The Conference Centre “is gearing up to relaunch MICE tourism,” a sector which is “key to underpinning the recovery of the city’s economy”, according to the Councillor for Tourism, Emiliano García. To this end, García stressed the need to “focus on reinforcing the strengths of our facilities”.
In this sense, he emphasised that the investments the City Council has made in the building “together with the technological upgrades of the venue to adapt it to the new circumstances, will undoubtedly help Valencia to recover its position in the national and international market much quicker”.
García pointed out that “the Conference Centre, as a specialist venue in this sector, is gearing up to adapt to the new challenges posed and to sustain Valencia as a benchmark conference destination”, and he thanked the team at the Centre for “working seamlessly at a strategic, tactical and operational level to turn this threat into an opportunity for improvement and progress”. This task also includes “the Centre’s suppliers or ‘strategic allies’, whose contributions help to attract business”.
The Councillor also explained that the strategies that are being drawn up at the Conference Centre aim to “intensify efforts to win new bids” and he welcomed “the general willingness and positive attitude of organisers to postpone rather than cancel their events”. He pointed out that “only 14 events have been dropped from the schedule, while most events have been postponed to autumn 2020 or the following year, as long as the health authorities agree”.
According to Emiliano García, “this situation will lead to a very positive year in 2021 with 85 events already confirmed, in addition to the reservations that will arise following the Centre’s reopening. Moreover, in recent weeks, the team has submitted 22 bids for congresses and conventions to be held up to 2027. One of the most important bids won is for a national congress to be held in Valencia in three separate years (in 2021, 2024 and 2027), which will be attended by more than 1,000 people on each of these occasions”.
In turn, the Conference Centre’s Managing Director, Sylvia Andrés, explained that “to attract new business, work is being done on research and innovation projects, such as the so-called PalconExpand initiative, which will equip the Centre with the latest technology to host ‘hybrid’ events, enabling up to 10,000 virtual participants to be accommodated alongside the delegates physically present at the venue”.
