World
Geoff Donaghy to lead AIPC for a second term
WORLD – CEO of the International Convention Centre Sydney, Geoff Donaghy, has been elected president of the International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC) for a second term. The announcement was made at the AIPC Annual Conference in Boston. Donaghy, who is also group director of convention and exhibition centres for AEG Ogden, was the first president of the international association ...
ITE continues strategy of diversification as revenues dip in Q3
WORLD – Global events organiser ITE Group has announced a third-quarter dip in profits, but claims results are in line with expectations reflecting challenging conditions in one of its key markets, Russia. The group’s revenue of £58m (US$90.34m), for the three months ending 30 June 2015 (2014: £73m), fell 17% on a like-for-like basis compared to the same period last year. The company is pressing o...
Online agents dig into hotel profit margins
WORLD – Online travel agents (OTAs) such as Expedia have become ever-more powerful as a result of strategic acquisitions of smaller, regional players with Priceline now controlling 62% of the European market, while Expedia holds around 70% of the US market. A new report from global hotel consultancy HVS says that while OTAs offer a number of advantages to hoteliers including a wide, multi-na...
World Travel Market unveils stand figures
WORLD – A trade show has released its on-stand meeting figures. WTM London, at ExCeL in East London last year featured more than 1.1 million on-stand business meetings. In total, 1,124,403 on-stand business meetings took place at WTM 2014. The most on-stand meetings are held in the European region (including UK and Ireland) with a total of 412,060 meetings taking place. Asia follows next wit...
Meliá joins UNICEO network
WORLD – Meliá Hotels International has announced it is to become a global sponsor of the international association for senior corporate event organisers, UNICEO. As a new member, Meliá will take an active role in UNICEO projects, designed to promote and encourage the exchange of professional experiences and know-how among members. Meliá now has over 100 hotels, across all its brands, offerin...
BCD merges M&I and travel groups
WORLD – A meetings and travel organiser has merged two divisions to cut costs and streamline jobs. Former BCD M&I Global President Scott Graf (pictured) will take the reins at BCD Meetings & Events, with more than 700 employees and operations in over 40 countries. The new structure has been created by merging the meetings and incentive and travel groups. A spokesman for the group sai...
Stephen Revetria takes the MPI Foundation chair
AMERICAS – The Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Foundation has announced Stephen Revetria will chair its 2015-2016 Global Board of Trustees. His term runs from 1 July 1, 2015, to 31 December, 2016. Revetria became a member of the MPI Foundation Global Board of Trustees in July 2007. He serves as senior vice-president of Giants Enterprises, where he is responsible for setting the str...
World Travel Market announces Mexico as Premier Partner
WORLD – The World Travel Market has signed up Mexico as its Premier Partner. Mexico has become WTM 2015’s Premier Partner as part of the country’s promotion in the UK. WTM takes place in Excel London, 2-5 November 2015. 2015 has been designated as The Year of Mexico in the UK and the UK in Mexico and is seeing an exchange of art, culture, science, academia, business and tourism of which the ...
MPI announces 2015 RISE Awards recipients
WORLD — Meeting Professionals International (MPI) has announced the recipients of this year’s RISE (Recognising Industry Success and Excellence) Awards. The winners will be honoured at an annual luncheon on 3 August 3, 2015, during MPI’s World Education Congress (WEC) in San Francisco. This year there will be six awards in three categories: individual achievement, community achievement and organis...
Grass Roots M&E moves back into black and powers company to £6.8m profit
WORLD – International agency Grass Roots has announced a substantial improvement in its financial results for 2014, with an EBITDA of £9.3m (2013: £7.9m) and operating profits of £6.8m. The full year’s results reveal strong performances across the global Group but show the UK market delivering the most significant profit for the Group. Among the highlights were the UK Meetings & Events b...
Mike Rusbridge to step down as Reed Exhibitions chairman
WORLD – Mike Rusbridge, chairman of Reed Exhibitions is to retire at the end of 2015, a statement from the company said today (22 June). Rusbridge joined Reed Exhibitions as its CEO Europe in 1988, becoming president of Europe and Asia in 1994. He was appointed chairman and CEO in 1996. During Rusbridge’s time as CEO & chairman, Reed Exhibitions (RX) has grown from a US$400m to $1.5bn co...
UFI elects Deutsche Messe’s Andreas Gruchow as 2017 president
WORLD – International trade fair association UFI’s board of directors has elected Andreas Gruchow of Deutsche Messe AG, as the association’s president for 2017. The decision came during UFI’s meeting this week in Istanbul, Turkey. The next UFI Presidential Trio will comprise: Sergey Alexeev (ExpoForum-International Ltd., Russian Federation), president 2015-2016; Andreas Gruchow, (Deutsche Me...