Christian Mutschlechner, long-time director of the Vienna Convention Bureau of the Vienna Tourist Board, has been awarded the City of Vienna’s Silver Medal for his services to Vienna’s convention business. This honor was bestowed upon him by Executive City Councillor of Finance Vice-Mayor Renate Brauner at a ceremony in the Vienna City Hall on October 3.
Christian Mutschlechner looks back on 37 years of experience in the congress sector, having worked in the conference industry since 1977. In 1986 he was appointed deputy director of what was then the “Congress Office and Sales Promotion”department. In 1990 he became director of the congress office, which by then had changed its name to Vienna Convention Bureau (VCB) to take its international remit into account and become an independent department of the Vienna Tourist Board.
“Right from the outset, it has been my goal with the VCB as a non-profit organization to set the highest quality standards oriented towards the private sector, and so to gain its acceptance,” explains Christian Mutschlechner. “Vienna’s success as a congress city is to a significant extent due to the commitment of Christian Mutschlechner, his energetic personal involvement and his worldwide network,” congratulated Director of Tourism Norbert Kettner.
The major achievements in Christian Mutschlechner’s career include the establishment of Vienna’s congress statistics and a profitability calculation method that, for the first time, gave the convention business objective criteria for planning and consulting.
Christian Mutschlechner has also left his mark on the expansion of the Austria Center Vienna drawing on the VCB’s expertise, the new Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, and on the founding of the “Association Conference” forum comprising the major European associations in the field of human medicine that represents some 300,000 congress delegates a year. However, he himself mentions another reason for his success: “The team that I have been able to build up, lead and motivate over the years. Together with the Vienna convention business, we have succeeded in positioning Vienna as a convention metropolis of world standing.
Today the Vienna Tourist Board’s Vienna Convention Bureau is regarded as a benchmark internationally. I myself am just a small cog in my team, which I am very proud of!” In addition to his responsibilities with the VCB, Christian Mutschlechner is also President of the Austria Convention Bureau, and from 2002 to 2006 he was President of the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA). In 2011 he was admitted to the “Hall of Leaders” of the Convention Industry Council.
