The Spanish Association of Conference Centres (APCE), which currently has 37 members and represents Spain’s main congress venues, has unanimously elected its new Board of Directors during its annual general assembly in Madrid.
Fifteen years after the Association was founded, the Valencia Conference Centre’s CEO, José Salinas, has been unanimously re-elected as the Chairman of the Association’s Board of Directors at the APCE’s general assembly held in Madrid, a position he has held since 1999.
The other members of the new Board of Directors are Carlos García Espinosa (Cadiz Conference and Exhibition Centre) as Deputy Chairman; Jon Ortuzar (Euskalduna Conference Centre and Concert Hall, Bilbao) as Secretary; and Luis Acosta (Canary Islands Conference Centre, Alfredo Kraus Auditorium), Enrique Pena (PALEXCO – A Coruña Conference and Exhibition Centre), Belén Mann (IFEMA Madrid Trade Fair Convention Centre), and Ana Cavada (Santander Exhibition and Conference Centre) as the other board members.
The initiatives undertaken by the Association since it was founded in 1995, which have included promoting its members’ profiles and improving their positioning on the national and international congress markets, have helped conference centres to become Spain’s main event tourism venues, hosting 70% of international congresses and 80% of large national congresses in the last 10 years.
The APCE’s strategy has centred on creating a brand image and differentiating itself from its competitors through the added value conference centres offer thanks to their specialised staff and the quality of their facilities which have been designed by many highly prestigious architects.
Over the last fifteen years, the Association has championed conference centres as key players in the event tourism industry and as the driving force behind the expansion and transformation of the cities in which they are located. Their capacity to face up to new challenges and contribute to the progress of the economy has meant that in 2010 conference centres generated an economic impact of over €1,600 million.
In the words of the APCE Chairman, “these are new times for the Association in which it will be more and more important to back conference centre activities as a driving force behind local economies, against the backdrop of a difficult economic situation. We shall nevertheless continue to work to improve our members’ positioning on the event tourism market and provide leading services based on quality and professionalism”.
