The Vienna Tourist Board’s Vienna Convention Bureau (VCB) has just published the latest edition of its comprehensive guide for organisers of meetings, incentives and conferences in the Austrian capital.

The Meeting & Incentive Planners‘ Guide contains details on 110 Vienna venues, and much other useful information.

The venues listed in the 154-page publication range from multi-purpose conference centres through to hotels with conference facilities of all sizes. The guide contains brief descriptions, photographs and floor plans of the conference and meeting facilities, as well as full technical data ranging from seating capacity to public transport links.

The most striking recent addition to the city’s conference infrastructure is the RX Messe Wien Congress Center operated by Reed, which opened in January 2004. However, Vienna has also gained other highly attractive venues.

Noteworthy newcomers include: the Albertina, where the staterooms provide an imperial backdrop for meetings; the equally splendid Liechtenstein Museum, where events can be held in the fine Baroque library; the Spanish Riding School with its grand salons which have direct access to the Winter Riding School; and the Atelier Augarten gallery, where meetings are held amid contemporary art exhibitions.

For the first time the guide also contains a chapter on unusual locations.

Among the venues featured are the noble halls and foyers of the Vienna State Opera, the new halls at the Musikverein - the Glass, Metal, Stone and Wood Halls - and the Wolke 19 (Cloud 19) conference centre on the top three storeys of the 100-metre Ares Tower with its wonderful view of Vienna. And for those who really wish to reach for the stars, there are tenancies in the Planetarium.

Also bookable are a former tram depot that has become a cult venue of late, and the freshly renovated Krieau trotting race course which is ideal for open air events and is capable of hosting true “blockbusters” in its open and imposed boxes, marquee and imposing grandstand (including the foyers).

In addition, the Vienna Meeting & Incentive Planners’ Guide, in German and English, lists the services offered by the VCB, and contains useful information on Vienna (public holidays, public transport, etc.) as well as tax regulations of relevance for conference organisers.

There is an online version, updated on an ongoing basis, on the VCB’s website at: www.vienna.convention.at