It has been two years since Prague Convention Bureau opened its first foreign office in North America, based in Dallas, Texas. PCB is now represented on the North American market by Martina Fundaro, who has previously worked as PCB Marketing & PR Manager.
The strategic move, whose principal aim was to strengthen PCB’s position on the main source market, is already bearing fruit.
According to PCB statistics, the number of inquiries for Prague generated from the USA and Canada has increased significantly in the last two years, almost by 100% compared with the previous period. The number of events confirmed for Prague has grown by more than twofold.
The considerable growth of the confirmed events has been accompanied by an increase in numbers of generated room nights for the destination, and the number of the delegates has increased by more than by ninefold: from 1.000 to 9.5 thousand delegates. Inquiries from the US and Canada have thus, compared with inquiries from other key PCB markets (Germany, UK, France and Benelux), accounted for 43% in the last two years. In comparison with all countries, it has been nearly one third of all requests generated, and requests confirmed.
Thanks to the foreign representation, PCB has succeeded in significant widening of the scale of its services for the market in the past two years. PCBs in cooperation with the Hungarian National Tourist Board, CzechTourism agency and its representation in New York and with PCB members organized a roadshow in four North-American cities: Dallas, Washington DC, Toronto and Chicago in 2013. In collaboration with the CzechTourism representation in Los Angeles, a roadshow in five American cities in California (Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco), and Arizona (Phoenix, Scottsdale) has taken place last year. Among others, PCB has also visited HelmsBriscoe headquarters. Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas are included in the PCB roadshow plans for future.
PCB has managed, in cooperation with Delta Airlines and Czech Airlines, to organize three fam trips to Prague for a total of 22 American clients during the same period. The last of the fam trips to Prague has taken place after the IMEX trade fair, which was held in Frankfurt, Germany in May. PCB has also attended 8 fairs and congresses in the USA and it has organized 4 individual sales trips. Thanks to the activities of PCB on the North American market, we have successfully established contacts with nearly 600 new clients. Furthermore, PCB has joined a group of convention bureaus based in the Midwest, and together with them regularly organizes various activities for clients.
Martina Fundaro, PCB representative to the North American market, is constantly developing further marketing activities to increase visibility of Prague as a congress destination. She was elected a member of the MPI (Meeting Professionals International) Board of Directors for 2015/2016 period in Dallas/Fort Worth, which with almost 700 members is the fifth largest chapter in the world. MPI with altogether more than 18,500 members in 62 countries is the largest meeting professionals’ association in the world.
Martina Fundaro was as a representative of Prague Convention Bureau nominated for the “Rising Star of the Year” award of Dallas MPI chapter in 2014 and 2015 (prizes are awarded in late May every year; the results of the nominations have not been announced before the publication deadline.) Martina is also engaged in MPI D/FW Mentor Program, which develops professional mentoring activities within the convention industry in the region.
