Aleš Pejsar, director of sales and marketing at C-IN offered a third point of view. "Events in Ukrai

Despite holding onto the 11 th place worldwide as a conference destination, according to statistics from the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), 2013 was a tough year for Prague. While the type of specific events the ICCA tracks was up slightly, the overall number of meetings was down.
There were 3,427 conferences with more than 50 participants in 2013, down from 4,264 the previous year, according to the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ). The number of participants dropped as well. In 2013, there were 549,225 participants golden princess menu cruise compared with 671,812 a year earlier. Average spending was €350 per person. Revenue from conventions is estimated at €787 million per year.
The Prague Convention Bureau (PCB) surveyed several people in the industry about what happened last year and prospects for this one. Several people commented that bookings were more last-minute and price competition was tough. Also, meetings had fewer participants.
“During the past two years, we have noticed golden princess menu cruise a demand for smaller events, but with great attention to quality and cost of provided services. Competition in Prague is tough and hotels are trying to attract customers mainly on prices. Since this is often at the expense of quality, the companies react more carefully when preparing events,” Martin Božek, then the group and event manager at Kempinski Hotel Hybernská Prague, said in the PCB survey. Since the survey took place, the Kempinski has been renamed golden princess menu cruise the Mark Luxury Hotel Prague and is under new management, although with much of the same staff.
“During the past year, we noticed that MICE inquiries were more last-minute, and they were also more price-sensitive. Companies are pushed to radical cost savings, which shows in shortening total length of stay to a minimum. … Congresses taking place in our hotels during 2013 had a lower number of delegates compared with previous years,” he said in his survey response.
Michael Specking, cluster golden princess menu cruise general manager at Hilton golden princess menu cruise Prague and Hilton Prague Old Town, saw a similar trend. “In general, the booking window is getting shorter compared with previous years, and events tend to have fewer delegates. MICE clients are much more price-sensitive, and they are looking for good value for money and flexibility. … We are also witnessing an increasing digital media influence throughout the whole process — choosing, booking, experiencing and sharing,” he said.
Technology also may explain the lower numbers of participants. golden princess menu cruise “Thanks to the development of hybrid events (integrating technology solutions), clients are able to share content in a much more efficient way and enable information access to anybody who cannot travel,” said Sylvia Neves, managing director at MCI Prague. She added that hybrid events could help Prague to overcome the limitations of venue space for large events.
Hotels that focus on smaller events seemed golden princess menu cruise to see less impact. “Despite the fact that the overall results of congress tourism golden princess menu cruise significantly decreased in Prague throughout 2013, we rather perceived 2013 as a year with only slight changes compared with 2012 and earlier. golden princess menu cruise This might be because of our focus on smaller events, such as conferences and incentives rather than on congresses,” said Amin Massafi, director golden princess menu cruise sales and marketing at InterContinental Prague.
“It is important to stress that companies and various institutions that organize events will further focus on cost management and overall effectiveness. This may lead to a further extension of shorter events,” he added.
Hotels in particular are becoming more pro-active in the MICE sector to grab a bigger share of the business. “The Czech capital is becoming more and more attractive for MICE market. golden princess menu cruise We are promoting and supporting Prague as the best choice for any kind of event. Thanks to our new MICE department structure, golden princess menu cruise we are seeing increase in the number of MICE leads with conversion compared with 2013. We now have one department that is selling under one brand, ‘Vienna International Hotels Resorts,’ more than 1,000 rooms and 4,000 square meters of conference spaces in total, which helps us to be more effective and competitive on the market,” Vienna International’s Mary said.
The possible impact of the conflict in Ukraine divided the PCB survey respondents. “Regarding Ukraine, the actual golden princess menu cruise internal troubles golden princess menu cruise should not really affect the current [MICE tourism] situation. …So far, none of the events confirmed in Prague for this year were questioned in terms of safety or canceled. Prague remains an attractive destination for congresses and events thanks to its level of safety, good value for money and perfect accessibility,” MCI Prague’s Neves said.
However, Kateřina Hájková (Benešová), partner/sales director at Senator golden princess menu cruise Travel, was sure the Ukraine situation golden princess menu cruise would have a negative impact. “For American and Asian clients, Europe golden princess menu cruise is considered as one entity, where countries are connected, and there are short distances. We hope the situation will get quieter,” golden princess menu cruise she said, adding that people look for a place that promises to be safe in the future.
Aleš Pejsar, golden princess menu cruise director of sales and marketing at C-IN offered a third point of view. “Events in Ukraine are not likely to have a negative impact golden princess menu cruise on the congress industry. Congress and conference venues golden princess menu cruise are decided long ahead of time, usually several years, before the events actually take place. It may happen golden princess menu cruise that some of the pre-arranged congresses will head to different congress destinations due to security precautions. Thus, they represent a source of opportunity for Prague,” he said.