An Evolving Global Industry

The conference industry is said to be one that is maturing rapidly yet ironically, is quite an “immature industry”. Why is this so? Relatively speaking, it is a very young industry — barely 50 years of history as an established one in Europe and North America, and even younger in most of the rest of the world. To a great extent, its so called immaturity as industry  is due  to an apparent lack of reliable statistics and regular research to provide a base of intelligence and information on trends and on the size of the value the conference industry.

Through the decades, it is also quite apparent that governments have not taken the conference industry seriously as a major benefactor of national economies precisely because it has been impossible to demonstrate clearly the economic impact that conferences can have. This is quite unfair considering the benefits of the industry in energizing local economies throughout the world:

Exciting destinations!

Great profitability

Conferences cater to the “high quality high cost “and therefore, “high yield ” end of the market. A 2001 study of conference visitors to the UK show how conference visitors from overseas spend an average of three times more than any other visitor for all categories in the country. The greater spending power of business tourists means increased economic benefit for the host destination and a greater return on its investments in infrastructure and marketing.

All year round activity

Conferences place throughout the year with peaks in spring and autumn. Many smaller conferences and meetings are also held during winter months. The all year round nature of conferences also leads to the creation of permanent jobs, as opposed to the seasonal temporary jobs oferred in other tourism or leisure industries.

New opportunities for collaboration!

Future inward investments

One of the ways a conference adds value to a locale is by giving delegates a pleasant, positive experience of the destination. this means showing them the most attractive scenic parts of the destination. When this has been undertaken, so many delegates do return as leisure visitors, bringing their partners and families for a holiday or short break. A business visitor who leaves with good impression of the conference destination becomes some sort of an ambassador for that place, these are often influential people whose opinions of the destination will be instrumental in a destination’s image building.

Green tourism

Little negative impact to the environment than mass leisure travels for instance. Conferences are concerned with smaller numbers at much “higher spend”. Conference delegates travel together as a group making it possible to educate them about the community and increasing the likelihood of their revisit or considering to stay an extra day in other spots of same destination.

Given all these, we at Conference Bay are happy to do our part towards making the conference industry a more energized, dynamic industry. To start with, we want you to come away with opportunities as it relates to this vibrant industry, whether you are a delegate, a conference organizer, speaker or sponsor. We are working and running our beat to keep you attuned to recent trends in this important global industry and the conditions in which they are taking shape. We shall provide statistics and valuable information such as sweeping changes that have occurred in the last so many years.

How is the conference industry evolving in today’s information era? What are the trends of increasing demand at events around the world? How is the conference industry growing alongside tourism industry? How is technology shaping the future of the conference industry?  All these and more as we assess various aspects of the conference industry and how it will drive into the future.

Great Moments in Conference History: The Hague Conferences and the Unending Cause for World Peace

“A political victory, a rise in rents, the recovery of your sick, or return of your absent friend, or some other quite external event, raises your spirits, and you think good days are preparing for you. Do not believe it. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Peace Palace, the Hague, Netherlands

Over a century ago, on a summer such as this, the cause for world peace and justice was first taken up at an international conference. The growth of institutions and values that strive to protect civilians, regulate conflict, and ensure human security today, can be traced to last century’s efforts in The Hague.

Initiated by Czar Nicholas II of Russia, and hosted by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, the First International Peace Conference was born in the Hague in May,1899.. It was a conference convened not to settle an existing war, but to focus on building lasting world peace. The Second Hague International Peace conference was held in 1907. These conferences made historic advances in the development of international law and institutions.

More recently, the United Nations declared 1989 – 99 the UN Decade of International Law. The origins of this UN Decade can be traced to joint conferences in the summer of 1989, also at The Hague, which gathered non-governmental organizations, and a group of member states. The desirability of a Third Hague Peace Conference was written into the original UN resolution, as well as annual UN General Assembly reports and resolutions documenting the fulfilling of the peace goals of the Decade.

On the treshold of the 21st Century, the campaign of The Hague Appeal for Peace was highlighted by a major international citizens’ peace conference held May 11-16, 1999 in The Hague on the 100th year of the First Hague Conferences. Gathering some 10,000 participants including world leaders, Peace Nobel Prize Laureates and activists from across the globe, the conference developed The Hague Conference Agenda for Peace in the 21st Century.

To this day, we are witnesses of how the road to lasitng peace is a long, lonely one. But we will remember that these conferences opened up a venue in which different elements of civil society are able to exchange ideas, develop global linkages, and strengthen their capacity to achieve the main goals for lasting world peace. And that was all because one summer, a band of thoughtful, well-meaning people, has set forth the momentum in the First Hague Peace Conferences.