Conference organisers have taken full advantage of a €4m
funding scheme introduced in May last year to help restart Vienna’s meetings
industry after the pandemic.
All the money has now been allocated to a broad range of association
congresses and corporate meetings that city leaders estimate will add €557m to Vienna’s
coffers.
Almost
400 (392) congresses and corporate meetings scheduled to take place in Meeting
Destination Vienna until 2023 have received the full or a preliminary funding
commitment.
To maintain momentum, the City of Vienna and the Vienna Convention Bureau at
the Vienna Tourist Board have announced they are throwing another €4m into the
pot.
Applications
for the Vienna Meeting Fund 2022 –
2024 will open on July 1st.
Christian
Woronka, head of the Vienna Convention Bureau, said: "The additional funds
are an important acquisition tool and support event organizers and thus the
meetings industry as well as tourism in Vienna. The funding has positive
effects along the entire value chain of the meetings industry. In addition to
booked venues, events also mean overnight stays in Viennese accommodation,
among other things, thus securing jobs in other areas of the visitor economy.”
In the first edition of the Vienna Meeting Fund,
almost two-thirds of the funded events (72%) were congresses - about 282 - and
110 are corporate events (28%).
More
than half of these meetings (54%) are hybrid formats.
In
total, about 231,000 attendees participated or will participate in the funded
meetings by the end of 2023, with half (50%) being international guests.
Medicine and biological sciences account for 16% of the disciplines
represented, business and computer sciences (ICT) each account for 11%, and
other sectors account for the remainder.
Written By
James Lancaster
AMI editor James
Lancaster is a familiar face in the meetings industry and international
association community. Since joining AMI in 2010, he has gained a reputation
for asking difficult questions and getting lost in convention centres. Proofer, podcaster, and panellist - in his spare time, James likes to walk,
read, listen to music, and drink beer.
