After deliberations lasting over a year, the European Society of Gastroenterology has chosen the venues for its annual meetings till the year 2019: Vienna and Barcelona won through and will alternate with one another each year. Some 14,000 delegates from 120 countries are expected to attend this event every year.
The joint bid prepared by Barcelona and Vienna under the direction of their respective conven-tion bureaus was successful: the annual congress of the “United European Gastroenterology” – referred to “UEG Week” for short – regularly attracts about 14,000 delegates from 120 countries for a five-day meeting. The event provides an opportunity to discuss the latest findings in this specialized field as well as offering young doctors a variety of training workshops. “There is a new strategy behind our decision to select only two cities as our conference venues,” explains Doris Möstl, Executive Director of United European Gastroenterology.
“We wanted to reduce the logistical effort involved in finding and selecting a destination in the future to be able to focus our resources on the qualitative content of our congress and new forms of knowledge transfer. The professional quality of the offers from both Vienna and Barcelona, the many years of experience of both cities and their convention centres, Austria Center Vienna and Fira de Barcelona, as well as their international excellent reputations met our requirements best.” The “UEG Week” will generate a volume of approximately 50,000 visitor overnights a year for the respective city – and that across all hotel categories.
Vienna and Barcelona: successful marketing cooperation since 1995
“We are particularly pleased about this decision by the European Society of Gastroenterology, not only because it brings a noteworthy congress to our two cities, but it confirms once again the efficacy of our long-term marketing cooperation, and that this also produces sustainable business results,” enthuses Christian Mutschlechner, Director of the Vienna Convention Bureau. Christoph Tessmar, Director of Barcelona Convention Bureau added: “To this day, the partnership between our two convention bureaus is quite unique in the world of conference business, and it has been a very positive experience right from the beginning. Though we have already achieved many synergies, this is the first time that a tender has been won by two cities at the same time. The fact that we were able to act as an experienced team was also a com-petitive advantage that we could play on to our advantage.”
In 2014 “UEG Week” will take place in Vienna (October 18 – 22, Austria Center Vienna), the following year at Fira de Barcelona (October 24 – 28, 2015). Until 2019, the event will then continue to be held in Vienna in even years, and in Barcelona in odd years.
