Gothenburg welcomes Associations World Congress & Expo 2019

In recent years, Gothenburg has taken up the fight with the European capitals on the title of most attractive meeting place. On 7 – 9 April 2019, Sweden’s second city welcomes the Associations World Congress & Expo (AWC) to the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre (SECC), for the first time in Scandinavia.

“We are very excited to launch a new and progressive programme for the next congress and to have the opportunity to share an amazing venue and city with our delegates in Gothenburg next year.”, says Damien Hutt Director of Association of Associations Executives that organises AWC.

The Association World Congress was welcomed by Eva Flyborg, representing the Gothenburg city council:

“The meetings industry is of vital importance for the city. It brings talent and decisionmakers to the city but also contributes to national and international collaboration by bringing academia and the business community together”, Ms Flyborg comments.

With a vision to create a more dynamic meetings destination, the city council assigned its destination marketing organisation, Göteborg & Co, to develop a strategic plan to support efforts to attract scientific congresses, in close collaboration with the industry and academia.

“Gothenburg is a rising star, but still less known than our competitors. That is why we must show ourselves to the meetings world and attracting Associations World Congress is a key step in that direction”, says Annika Hallman, Director of Gothenburg Convention Bureau at Göteborg & Co.

The city’s success is based on the ability to find new ways of providing services in strong relationship with planners. A fact that is greatly appreciated by visiting meeting associations.

“We have put a lot of effort together with the city to convince the organisers. Now we are extremely pleased that the Associations World Congress will be arranged in the very heart of Scandinavia and MCI Nordics have put an exciting social and technical program together to inspire the delegates”, says Per Ankaer, Director of Sales at MCI Nordics.

Recently the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre, presented the third phase of its expansion plans in launching a competition to design its fourth hotel tower. The aim is to achieve a total hotel capacity of roughly 1,600 rooms by 2025.

“There’s a great demand from international associations and that’s why we’re expanding our venue. Our vision is to become Europe’s most attractive meeting place. Welcoming the Associations World Congress is a major step in our strategy to further establish ourselves and Gothenburg on the map.” says Malin Erlandsson, Business Manager Congress & Events at SECC.

Being a destination that takes sustainability seriously, the Associations World Congress & Expo has been awarded an environmental diploma for implementation of measures satisfying the criteria in the Swedish Environmental Base standard requirements.

Contacts:

Annika Hallman, Gothenburg Convention Bureau, annika.hallman@goteborg.com Tel: +46 313684052

Malin Erlandsson, Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre, malin.erlandsson@svenskamassan.se Tel: +46 733818153

Per Ankaer, MCI Nordics, per.ankaer@mci-group.com

Tel: +45 6170240

More info at:

associationsworldcongress.com/world

More information about Gothenburg at:

goteborg.com/en/convention-bureau/

svenskamassan.se/en/