Amsterdam RAI successful in the conference market
Amsterdam can expect to play host to a large number of international conferences in the years ahead. Amsterdam RAI’s calendar is well-filled with ‘travelling’ events until 2013, including medical conferences with anaesthetists, lung specialists, orthopaedists, oncologists, pharmacists and pharmaceutical chemists, as well as professionals from the glass-fibre industry and petroleum engineers. These conferences will attract tens of thousands of international visitors to Amsterdam in 2011, 2012 and 2013, all of whom will be spending one or more days in the city. The corporate importance to Amsterdam is obvious: Every euro spent in the RAI at these types of conventions is the equivalent of seven euros spent in the city on facilities such as transportation, restaurants and hotels.
Maurits van de Sluis, Commercial Director of Amsterdam RAI is pleased with the developments: “It is good to see that the RAI can strike a positive note in these economically challenging times. We continue to be very successful in attracting large events and functions, making the RAI an economic powerhouse for corporate tourism in Amsterdam.”
NBTC and Taskforce City Wide Conferences
“Our success can be partly attributed to our business partners,” adds Van der Sluis. “The intensive cooperation with the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions (NBTC) and the new Taskforce City Wide Conventions (a partnership between the RAI, ATCB, Schiphol Airport, GVB transport company, TCA taxi service, hotels and the Economic Affairs department of Amsterdam council) is bearing fruit. This is good news not only for the RAI but also for Amsterdam’s position as business destination. I very much hope that our success will rub off on other locations to strengthen Amsterdam’s position in the top ten of global conference destinations.”
Appeal of the Elicium
Amsterdam RAI has invested over 100 million euros in upgrading its complex on the Europaplein over recent years. In addition to the superb accessibility via Schiphol Airport and the appeal of the city of Amsterdam, the new distinctive Elicium building is one of the main stimuli for organising conferences in a new environment. After the difficult year of 2009, the RAI has a full international agenda for 2010 with an interesting spin-off for the city. In addition to RAI-organised events such as Interclean, METS, Intertraffic, and returning icon IBC, it recently welcomed the WCIT (World Congress On Information Technology) and Powergen (for the European energy sector). In October 2010 the RAI will be welcoming delegates to Sibos, the annual international financial industry convention on money transfers organised by SWIFT.
Confirmed for 2011, 2012 or 2013
Confirmed ‘travelling’ conventions in the RAI with 5,000 to 20,000 participants in 2011, 2012 and 2013 include: SPE IADC Drilling, European Fishing Tackle trade Association (EFTTEX), European Society of Anaesthesiology (ESA), European Respiratory Society (ERS), Federation Internationale Pharmaceutique (FIP), Spineweek, European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) and the European Cancer Organisation (ECCO).
