Europe
Hyatt has announced an expansion plan for Portugal, with four new hotels scheduled to open over the next two years. Building on recent openings in Lisbon and Madeira, Hyatt is expanding in key business centres, holiday destinations, and emerging cultural hotspots across the country. The goup said its planned growth is a response to Portugal’s evolving hospitality landscape and increased foreign in...
Low-cost airline, Wizz Air, has announced it will run a new daily direct flight service from London Gatwick to Valencia, starting 29 March 2026. The airline promised that fares would be available from £40 for a return journey. The new route will add to Wizz Air’s Luton-Valencia service, which will also start in March 2026 and will operate five times weekly. The Luton–Valencia service will join dir...
US-based Vomela Companies has acquired events and installations specialist Moss. The deal expands Vomela’s presence in live events and experiential production, while also adding a significant European footprint. Moss will retain its brand Under the agreement, Vomela will merge its Fusion events unit into Moss. The combined business will operate as Moss, A Vomela Company. Moss will retain its brand...
IAPCO has announced a new destination partnership with Meeting Destination Vienna. The two-year agreement begins on 1 January 2026. The partnership brings Vienna into IAPCO’s destination partner network, a group that works directly with IAPCO and its accredited professional congress organisers. IAPCO said the agreement reflects the role destinations play in professional meetings delivery, particul...
Having met at the recent ICCA Annual Congress, I had the privilege of catching up with Gerda-Marie Rist, head of the Legacy Lab at Wonderful Copenhagen, as she discussed how connecting people, purpose, and policy is reshaping the business events landscape in Denmark and beyond. Iain Stirling: Gerda-Marie, you spent 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry working with LEO Pharma, specialising in me...
UN Tourism and the European Commission have addressed the international business events sector. Senior leaders from each organisation pointed to the industry’s role in policy, competitiveness and tourism strategy. Their comments were directed specifically at the global meetings and events community. UN Tourism secretary-general H.E. Shaikha Al Nowais reaffirmed the organisation’s long-standing par...
John Fentener van Vlissingen, founder of BCD and BORON, has died aged 86. He passed away on 11 December 2025 in Zeist, the Netherlands. John was born on 4 March 1939. Back in 1975, van Vlissingen founded BCD, which later became a global travel management group. He began his career in banking, before launching his own company. This marked the beginning of a family-owned organisation spanning busine...
City of Dreams Mediterranean has been officially crowned Cyprus’ Best MICE Hotel at the annual World MICE Awards, with the results announced at a ceremony in Bahrain on 6 December 2025. The five-star resort, based in Limassol Cyprus, joins an exclusive lineup of winning properties which includes some of the world’s finest venues for global meetings, incentives, conferences and events. Voted for by...
Zürich Tourism is shining a spotlight on the city and region as a leading destination where cutting-edge innovation meets authentic Swiss hospitality, unveiling new experiences and industry touchpoints for the global meetings and incentives market. From the pioneering Zurich AI Festival and atmospheric winter fondue evenings to inspiring offsites in nearby Zug and the newly announced Zürich MICE D...
ICCA has announced a landmark sustainability partnership with EarthCheck. The collaboration represents a pivotal step in ICCA’s mission to embed sustainability and measurable climate action across the global business events industry. Under a new two-year agreement, EarthCheck will serve as ICCA’s Sustainability Partner, reinforcing ICCA’s commitment to reducing environmental impact, strengthening ...
Meetings and events are key to H4 Hotel Wyndham Paris Pleyel’s business, and hotel GM Stig Castoe recently welcomed CMW’s Simon George to explain how this new kid on the arrondissement is reaping some of the events legacy of the Paris Olympics. Historically, the gothic basilica of Saint-Denis containing the tombs of many of France’s kings just to the north of Paris has dominated the local skyline ...
CMW’s Simon George enrols on a 3-day ‘eventing’ course at the Imperial Riding School in Vienna, the first Marriott Autograph Collection hotel in Austria. The Hapsburg empire may have fallen and the horses are no longer resident, but the grandeur and opulence of the Imperial Riding School in Vienna have not changed. Established as a military equestrian school by Emperor Franz Josef I in the mid-19t...