The purpose of this article is to examine the role and indicate the changes caused by the pandemic in the differentiation of the level of air transport accessibility for meetings in selected ...countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Using a network analysis of air connections between the selected largest airports in Central and Eastern Europe (over 1 million passengers), the accessibility of the most important cities in the meetings industry was investigated. The research is based on data sources (Eurostat, Scyscanner.com, International Congress and Convention Association - ICCA reports) in preand post-COVID times. The analysis is based on seven cities that host the largest number of association meetings. The study identifies three key observations: slow recovery of lost organizational powers, qualitative changes in the processes of meetings organisation, which is connected with the third conclusion - the dominant position of Warsaw as a regional hub for meeting participants in this part of Europe.
The freezing of economies due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused damage not only on the sales side but also on the labor market due to the outflow of staff from companies specializing in the ...organization of meetings. The return of the meetings industry sector to the development path will involve skillful change management, including in the area of competencies and skills. To inventory and assess the competencies of employees in the meetings industry, this study was carried out among specialized enterprises in the meetings industry in Poland, Hungary, and Ireland, on samples of two research groups, i.e. the Director General (CEO) and operational employees based on questionnaires and individual in-depth interviews (IDI). The obtained results allowed to establish the hierarchy of self-assessment of own managerial competencies, assessment of the competencies of the CEO by the employees, areas of increasing team competencies, and areas of staff development in the sector shortly, contributing to the recovery from the pandemic crisis. Raising the competencies and qualifications of employees is perceived as one of the most powerful tools for overcoming the pandemic crisis, obtaining 68% positive indications among CEOs in Poland, 77% indications in Hungary, and 84% in Ireland. In all analyzed countries, the meetings industry is indicated as a strategic product of the tourist market. Among the planned long-term actions aimed at overcoming the pandemic crisis, increasing employee competencies is perceived as an opportunity for the companies operating the meetings industry sector (90% in Poland, and 80% in Hungary and Ireland).
AcknowledgmentThis study was done in frames of the project “Vocational competences in MICE sector” co-financed in frames of European Union program Erasmus + as part of the program The Dialog for Transformation, Erasmus+, 2020–2021.
With support from MPI Japan, we have collected survey responses from active meeting planners in Japan, which revealed their profiles and their perception on priorities regarding meeting site ...selection criteria. Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is one of the largest meeting planner and event planner industry association worldwide. MPI Japan Chapter was established in 1995. In the results of the questionnaire survey, majority of members are between ages of 35 and 64, and surprisingly overwhelming majority are male. Soft areas such as service and management quality of the venue are deemed more important in their selection of meeting venues, besides ease of access of the venue. The result of our analyses highlights importance of decomposition of MICE into sub-categories to cater to the different needs and perceptions of relative importance of the same issues by meeting planners in Japan.
An increasing number of students show great interest in the event and meeting industry for their future career. Event and meeting professionals have to handle challenging and dynamic circumstances, ...which require development of various skills, knowledge, the proper personality, and the right leadership style. It is unclear how students understand these different competencies and how event and meeting professionals view these different competencies, which play important roles for students' future careers in the event and meeting industry. Based on a self-administered, online survey, this study explores the importance of skills, knowledge, personality types, and leadership styles from both event and meeting professionals and students in the hospitality and tourism management program. Results suggest how hospitality and tourism programs can provide better education for students to be successful in the event and meeting industry.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Business travel, as the sector with the fastest growth in the tourism industry globally, has received increased attention from both countries and cities, particularly from emerging destinations. In ...developing economies, business travel, including attending meetings, conferences, incentives and other business events, often plays a leading role in the growth of the wider travel and tourism sector. Therefore, tourism authorities and convention bureaus at the national and city levels have been struggling to attract international conferences and a larger number of participants to conferences. Understanding factors, which appear to be important in the conference participation decision-making process, can help conference organizers and destinations to attract more participants and thus gain more benefit from this growing sector of the tourism industry. Therefore, this study aims to examine factors affecting the conference participation decision-making from the academics' perspective. Furthermore, it investigates how different socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents influence the extracted factors of the conference participation decision-making process. The data was collected from the academics employed at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia. The findings reveal six dimensions of conference participation decision-making: destination stimuli, costs and destination accessibility, educational and professional opportunities, intervening opportunities, location factors, and conference factors. The results also show that there are statistically significant differences in some extracted factors between respondents of different gender, age, education level, and academic position, while the frequency of participation in international conferences does not influence the factors. The results could be of interest to all stakeholders in the business travel and tourism industry.
This study examines the determinant factors affecting organizers' decision-making regarding meeting and convention site selection process. A mixed-methods research technique was employed to identify ...the important factors pertaining to the selection of meeting venues. Exploratory factor analysis was performed on factors with similar characteristics to identify seven new factor groups and 44 attributes. As a practical contribution, this study recommends that destination policy managers increase meeting destination competitiveness in developing countries with expansive tourism infrastructure, such as Thailand.
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The event industry is currently undergoing a period of active social change and technological innovation driven by the approach of the fourth industrial revolution and the advent of new methods of ...data processing by artificial intelligence. This could provide the meeting industry with new management capabilities related to the ability to predict and program visitor behavior based on the analysis of extremely large amounts of data about their behavior, thinking and preferences. However, event activities are based on creating for the visitor such a spatio-temporal period that he perceives as unique. This makes event technologies an effective tool for achieving commercial, communication or image goals of an organization. The specificity of creating this uniqueness is largely related to the socio-communicative and aesthetic-axiological aspects of human life. Therefore, for the sustainable development of an event organization, it is important not only to keep pace with advanced technological developments, but also to take into account anthropological specifics, the influence of “smart” processes on which has not been sufficiently studied, and potential risks need to be clarified.
The purpose of the study
is to assess how the event activity will change if its content fully corresponds to the life habits and behavior of the client. To achieve this goal, the principles of systemic and comparative analysis were used.
The empirical base of the study
is the data of the survey of respondents, as well as the results of previous studies in this area. The study is of interest to specialists in the field of sociology, anthropology and management, as well as to those in the event industry.
The main purpose of this article is testing the factors that influence the use of the metaverse for conferences/meetings, the moderating effects of human values and the gender, and the age of users ...on this relationship. A convenience sampling approach was employed in order to gather data in Korea. The findings revealed that the users accepted the metaverse as a valuable technology in regard to virtually assisting conferences and meetings. The performance expectancy, social influence, and a lack of anxiety were specifically the most significant predictors of behavioral intention about the use of the metaverse for conferences/meetings.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
The current state of the business meeting industry, the rate of delivery and performance features of MICE industry at the national and regional levels are analyzed. It is concluded that amid the ...growing globalization, business tourism acts as an innovation development source and as a catalyst for the socioeconomic development of the regional economy in the modern business community infrastructure.
Purpose> The purpose of this paper is to explore the potentialities and weaknesses of the city of Porto (Portugal) in the business tourism segment in order to ensure and develop a destination’s ...business tourism strategy position. Design/methodology/approach> Data were collected through the participation of 28 experts living/working in Porto in a three-round Delphi exercise. Experts should identify the main straights, weaknesses and opportunities of the city for the business tourism development. Findings> The main results show that the city’s potential to become landmark destination in the business tourism sector far outweighs its limitations. With measures aimed to improve the functionality of the business tourism segment and marketing strategies to increase external promotion, Porto meets the conditions to become an excellent business tourism destination. Originality/value> Many studies have been conducted from the perspective of leisure tourism; few have been conducted from the perspective of the business tourism and none have been conducted from the perspective of the business tourism in the city of Porto. This research fills a gap in the literature relating to the practice of meeting industry. It represents the first attempt to elicit stakeholders opinions about important issues related to the development of business tourism in the city. The results of the study provide a more informed and systematic basis on which to develop the business tourism segment in Porto.
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