The ACV Austria Center Vienna reports an unflagging congress boom. In the wake of ten major conventions last year, another seven top international congresses are scheduled in 2012. With around 61,000 conference-goers and more than 223,000 room nights expected, the 2011 figures (roughly 56,000 guests and about 200,000 room nights) will be easily surpassed. This year alone these conventions are estimated to contribute in the region of EUR 156 million toAustria’s gross domestic product.
The three main guest generators are the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) with an estimated 19,000 delegates, the conference of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) with 12,000 participants and the general assembly of the EGU European Geosciences Union with 10,000 attendees. Around 8,000 guests will travel to the ECNP Congress of theEuropeanCollegeof Neuropsychopharmacology. The European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC) will bring another 6,000 guests toVienna, while 4,000 general practitioners will travel to the WONCA-Europe Conference. Some 2,000 specialists at the Conference of the EWMA European Wound Management Association will devote themselves to the subject of wound treatment.
This year Thomas Rupperti and his team will be welcoming the EBCC Conference, which takes place from March 21 to 24 in the ACV, as a new client. The international gathering will be followed from April 22 to 27 by the EGU geosciences general assembly, a regular customer. Another newcomer is the EWMA Conference to be held from May 23 to 25. Together these three conferences will generate 18,000 visitors and more than 66,000 room nights, contributing upwards of EUR 46 million to GDP.
Three more key accounts, WONCA Europe, the ESMO Conference and the ECNP Congress, are returning to the Austrian capital and the Austria Center Vienna. From July 4 to 7 roughly 4,000 general practitioners and family doctors are expected to the WONCA-Europe Conference, which is meeting again in the ACV after a twelve-year absence. That will mean approximately 14,600 additional room nights and an estimated contribution to GDP of more than EUR 10 million.
Also after an interlude of several years, the ESMO oncology conference to be staged in the ACV from September 28 to October 2 will trigger an influx of around 12,000 attendees, generating more than 44,000 room nights and somewhere in the region of EUR 30.7 million towards GDP. The bevy of beauties is completed by the ECNP Congress from October 13 to 17, when 8,000 neuro-psychopharmacologists assemble inVienna. Their presence will translate into more than 29,300 overnights and add roughly EUR 20.4 million toAustria’s GDP. This congress, too, is returning to the ACV, having last put in an appearance there in 2007.
“We are vying here with competitors such asParisandBarcelona, which makes it all the more gratifying that we have become a firm fixture on the destination circuit. By way of illustration, we already have another reservation from theEuropeanCollegeof Neuropsychopharmacology for 2016,” ACV CEO Rupperti reports.
Apart from these big-ticket conferences, the ACV is also well booked for smaller meetings with fewer than 1,000 delegates and for corporate functions. The spectrum here ranges from annual general meetings through client hospitality to international events for employees and competitions.
