Business events in the spotlight and on the move, 13-20 March… Buoyed by the success of the first three editions, BI-TC (Brussels International – Tourism & Congress) launched the 4th Brussels Meetings Week this Friday, a whole week devoted to promoting business travel, meetings & events, a mainstay of the economic life of Brussels. “The internationalisation of Brussels is one of the major challenges for the economic development of the Region. This is now a fact, and the Meetings (...)
read moreLast Friday, the "Brussels Meetings Week" kicked off at BOZAR with a press conference around all the latest facts & figures which demonstrate just how important the meetings & events industry is to the city’s economy. Speakers included Philippe Close, President (BI-TC); Hervé Bosquet, Managing Director (BI-TC); Olivier Willockx (BECI) & Hamza Fassi-Fihri (Culture & Employment), City of Brussels. The income from this industry helps create & maintain jobs, both directly in (...)
read moreNot many people realise that Brussels is one of the greenest cities in the world, in fact second only to Washington. We have the highest ratio of green space per inhabitant of any city in Europe with all our many parks and gardens, and not forgetting the green belt formed by the Fôret de Soignes to the south east....the green lungs of Brussels. Brussels is also home to Renewable Energy House, a joint venture of the EREC (European Renewable Energy Council), an umbrella organisation for 12 (...)
read more...now more than ever ! Today, two VIP groups of international meetings & event organisers will be in town and each one will visit 6 different venues, many of which have new stories to tell. They’ll be making their own lunch at Mmmmh!, the well-known Brussels cookery school. There’ll be some 80 of them in total. And they’ll have dinner at the Museum of Natural Sciences which last month opened its new Gallery of Evolution, an unforgettable journey through the history of life. In one short (...)
read moreWe meet, you meet, they meet….in Brussels! Meetings, motivation and events are part of our everyday lives. Almost all of us attend meetings one way or another. At work our employers also need to motivate us and build tight-knit enthusiastic teams. Many of us are members of professional associations and leisure clubs which again involve meetings and events. And in our spare time we often visit exhibitions and take part in events. Meetings also involve sharing knowledge, experience and (...)
read moreThe figures speak for themselves - over 55.000 meetings & events a year, accounting for almost 14 million delegate days…In short, a 4 billion Euro industry responsible for some 22.000 jobs in the Brussels Capital Region. Hard cash, spent by conference delegates and participants in events, filters down through the economy and benefits the local community including shops, restaurants, services, the cultural scene… It’s a new 21st century industry which is at last getting wider recognition (...)
read moreNew projects for Brussels! Reopening of Coudenberg, Former Palace of Brussels Built in the 11th century on ‘Cold Hill’ (in old Dutch) and destroyed by fire in 1731, the underground vaults of this once impressive palace spread out like the tentacles of an octopus under the Place Royale, the BIP and adjacent buildings. Reopened in March after extensive works, Coudenberg hosts a new museum displaying all the discoveries from the last 20 years of excavations, as well as special exhibition (...)
read moreBI-TC has consistently reported all the many new developments of the past 4 years in Rendez-vous in Brussels, its colourful and informative International eNews. These have included major renovation projects in the hotel and conference sectors, new high-tech venues, a revolution in the museum world and a dazzling array of cultural events and exhibitions… For 2009 the undisputed highlights will be the opening of the Magritte Museum in June and the welcome return of SQUARE, Brussels Meeting (...)
read moreBrussels Business Tourism 2007 55.000 Meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions, events 14.000.000 Delegates 1.848.669 Overnight stays in hotels 22.000 Jobs 4.000.000.000 € Turnover 4st largest associations conference destination Source: Annual Report 2007, Brussels Observatory of Tourism, edition 2008 Download Annual Report 2007 Rapport Annuel 2007 10ème Edition du Rapport Annuel de l’Observatoire du Tourisme à (...)
read moreThree points are positive : accessibility, a cultural city and the gastronomy. Three negative points remain: lack of greenery in the city, quality of transport and the quality and diversity of meeting rooms. (Source: Annual Report 2007, Brussels Observatory of Tourism, edition 2008)
read moreBrussels is the 4th ranking destination worldwide for the meetings of associations behind Singapore, Paris and Vienna but ahead of Geneva, Barcelona and New York. These meetings attract at least 300 participants of 5 different nationalities for a minimum of 5 days. At least 40% of the participants must be foreigners (source : UAI). Brussels is the 19rd most popular destination for the organization of conferences according to the ICCA. These conferences must be organized recurrently and (...)
read more29% of the establishments contacted are companies, 44% are agencies (PCO, DMC,…) and 26% are associations. 79% of these structures organize, across all destinations, relatively few meetings every year (between 1 and 50 meetings/year). Despite the fact that the majority have one or more internal meeting rooms, companies organize external meetings due to ease of access (21%), the international nature of the meeting (18%), lack of space (16%) or to bolster the company image (12%). The (...)
read moreWhether in Brussels, Belgium or anywhere else in the world, the organization of meetings, conferences, congresses, trade fairs or events for the general public automatically generates a healthy source of income for the local community. Medical congresses, IT conferences, car shows, construction fairs, seafood promotions, new product launches, European summits, etc. There’s no getting away from all of these prestigious events taking place on your doorstep. Brussels thrives on this (...)
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“Tourism, Horeca & Meetings Industry” Jobs in tourism, hotel and catering, event, communication, taxi, fairs & shows... Organized for the third time in partnership with the BI-TC and the (...)