On an average convention season day, Zagreb hosts many small meetings and several bigger ones, of which the biggest is for as many as 200 to 300 participants.
As the meeting industry infrastructure gradually improves, the capital city of Croatia fosters even more ambitious plans for the future of this dynamic tourist segment. We asked Dražen Hochecker, Director of the Zagreb Convention Bureau, about these plans.
Zagreb is an attractive city with a lot to offer, both in terms of the tourism industry as a whole as well as its meeting segment. There have been a number of new developments and improvements in the convention infrastructure. Also, the number of airline routes between Zagreb and other European destinations is expanding by the day. A new sports hall, Arena, scheduled to open in December 2008, will lend itself ideally to plenary sessions. One of them will be the 2010 Annual Meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
A significant step towards achieving that goal is the appearance of a joint Europe on other markets. The competitors on the European meeting industry market have become allies...
Yes, every ECM member will be able to purchase their business area under a joint European roof thus we may realistically expect Zagreb to rub shoulders with Vienna and Paris, for example, both much stronger contestants in the meeting industry game. However, everybody has the right and indeed the obligation to demonstrate their competitive advantages and win their rightful place on the market. I am absolutely certain that the Croatian capital has a lot to show for itself. It is a relatively small city, with just under a million inhabitants, and its meeting halls, theaters, concert halls, galleries and shopping centers are all located in a very compact area, mostly in the pedestrian zone. Moreover, our city is beautiful; it has attractive squares and parks, an exquisite and varied gastronomic offer...
There can hardly be true quality without a professional staff.
We definitely have very good and professional people. As a rule, they are well educated and experienced professionals or younger recruits who are benefiting from their rich experience after having graduated from the best schools. I would say that in terms of quality and dedication, our staff is not only a fair match but even better than professionals in many other European cities. In addition to our in-house staff, we now have a number of very creative PCO teams who all receive nothing but words of praise for their excellent work.
Owing to the highways, Zagreb is now closer to the coast than ever before. This must mean a wider offer of excursions and incentives?
Zagreb is only an hour and a half-drive from Opatija and Rijeka for example.
Owing to frequent flights, Zagreb has become closer than ever to Split and Dubrovnik. The popular trend of two-destination-holidays may be expected to spill over to the meeting part of the industry. One can easily see the attraction lying in the prospect of a meeting taking place in two different locations. Moreover, one-day excursions to other destinations have become an integral part of convention programs. Over the past three or four years, people holidaying in Kvarner have often chosen Zagreb for their day excursions and vice versa. This is developing into a trend which will certainly become even stronger now that the Rijeka-Zagreb highway was completed in 2008, which makes the two cities only an hour's drive from one another.
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