Top left: Bratislava, Slovakia; bottom left: Warsaw, Poland; right: Moscow, Russia
GETTING THERE
capital of Bratislava, which, with its good air and road connections from Vienna, and its central location, is “ideal for those coming from all over Europe”. For those seeking a destination with better weather, CWT says that both Croatia and Istanbul are options for planners looking to head further south. Meetings and events account manager Gill Day says: “Croatia is being discussed frequently for sales incentive trips as it’s good value, easy to get to and offers a relatively warm climate, which, of course, appeals to UK- based companies.” CWT’s venue-find team leader Jenny
Bryant adds: “While you might not get as much for your sterling as some of the eastern European counterparts, Istanbul is exceptionally good value, and offers a such a richness of culture.”
UKRAINE AND RUSSIA For Ukraine, it seems sadly ironic having just climbed into the top ten of European countries for hosting meetings and events last year. The country ranked 8th with a 4.4 per cent share of the European meetings market in 2013, according to research by the EIBTM trade show. Russia came just ahead of its neighbour, in 7th place, with a 5 per cent share of the market. But now for many meetings plan-
ners both countries are firmly off limits, although the situation is less clear-cut for Russia, with Moscow still seen as an important venue for the pharmaceu- ticals industry. Hillgate’s Hutton says: “As destina- tions, both Russia and Ukraine are not
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being considered at present – the risk is simply too great for conference organisers. With regard to the wider consequences of the situation, as yet we’ve not seen any economic ripple. However, if the situation does eventually become more serious, meetings and events spend will be impacted.” Many meetings organisers also point to the fact that Russia was not the most ap- pealing destination for events even before the crisis, due to high hotel costs and the difficulties in obtaining a Russian visa. Although room rates in Moscow have tumbled by around 18 per cent (to an average of £119.29 per night) since the crisis began, according to
Hotels.info, rates in Kiev have fallen by more than 30 per cent to £61.32. The plunge in room rates have been down primarily to drops in the value of both Russian and Ukrainian cur- rencies since the start of the year. Chambers’ Leeson says: “Russia has
always been a slightly more difficult market to crack for events because of its high cost for delegates on the ground and also the lengthy visa process. The Ukraine crisis has added to the list of reasons that it doesn’t top the most popular lists.” Capita’s Elborough adds: “Destinations
do tend to lose favour when people are nervous, and if your conference ROI [return on investment] is largely dependent on maximising delegate attendance, then are you going to choose a location that does that? Even when Foreign and Com- monwealth Office advice is favourable, general perceptions of unrest can result in businesses choosing to go elsewhere.”
FLIGHT CONNECTIONS into and within eastern Europe have been improving in recent years, and this is set to continue with more expansion from no-frills carriers. Austrian Airlines, which is part of the Lufthansa Group, has been promoting itself as a market leader in the region with its extensive network of central and eastern European destinations from the carrier’s Vienna hub. The airline flies to 41 destinations in the region from Vienna, including Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Krakow, Dubrovnik, Kiev and Moscow, as well as to lesser-known Balkan capitals such as Pristina (Kosovo), Podgorica (Montenegro) and Skopje (Macedonia). Hungarian no-frills carrier
Wizz Air is also expanding, having opened a new base in Riga in June. This coincided with the introduction of four new routes from the Latvian capital, including to Doncaster Sheffield, and extra services to Luton. Wizz Air is also adding more flights from Poland. Ryanair will open two new bases in Poland from October – Warsaw (Modlin) and Gdansk. The Irish carrier already has bases in Krakow and Wroclaw in Poland, as well as Budapest in Hungary and Kaunas in Lithuania.
BBT JULY/AUGUST 2014 77
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