Tourism Committee welcomed delegates from the meetings industry to the European Parliament and spoke at the EU Dialogue. Photo: visit.brussels, Jean-Paul Remy Photo: tw tagungswirtschaft Photo: visit.brussels, Jean-Paul Remy Flavie de Bueil Photo: CityDNA The day before the EU Dialogue, a delegation visited the European Parliament. Photo: visit.brussels, Jean-Paul Remy
The "Use your vote" initiative is raising awareness of the 2024 European elections, providing a toolkit so that we can all campaign for the elections and stand up for democracy, and engaging in conversation at events such as the EU Dialogue.
The programme of the EU Dialogue – Driving Positive Change in the Meetings Industry focuses on key themes for the meetings industry in Europe and its development into a positive impact sector:
– The importance of professional events for the European Union in terms of economic impact, innovation and trade
– Sustainability
– The EU Tourism Pathway
– Trade policy
– The sector's operational challenges
– The importance of better representation of the sector – data and statistics
Flavie de Bueil, COO of CityDNA, the City Destinations Alliance, about the EU Dialogue, the importance to raise awareness for the meetings industry in Brussels and the need to speak with one voice using the same terminology.
tw tagungswirtschaft: CityDNA co-organized the "EU Dialogue driving positive change in the Meetings Industry." Why?
Flavie de Bueil: Belgium took over the EU Presidency this first semester of 2024 and in this context visit.brussels had the mission to organise an event to highlight our sector. visit.brussels asked CityDNA to co-organise a full day of conversations with the EU as this is the only association with a holistic overview of the visitor economy in terms of business meetings, leisure and residents. To get the full spectrum of the meetings industry, we brought JMIC and EEIA onboard as well. The EU Dialogue was meant as the first event opportunity to highlight the key roles, impacts and challenges of the meetings and business events industry and debate about the changes and transition that business events will undertake in the future. It is of utmost importance to raise the awareness and relevance of this diverse sector with the EU. Business meetings and events drive visitor turnout, research and development, convene thought leaders and experts driving investment and social impact.
What are your main takeaways?
This event brought tangible progress towards recognition by European policymakers. We have many common goals with the European Union. We need to understand each other and our sector needs to be more clear with what we stand for as an industry. We have made progress in getting tourism recognized on the European agenda, but the meetings and business events industry is not there yet and needs to be visible. Data is crucial in moving forward, we need targeted and accurate data, there is a desire from the EU to go in that same direction. We recommend a NACE code for the meetings industry. NACE code is the classification of economic sectors in the European Union. The Tourism Transition Pathway is an essential tool and channel to talk to the EU, since our industry ticks all strategic boxes such as sustainability, resilience and digitalization. However, our sector should clearly be included. We need to speak with one voice and use the same terminology when referring to the meetings industry. This event also highlighted the fact that we should speak more of the visitor economy rather than just 'tourism,' as this term more fully encompasses and represents the entire ecosystem. There is no doubt that tourism and the meetings sector go hand in hand as vital contributors to sustainable development goals. They are essential for the visitor economy, which can benefit the destinations' social inclusion, cultural offering and relations, knowledge societies and local communities and investment.
Unlike the exhibition industry, the meetings industry has not yet succeeded in establishing permanent contact with Brussels. What needs to be done?
Continuing this dialogue is key to ensuring Europe's competitiveness, resilience and sustainability and economic growth. It's important to embrace the existing tools at the European level like the Tourism Transition Pathway which is aligned with meetings industry challenges. As a fragmented industry (exhibitions, conferences, incentives ...) we need to speak with one voice while still embracing all components and illustrating the diversity and relevance of our sector.
How important is the BEFuture project co-funded by the EU in this context?
BEFuture is a trend setter, focusing on the future, and is important for our industry indeed. We need to innovate and transform our industry into a regenerative, resilient, and responsible sector. We need to innovate in the way we meet because we know that meetings will always exist and are the key elements to advance our societies and our economies. The BeFuture project is also aligned with the European Tourism Transition Pathway and Sustainable Development Goals, as they prioritise sustainability, inclusivity and lasting impacts. CityDNA is proud to be an active supporter of this project making sure convention and visitors bureaus are actively taking part in the conversations shaping the future of meetings, events and incentives.
The EU Dialogue was a good start. Is it conceivable to continue it during the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU (July – December 2024) or the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU (January – June 2025)?
The EU Dialogue is indeed a start of this conversation and it needs to be continued. The timing was also perfect here as we are just before the European elections and have the opportunity to make clear recommendations to the next team. Conversation will be pursued with the European Union whoever is leading the Presidency but how still needs to be defined. We will also rely on industry events like the Policy Forum at IMEX 2024 on 14 May 2024 in Frankfurt.
Kerstin Wünsch
"We have made progress in getting tourism recognized on the European agenda, but the meetings and business events industry is not there yet and needs to be visible." Flavie de Bueil, COO of CityDNA
https://emag.tw-media.com/mai-2024/european-union?overlay=Flavie%20de%20Bueil
Sònia Serracarbassa is director of the Catalunya Convention Bureau and in the lead for the European project BEFuture. In the interview she speaks about the transformation of Europe's business events sector and a new business model for events, plans for IMEX 2024 and an invitation for event professionals to join in.
Read the interview: https://emag.tw-media.com/mai-2024/sonia-serracarbassa