BestCities Global Alliance, the world's first convention bureau alliance with eight partners in five continents (Cape Town, Copenhagen, Dubai, Edinburgh, Melbourne, San Juan, Singapore and Vancouver) announced future plans for the alliance following a board meeting in Florence, Italy.
Future plans for the alliance, of which Tourism Vancouver
is a member, include:
- The provision of additional resources at head office to assist with business development services and management support;
-A new robust and interactive website;
- Plans to further engage the international association market; and
- Exploratory discussions for enhanced working relationships with other key associations.
"It is now some nine years since the Alliance was formed and I am pleased to say that all partners remain strong in the belief that co-operative working brings many benefits," said Sue Stuart, board chair of BestCities Global Alliance and chief executive of Edinburgh Convention Bureau.
"By sharing industry expertise, research and sales leads, as well as capitalizing on the exceptional reputation of our partners, we have succeeded in gaining valuable market advantage over other competitor destinations."
"One of the alliance's most significant introductions in the last couple of years was Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance certification, and I am delighted to confirm that BestCities is on track to successfully achieve our annual renewal of the certification for 2009."
In its infancy, the Alliance - convention bureau partners from Cape Town, Copenhagen, Dubai, Edinburgh, Melbourne, San Juan, Singapore and Vancouver - developed a self-assessed CVB quality service process to evaluate and benchmark each partner's client service standards.
This self-assessment process evolved into a desire for services to be audited by an independent third party, in turn leading to the development of an Alliance-wide Quality Management System (QMS).
In 2008, the Alliance received certification verifying that its QMS had been approved by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA), making it the first world-wide certification programme for convention bureau organizations.
Certification is dependent on all eight partners successfully achieving accreditation. To retain certification, each partner in the Alliance annually undergoes one internal audit and one external LRQA audit.
The accreditation process allows BestCities to maintain its "Best Practices, Best Meetings" promise to each of its clients.
The Alliance has also announced that Jane Cunningham, managing director of Medley International Ltd, will be joining the Alliance head office in mid-December 2009.
Cunningham will provide business development services and support, and will work closely with the Alliance's Management Committee and Sales Group to identify and expand business leads and bidding opportunities. Cunningham has an established background in the association and business events industry, having worked for the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Visit London (CVB) and Congrex UK (PCO).
"I love working in the association market, and finding the best solutions for association meeting planners," said Cunningham. "I am already familiar with the BestCities destinations and I think the Alliance is a huge asset to the international association conference market."
"For five years, Jane worked with the Edinburgh International Conference Centre and was responsible for association sales," added Stuart. "Her experience and relationship with international associations will therefore be extremely beneficial to the Alliance's business development efforts."
Selina Chow, a former employee of Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau, is also joining the Alliance's head office team, providing additional administrative support.
In January 2010, Stuart will hand over the Board chair position to Ana Maria Viscasillas, president and CEO of Puerto Rico Convention Bureau.
Vascasillas' 2010 BestCities team will include Amanda Kotze-Nhlapo from Cape Town Convention Bureau serving as Management Committee chair, and Anne Dissing of Wonderful Copenhagen who will be Sales Group chair.
"The last six months has been a dynamic period for the Alliance and has seen us very much focus on the business needs of our partners, as well as responding to the needs of our clients," summarized Stuart.
"I have no doubt that the year ahead will continue to be both challenging and exciting, and that under Ana Maria's guidance the BestCities Global Alliance will continue to go from strength-to-strength."
For more information, visit BestCities
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