Two International Capitals Join Forces to Attract Meetings and Conventions
(Washington, DC)…Long recognized as powerhouse destinations for world leaders and leading industry organizations such as the IMF and NATO, Destination DC and Visit Brussels have formed an organizational Alliance to promote Washington, DC and Brussels, Belgium as top meeting and convention destinations in the world. The Alliance offers a shared vision of international growth and will focus on promoting both cities to key decision makers and meeting professionals worldwide.
“This Alliance makes perfect sense for our cities” said Elliott A. Ferguson, president and CEO of Destination DC. “There are many similarities in what we offer as destinations including museums and attractions, cultural activities, walking tours, even the way we market to business clientele. More importantly, this is going to allow our organizations to collaborate and connect with customers”.
The Alliance will operate under the name “Power Cities” with a tagline “A Capital-to-Capital Connection” referring to the member cities status as world capitals for institutional and association headquarters. One of the goals of this Alliance is to establish each city as the natural base for association offices and related meeting and event activities. Other goals include establishing the exchange of best practices in marketing and support activities, supporting each city’s marketing efforts to international meetings audience, and to educate the international meetings community on doing business in these markets.
As a leading world capital, DC boasts a distinctively international flavor, evident in the collection of more than 170 foreign embassies, residences, chanceries and diplomatic missions. In 2009, more than 1.5 million international visitors traveled to Washington, DC, making up roughly 10% of the total visitation to the city and 22% of the $5 billion in direct spending. The Greater Metropolitan Area of Washington, DC is home to more than 2,400 Associations and over 875 foreign owned businesses, all of which host annual meetings, conventions and other educational seminars. Washington’s convention, meeting and conference’s business comprise nearly 20% of all visitors to the city. In 2009, Destination DC actualized 954 meetings from small groups of 10 to large citywide conventions of more than 30,000 attendees.
