association events rotating between Paris and elsewhere. Agalarowa points to the close co-ordination of meetings centres and support ancillaries, together with customised programmes and added flexibility, as key elements of the renewed proposition for buyers or organisers.
PARIS
DUE TO PRIDE, politics or collective economic woes, the fabled spirit of Anglo-French entente cordiale occasionally can skip a beat. Just as it did when Paris was edged out by London to host the imminent Olympics. Sitting in a Left Bank salon when the announcement came over the airwaves, my two Parisian companions, both professional conference organisers, were visibly enraged. Incroyable! How could
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Paris, leading contender and so consummately equipped and prepared to stage the biggest of global events, be eclipsed by one that clearly wasn’t? However, a momentary pause, shrugs all round and entente cordiale was swiftly restored. T
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mieux, or so much the better, they decided, because the proof of the folly must emerge in the post-Games pudding. Paris had no real need for such a potentially poisoned chalice and would be busy with big events in any case. It would be hard for any rival meetings and events (M&E) city
to argue with the results since. Or with what Paul Roll, managing director of the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau, has described as the brain-crunching renewals made to fit a thoroughly modern city into a precious old frame. Through a combination of professional planning, natural flair and innovative effort, rather than sitting on its traditionally charismatic laurels in recessionary times, the French capital has retained its cachet as a premier choice host to a slew of big ticket events, as 33,000 delegates at the recent European Society of Cardiology Congress would no doubt attest. The statistics and a formidable forward calendar of new and repeat events for Paris speak for themselves, says Fidan Agalarowa at the France Meetings and Convention Board. These show that, among the 450 fairs and 900 congresses with 700,000 participants staged in the capital recently, some 30 annually have been first-time events. In addition, average attendance has increased 36 per cent in the past few years at repeat
Despite the disappointment of failing to secure the 2012 Olympics, Gallic pride has been assuaged as Paris continues to attract events of all sizes. Jonathan Hart reports
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The city region has 18 convention and exhibition centres and 10 of these are now grouped under the Viparis (Venues in Paris) label to provide integrated solutions for major international events with thousands of participants. Running in tandem are 25 conference hotels and more than 700 hotels able to host seminars of between 50 and 300 people, together with 100 external meeting spaces, plus more than 1,000 venues, including museums, boats, theatres, mansions, parks, gardens and department stores, capable of accommodating between 10 and 10,000 people.
Overall, this means organisers can either book an ever-growing number of venues independently or opt for an all-inclusive solution combining accommodation, meeting rooms and fun and cultural pursuits, according to Viparis director Florent Joncquiert- Latarjet. He says the flexibility to stage high-end meetings anywhere from a chateau to a yacht underscores the diverse corporate M&E attractions of Paris, in tandem with its status as a financial hub with a diverse economy and base for some 500 multinationals. Paris is first and foremost a high- end, quality meetings proposition for UK corporates, adds Pauline Houston, M&E and hotel programmes director at Carlson Wagonlit Travel. “We’ve noticed an increase in the number of client enquiries for smaller, bespoke