CMW TAKES A LOOK AT A CLUTCH OF CITIES SPECIALISING IN MEDICAL CONFERENCING
On the Belfast Waterfront In the past four years, CVB Visit Belfast has delivered 150% growth in inbound conferences for Northern Ireland’s capital, generating 251,000 bed nights and £110m for the local economy. Expansion of the waterfront in 2016 was a game-changer for business tourism and the target for the bureau is to grow business tourism by 250% by 2020. Some 36 of the 99 conferences confirmed in the next four years, are medical/pharma related. Worth £33m, they will bring 23,350 delegates.
The first conference to use Belfast Waterfront’s new 7,000sqm facility will be the 2016 International Surgical Congress of the Association ofSurgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ASGBI). The biggest annual meeting of surgeons in Europe will involve 2,000 specialists during Surgical Week in May. The decision to bring the ASGBI conference was based on the organising committee’s ‘visit experience’ to the city, according to Nicholas Gair, ASGBI chief executive. He said: “Belfast’s geographic advantage cannot be understated. Having an airport five minutes’ drive away from a venue, which is now on par with other leading international venues, will greatly benefit our delegates.”
Belfast has also been chosen to host the 2018 Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Annual Congress for the first time. In addition to the congress, which includes the UK’s largest exhibition of nursing products and services, around 100 meetings and social events will take place in a number of venues across the city. The five-day conference is expected to welcome more than 5,000 delegates to Belfast. Visit Belfast worked in partnership with the venue, Belfast Waterfront, to secure the RCN congress for the city. Belfast’s strength in attracting medical conferences can be attributed to a number of reasons, including:
• International recognition in a number of medical specialisms, cardiology, oncology, nursing & midwifery. • Four world-renowned teaching hospitals, close to the city centre. • Pioneering advances in areas such as cancer research
Adelaide:
A bio medical hub Medical conferencing is an important business sector for the South Australia capital, Adelaide. There is also a Conventions Adelaide support programme for a network of 80 conference ambassadors, all leaders in their fields. Some of these ambassadors hail from the new A$3.5bn bio medical hub currently under construction in Adelaide.
The jewel in the crown is the SAHMRI – the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute – that the bureau has been working with for several years. Adelaide is also a founding partner in the global science and conference alliance, along with Toulouse (France), Hyderabad (India), Daejon (Korea).
Examples of major health and medical conventions won that have a direct link to the key research themes at SAHMR include: • 19th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy , Sept 2014, (400 delegates) • MASCC/ISOO International Symposium on Supportive Care in Cancer, June 2016, (1,500 delegates) • 9th Asia Oceania Conference on Obesity, Oct 2017, (800 delegates)
Professor Dorothy Keefe is a Conventions Adelaide ambassador and immediate past-president of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC), which brings its congress to Adelaide in June 2016. She says: “MASCC’s motto is that ‘Supportive Care makes excellent cancer care possible’ and this fits with the goals of SAHMRI to improve the health of the population of South Australia via world class research. 1,500 of the World’s top supportive care researchers and practitioners will meet in Adelaide, along with patients and advocates, to learn about the latest advances in cancer supportive care.
The Riverbank Precinct with SAHMRI, the new RAH and the refurbished Adelaide Convention Centre, will showcase South Australia’s finest – and our international visitors will be able to tour the new facilities.” Professor Steve Wesselingh, executive director of SAHMRI, adds: “Adelaide is an unparalleled destination to host health and medical conferences due to the new world class Biomedical Precinct being located directly adjacent to the city’s convention and entertainment hub.”
Houston calling conferences In Houston, USA, the Texas Medical Center (TMC) is the largest concentration of medical assets in the world. The city has 56 not-for-profit member institutions that serve 7.2m annual patient visits. TMC has performed more heart surgeries than anywhere else in the world and the first successful heart transplant in the US, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center has ranked as the nation’s leading cancer hospital for 11 of the past 14 years.
The convention bureau works with the medical institutions through the TMC International Affairs Advisory Council (IAAC). It is chaired by Daniel Palomo, director of global sales at Visit Houston, who says: “Dr Robert Robbins, president and CEO of the TMC and Dr Andy Futreal, Professor of Genomic Medicine at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center travelled with us to Singapore to do the final presentation to the HUGO Council.
Last year Houston won the World Federation of Acupuncture Conference – WFAS by partnering with the American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine- ACAOM based in Houston. “This year Houston won the 2018 World Autism Organisation – WAO Congress by partnering with the TMC. In the end making a strong business case with the support of local partners and industry has proved invaluable to win international medical meetings.”
The Life Sciences vertical market is important for Houston to the extent that as of last year the GHCVB launched Medical World Americas – MWA in partnership with the TMC and Messe Dusseldorf, organisers of MEDICA, the world’s largest medical instrumentation trade show, attracting between 120,000+ attendees from all over the globe. Palomo says Houston saw an opportunity to capitalise on a strong intellectual medical base. On its first edition MWA attracted more than 2,200 attendees from over 32 countries. The bureau is in the process of formalising a Life Sciences Ambassador Program. “Even though we’ve partnered with several TMC medical institutions in the past for next year we aim to have a more structured programme,” Palomo says.
RAI Amsterdam RAI Amsterdam’s list for 2016 big events includes the European Breast Cancer Conference, the ECCO Congress and the ECCMID 2016. The Taskforce Citywide is a collaborative umbrella for hotels, restaurants, Schiphol Airport, taxis and public transport and all additional stakeholders. The goal is to set up multiple bids for large-conference proposals in an efficient way. In Europe all medical events are subject to rules and regulations concerning sponsoring and promotional activities by pharmaceutical parties. These rules emanate from the European Directive EU 2001/83 and are the same for all European member states. However, the implementation and the enforcement of the rules may differ per member state.
RAI Amsterdam takes an active role in this matter and has direct contact with CGR, the national Foundation for the Code for Pharmaceutical Advertising. Thanks to strong clusters, the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area plays a pioneering role and the RAI collaborates with governmental agencies, research institutions and the trade and industry sector. All this sees RAI Amsterdam and Amsterdam Marketing involving the city and its residents in the medical congress content in a unique way. Istanbul’s 20% Istanbul is of the world’s Top 10 congress destinations according to the ICCA rankings.
Around a fifth of the city’s 130 international congresses are medical. In November 2015, the city welcomed over 40,000 delegates and almost 45% of those were part of a medical congress. The general manager of Istanbul CVB, Ozgul Ozkan Yavuz says: ‘The numbers for 2016 are set to be even higher. Istanbul has already confirmed 47 international congresses for 2016 and figures shows that 40% of the delegates will be part of medical congresses.” The coming years will see the European Society of Cardiology bring its congress for 2,000 delegates, while the World Congress of Neurosurgery will bring 8,000 delegates and the World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery –WPCCS over 3,000. Ozgul Ozkan Yavuz believes that the numbers are evidence of Istanbul’s strength in medical tourism: 233 hospitals with 32k bed capacity, which has helped make Turkey the 6th top ‘medical tourism’ destination in the world.
