The Cologne Convention Bureau showcases Cologne’s diverse MICE sector in the city itself
COLOGNE. The cathedral city recently played host to a very select group of guests: After travelling to Frankfurt to attend IMEX, the exhibition for meetings and incentive travel, 13 event planners from China then continued on to Cologne. With the support of local industry partners, the Cologne Convention Bureau had invited these event planners on an educational trip to Cologne and planned the trip in conjunction with Chinese trade magazine “MICE China”.
MICE, which stands for Meetings, Incentives, Congresses and Events, is particularly important for Cologne as the sector contributes in no small measure to business travel. “This jointly-organised educational trip was an ideal opportunity to show potential customers what our city really has to offer. We enjoyed being able to show our Chinese guests the ‘real’ Cologne and its many facets”, explains Stephanie Franke, Head of the Cologne Convention Bureau.
A full and varied program awaited the event planners: The Chinese guests were shown a number of possible conference venues in hotels and special event venues such as the Gürzenich and KölnSky. During an interactive city tour including teambuilding exercises, Cologne-based agency Sehenswert set out a whole range of incentives that Cologne has to offer. A visit to the Haxenhaus restaurant and a cooking event hosted by the VINTAGE Genuss-Schule gave the guests a chance to sample the local cuisine. The varied program wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Take Five Hotels.
The feedback from the Chinese guests was overwhelmingly positive. They were particularly impressed by the choice of venues, as well as the individual and creative scope of the programs on offer. And the conclusion reached by Stephanie Franke is: “We will certainly be organising these events more frequently in the future”.
