A busy second half-year ahead
After the World Policy Conference, highlights of the autumn calendar include a raft of medical and business conferences. Banquets, the HOFBURG Vienna’s second largest event segment, are more popular than ever and now contribute around 15 percent of total revenue. Competition for slots in the already packed Hofburg exhibition calendar is also hotting up thanks to the addition of marke[ding] and ReiseSalon fairs. Meanwhile, early forecasts indicate that the venue will generate around 470,000 overnight stays for the local hotel industry in 2011.
“While the HOFBURG Vienna’s spring line-up was dominated by high-level political meetings and conferences such as the World Economic Forum, UNIDO Vienna Energy Forum and the CTBTO Science and Technology Conference, the second half of the year will focus on business and scientific conferences. The autumn schedule includes the Austrian Ear, Nose and Throat Congress (14-17.09.), the First Opening Meeting of the European Knee Association (25-26.10.) a month later, and finally the World Congress of Cryosurgery (30.10. – 2.11.) . Representatives of Austrian commerce will be out in force at the Trade Day (21.10.) and the Austrian IT & Consulting Day (01.12.), and at an event hosted by the Vienna Economic Chamber for its Trade and Commerce group (4-5.10.).
HOFBURG Vienna Managing Director Renate Danler is particularly proud that the centre will be hosting the World Policy Conference (9-11.12), which will bring over 500 of the highest-level delegates from all over the world to the Austrian capital. This forward-looking global governance conference will be hosted in partnership with the Federal Chancellery. Among the points on the agenda are the latest developments arising from the Arab spring, Europe’s pioneering role in global governance, democracy in Africa, and the future of the G8 and G20 summits.
But it’s not just the conferences and meeting segment (which is expected to account for a 55 percent share of total revenue) that is going from strength to strength; banquets and gala evenings are also in increasingly high demand. “This area accounts for around 15 percent of annual turnover, making it our second strongest business line,” Ms Danler notes. In 2011, regular events such as Una Notte Sportiva (23.09.), Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 (13.10.), Austria’s Leading Companies (27.10.) and the Falstaff Red Wine Gala (06.12.) will be joined by the Tara awards ceremony (25.11.), which will be themed “Life goes on” this year. With around 20 fixed bookings taken already, Christmas parties at the venue are in high demand.
The Hofburg fairs and exhibitions team will also have plenty to do in the second half thanks to a pair of new arrivals: the marke[ding] merchandising product fair (08.09.) and the ReiseSalon travel show (22-23.03.2012). Among the other highlights are ACCESS, the leading trade show for conferences, meetings and incentives (3-4.10.), the Wohndesign interior design exhibition (12-16.10.), the art and antiques fair (5-13.11.) and Luxury (18-20.11.).
Renate Danler expects the HOFBURG Vienna to host a total of 330 events in 2011, and forecasts that the venue will generate up to 470,000 overnight stays in the city this year alone. Added value for Vienna is put at EUR 190 million in 2011. Over the past few months a total of EUR 0.5 million has been invested in fibre optic technology and high-end sound systems.
In 2012 the HOFBURG Vienna is set to carry on where it left off, with 13 large-scale conferences already having placed firm orders for the year ahead – highlights include the MedicReS World Congress (Medical Research Support, 07-09.06.2012, 1,200 delegates), the 5th OPEC International Seminar (13-14.06.2012, 600 delegates) and the TERMIS World Congress (06-08.09.2012, over 1,000 delegates). The Third International Symposium on Life Circle Civil Engineering Congress (2-6.10.2012) is among the other fixed booking.
