FCCI member cities look to lay the foundations for success in the meetings industry of tomorrow
March 16th, 2011
Representatives of all seven city members of the Future Convention City Initiative (FCCI) will convene in Seoul from March 20-23 for the first FCCI Action Forum. The newly established alliance is an international cooperative which seeks innovation and further development in the convention industry through research and best practice models.
Seoul played a key role in the founding of the FCCI, which now counts as members London, Sydney, Toronto, San Francisco, Abu Dhabi, and Durban.
“The FCCI cities represent a wonderful cross-section of major players in the world convention industry, and their collective wisdom and teamwork will be vital in further development of the global industry,” said Samuel Koo, CEO of Seoul Tourism Organization.
In addition to the official FCCI meeting, the senior officials representing the tourism and convention organizations of each participating city will sign the FCCI Partnership Agreement and meet with top national and city government officials including the newly appointed Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr. Choung Byoung-gug and Seoul’s Mayor, Oh Se-Hoon. During their three-day stay, the FCCI members will also have the opportunity to meet with Korea’s tourism industry professionals to share industry knowledge from their respective regions at the Global Leadership Forum, hosted by the Korea MICE Association.
A “Meet the Cities” business session has been developed by the Seoul Tourism Organization (STO) to bring together FCCI partner cities and local travel agencies that manage high volumes of Korean travelers to FCCI destinations. The session will be an opportunity for FCCI partners to market the many merits of their cities while building ties with Seoul tourism professionals to increase outbound travel in the future.
FCCI research is facilitated by Mr. Rohit Talwar, CEO of Fast Future Research and a founding sponsor of Convention 2020. Launched in early 2010 with funding from the two other founding sponsors of ICCA and IMEX, Convention 2020 is an in depth strategic study of the future challenges and opportunities of conventions and business tourism. As a recently established tourism organization, STO quickly recognized the need and relevance of targeted research and gave the project its full support as a platinum sponsor. The Seoul Convention Bureau looks to combine the far reaching insight gleaned from the 2020 results with the focused research findings of FCCI to chart its course in the coming years.
The Seoul Tourism Organization is a joint venture launched by the city and private enterprise in February 2008 with a core mission to promote Seoul as a convention and tourism destination. The Seoul Convention Bureau, a division of the STO, represents Seoul’s meetings industry and business tourism interests.
