With eight new members in the last 6 months, the International Association of Congress Centres (AIPC) now has a total membership of 147 members in 53 countries around the world.

"AIPC’s continuing growth reflects a strong interest in the enhancement of management quality for congress centres, which is what our organization stands for", says AIPC President Barbara Maple.

"Part of quality management is the ability to draw from a wide range of facilities and circumstances around the world, and as our membership grows, we find we have a greater depth of resources in this regard. Our organization now has a truly global representation and perspective, and that benefits all members equally".

The most recent new members include:

• Hyderabad International Convention Centre in India
• Riojaforum in Spain
• FMC Center Milano in Italy
• Expocentre Moscow in Russia
• Kenyatta International Conference Centre, in Nairobi, Kenya
• Riga Congress Centre in Latvia
• Toronto Congress Centre in Canada
• Uppsala Konsert & Kongress in Sweden

One result of this ongoing growth is AIPC’s ability to develop new programming for members, says Maple. "With our increased member base, we find we not only have the resources but also the responsibility to develop new initiatives that help our members achieve their business and professional objectives. These include new seminars and educational activities such as the International Sales & Marketing Summit we are hosting in cooperation with IMEX as well as new communications initiatives that allow members to interact more effectively".

"At the same time, it puts even more emphasis on the need to maintain programs such as the AIPC Apex Award which allow members to demonstrate their achievements in quality management while learning about areas that can benefit from improvement."