European Cities Marketing held the very first dinner gathering Chief executives of Capital cities on December 17 in Malahide Castle, Dublin.

Commenting on this inaugural event, Frank Magee, President of European Cities Marketing, said:

“With half of the European Capital cities, together with the top 10 cities in bednights and the top 10 of the Congress cities, this new grouping offers great possibilities to learn from each other and work together. The interest generated among CEOs to stimulate discussion of significant tourism issues has undoubtedly proven to be a success.”

The cities of Athens, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belgrade, Biarritz, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Geneva, Luxembourg, Nottingham, Oslo, Paris, Prague, Zagreb and Zürich have been part of this introductory event.

The key topic which naturally emerged was the relations with authorities at the local, regional or national level. Discussions arise on how to improve the importance of tourism and congresses at local constituency level, European cities being the power engines of tourism development, economy, investment, events, culture, transport, connectivity, and having all facilities to host events and congresses.

This dinner was organised in partnership with IMEX, with whom ECM is co-organising the Politicians Forum.

“For this 6th edition on April 22, 2008, the Forum demonstrates the value of the meetings industry by focusing on return on investment and benchmarking. It allows politicians and the leaders of major international associations to share experience and information through case studies,” explains Ray Bloom, chairman of IMEX.