Whether it’s long-term bookings or short notice enquiries, demand for conference slots at the HOFBURG Vienna is extremely strong. Recent additions to the booking ledger include five new conferences for this year and a further two large-scale conferences for 2014.
“At the HOFBURG Vienna we are noting a trend towards ever more complex events, an increasingly internationalised visitor profile and short term bookings, as well as a resurgence of large-scale conferences,” explained HOFBURG Vienna Managing Director Renate Danler. Ms Danler keeps one step ahead of the latest developments thanks to ingenious logistics, state-of-the-art sustainable technologies and the support of a dedicated team – a strategy that has also paid dividends when it comes to attracting new events to the centre.
The HOFBURG Vienna recently secured bookings from a pair of green and sustainability conferences. On 16 May the ERDgespräche meetings will play out at the Hofburg, using live streaming technology to facilitate networking and information exchange and raising awareness of environmental issues.
Just a few weeks later, from 28-30 May, the high-level UNIDO Vienna Energy Forum hosted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization will return to the Hofburg for the first time since June 2011. In 2011 UNIDO Director General and Chair of the 2011 Vienna Energy Forum Kandeh K. Yumkella looked at fairer distribution of the world’s energy resources, and the 2013 event will analyse the results of the Rio+20 Summit as the organisation continues to work towards its goal of sustainable energy for everyone by 2020.
The Association Business portfolio welcomed a pair of new additions: the European Association for Endoscopic Surgery (EAES) Congress from 19-22 June 2013 with around around 2,000 doctors and the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing (ECIIA) Conference from 3-4 October 2013, with 700 delegates. While the EAES Congress will focus on the latest technological innovations in surgery, the ECIIA Conference revolves around governance, risk management and compliance.
The Pioneers Festival has booked the international conference centre for its 2013 and 2014 entrepreneurship meetings, which are each expected to draw 2,000 start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovators. The Hofburg team also landed the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, bringing another large-scale conference to the centre in February next year. Among the events to have confirmed their slots at the Hofburg some time ago are IFSO 2015 (World Congress of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity & Metabolic Disorders) with 3,000 physicians and the 2015 Deutsche Steuerberatertag with 1,000 German-speaking tax advisers.
Each year the HOFBURG Vienna plays host to around 320 events. When the meetings and conferences hosted by the Hofburg-based Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are included, the total rises to 600. Vienna tops the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) rankings and is among the world’s most popular conference destinations.
