letmeinBestCities.net, a global alliance of convention and visitor bureaux says interest in the Alliance was high from both customers and potential partners at AIME in Melbourne where the alliance participated in the exhibition.

Formed two years ago at AIME, BestCities.net, comprised of Boston, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Melbourne and Vancouver, returned to the event with a corporate profile that proved one of the big talking points at the exhibition.

The global alliance aims to provide the best service and the highest standards in the international association meetings sector through its collective devotion to the customer and the client, a point noted by Gerard McCann, Congress Co-ordinator of the International Bureau for Epilepsy and an AIME delegate.

“I’d heard of Best Cities, but frankly was unclear about its aims and objectives until invited to participate in a discussion about its future strategy,” said McCann.

“I believe that their focus on the meeting planner as their customer, underpinned by specific and measurable service standards, represents a major step forward and is very reassuring from the client’s perspective,” he added. Encouraged by their ‘top team’ status at AIME, the BestCities partners presented themselves in their city’s favourite sports colours at a press conference during AIME.

Paul Vallee, of Tourism Vancouver, chair of BestCities.net noted, “Ours is the only global alliance of leading convention bureaux based on persistent service standards. But it is much more than a list of some of the world’s great cities."

“We believe that an alliance such as ours is only meaningful if it delivers business benefits to its customers and its partners. That’s why we have set so much stock in devising and monitoring the service standards delivered by our respective city convention bureaux,” said Vallee.

“Our visibility under a corporate umbrella at AIME generated a positive response amongst the people who matter, the meeting planners. We are therefore going forward to EIBTM in Geneva this May with BestCities representation and promotions designed to reinforce our collective expertise and service edge,” said Vallee.

The alliance partners have received a number of approaches from city convention bureaux with an interest in joining the BestCities ‘family’. The five founding partners are now in the process of evaluating the compatibility of those potential new recruits with a view to expanding the alliance next year.

BestCities.net has also announced its partnership with DOME (Data on Meetings and Events), the international research foundation whose mission is to improve the quality and accessibility of global research and data for the meetings industry. DOME, which is Chaired by Gary Grimmer, the CEO of the Melbourne Convention and Visitors Bureau, is developing new techniques to measure the economic impact of international conventions.