MICE summary of 2022 – part III
Tackling the effects of the pandemic and rebuilding tourism, including in the context of the war ongoing in Ukraine, are the challenges we faced in 2022. What key initiatives and events are worth summarising? What will we recall when talking about the year that has already come to an end? Welcome to the final part of our proprietary summary of 2022!
- Kraków - the first Polish city to join the GDS-Index!
- Kraków in the rankings
- ‘The meetings industry in Kraków 2021’ report
Kraków – the first Polish city to join the GDS-Index!
The efforts made by the Kraków Convention Bureau paved the way for the City of Kraków to join the international Global Destination Sustainability GDS benchmarking initiative. The GDS Index compares cities based on their sustainability performance.
In the classification made on the basis of seventy criteria divided into four main categories, Kraków's results were as follows: the City's environmental performance 66.7%, the City's social activities 59.2%, suppliers' activities 10.4% and City management activities 33.6%.
Joining Kraków in this international benchmarking exercise will enable us to accurately diagnose the current state of affairs and obtain guidelines and proposals for improvement. We hope that cooperation with local industry will positively impact next year's results and provide an impetus for meetings to be organised under the principles of sustainable development.
Kraków in the rankings
Kraków was ranked ninth in the MEETINGS STAR 2022/2023 list. According to Kongres Magazine, the competition's organiser, Kraków's most tremendous success in recent years has been winning and hosting the ICCA Congress. The top three on the list are Athens, Prague and Budapest. Next to Warsaw, Kraków is the only Polish city included in the ranking.
In the same ranking, the ICE Kraków Congress Centre was awarded the golden quality certificate for the third consecutive year in the Convention Centres category. The certificate of quality is awarded by ‘mystery guests’ of congresses, who anonymously visit congress venues in Central and Eastern Europe, assessing the location, the facilities used and their accessibility as well as customer service, security, catering, brand communication, and marketing.
Kraków was also among the finalists of the first edition of the European Mission Awards. The City competed against Cannes, Israel, and Malta, the winner in the ‘Best MICE Destination’ category. The European Mission Awards is a new European business travel industry award initiated by the Italian publishing house, Newstec.
In the tenth edition of the MP Power Awards, a nationwide competition that gives awards to industry personalities as well as for the best projects, venues, innovative products and agencies, representatives of the Kraków meetings industry were recognised. The statuettes went to:
– Małgorzata Przygórska-Skowron – in the category: Convention Bureau / Venue Marketing Office
– Ewa Woch – in the category: Meeting Planner - PCO / DMC
– Trade Fairs in Kraków – in the category: Trade Fairs
– Prof. M.D. Piotr Chłosta (Ambassador of Polish Congresses) – in the category: Association
– Krzysztof Paradowski – in the category: Supplier – Event Technology
– Live Age Agency – in the category: Event – online education
– Dominik Górka – in the category: Meeting Planner – Event Agency
– Wojciech Liszka – in the category: Special Power
In addition, Kraków Airport was awarded ‘The Voice of the Customer’ by the International Airports Council. Awarded by ACI World, ‘The Voice of the Customer’ recognises the commitment of airports that have prioritised the passengers' opinions and needs, despite the impediments of the pandemic.
‘The meetings industry in Kraków 2021’
This year saw the release of a report summarising the meetings industry in Kraków in 2021. In 2021, the meetings industry slowly accelerated its activities after the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The business meetings in Kraków had 2091 participants, which meant an almost 9% increase compared to the previous year but a 75% decrease compared to 2019. A fundamental change compared to last year is that ¾ of the events were held in situ, whereas in 2020, half of the events were virtual.
The event structure in the Małopolska capital was analogous to previous years, with conferences and congresses accounting for the largest share of the total number of events, at over 50%. On the other hand, the distribution of meetings was determined by the pandemic situation in Poland and around the world and therefore did not show the seasonality typical of the sector. Interestingly, Kraków recorded the highest number of participants at meetings organised in the autumn, from September to November. Business events scheduled in the City the previous year lasted more than two days. It should be mentioned that despite a slight decrease in the number of event participants, the share of international to national participants increased in the last quarter of the year.
Data collection for the report to follow has already begun, and we look forward to an equally fruitful collaboration with the organisers of business events in Kraków this year.