Destination report


The principality is keen to show it can compete with Europe’s capitals for events business. Paul Revel reports


MONACO HAS A GLOBAL PROFILE out of all proportion to its size. It’s tiny – the whole country could fit into London’s Hyde Park, but it carries a big reputation, having been long associated with celebrities, gamblers, aristocrats and tax exiles. It boasts one of the world's oldest royal dynasties – the Grimaldi family celebrated its 700th anniversary in 1997 – and superlative real estate prices: demand for property far outstrips supply, with many of its 50,000 workers commuting in each day. And every year, Monaco hosts one of the most fabled races on the Grand Prix circuit. All good fun, but this louche luxury reputation is not helpful to those promoting the destination as a judicious choice for meetings and events.


Sandrine Camia is director of


Monaco’s Convention Bureau. She says some potential clients have a “misconception of rates – they don’t know that Monaco is, for much of the time, better value than many European capitals, especially in winter months”. She says her latest MICE campaign


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“targets the medical, information and communication technology, finance and environmental sectors, which are the main industries of our MICE [meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions] business. We don’t think that our expertise in these sectors, nor our convention centre infrastructure and assets, are as well known in Europe as they should be.” That’s not to say MICE business is suffering. The convention bureau reports a slight year-on-year rise in MICE business for 2014, which represents 30 per cent of total tourism


MARCH/APRIL 2014


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