Business Events Canada hosts MICE events in London and Brussels

National MICE industry promotional body Business Events Canada (BEC) returned to Europe this September for its annual series of roadshows designed to promote the country’s world class meetings, incentive travel, conventions and events offering to local event planners, MICE buyers and media.

The interactive and informative events in Belgium and England provided attendees with invaluable networking opportunities and practical advice on holding events in Canada whilst helping them get up to speed with all the latest news and developments, from new hotels to venues and incentive travel options.

The first event was held in Brussels on Tuesday 20th September 2016 at the exclusive business members club, Cercle de Lorraine located on Place Poelaert 6. The event, which hosted 30 buyers from the events industry commenced at 6:30pm, with opening remarks from Ambassador Olivier Nicoloff and Jon Mamela, Chief Marketing Officer at Destination Canada. It featured the “Explore Canada Challenge” App, custom-designed for the occasion, which made guests engage by travelling around the venue to meet with Canada partners to complete challenges and answer questions to win prizes*. The game was followed by a food and drinks reception, whilst guests were entertained by Canadian Singer Songwriter, Ann Vriend and her band. Carriages arrived at 9:00pm.  

The second event was held in London on Thursday, 22nd September at BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly. It kicked off at 6:30pm with a drinks reception followed by Canadian born comedian, Craig Campbell who took the stage at 7.30pm. Campbell, star of BBC One's Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, is one of the most charismatic and inventive performers on the circuit. The evening then continued with the “Explore Canada Challenge” game and guests were entertained with music from Canadian artist Ann Vriend and her band. Carriages arrived at 10.00pm.

Jon Mamela, Chief Marketing Officer at Destination Canada, said: “The unique experiences that this dynamic and beautiful country offers, combined with our globally renowned MICE capabilities, makes Canada a natural choice for holding international events for European clients. From the ease of access with increased direct air to multiple destinations in Canada, our world class venues and facilities, to our year-round calendar of events and festivals in 2017 as we celebrate our 150th anniversary as a country, Canada is uniquely placed to host international events for clients from Europe”.  

Mamela added: “These two functions reassert BEC's commitment to the European market. We have achieved overall growth rates in arrivals in 2016 versus 2015, with Belgium approximately up 8% (total of 37,856 arrivals YTD) and 11% for the UK (total of 443,475 arrivals YTD). Additionally, the events serve as a great platform for event planners and MICE agencies to discover and learn the convenience and advantages of holding an incentive, corporate or an association event in Canada whilst enjoying some excellent networking in an interactive and informative environment”.

Emma Cashmore, Managing Director of Axis Travel Marketing, European GSA for Business Events Canada, said: “There’s a wealth of great new product coming from hotels and venues which makes it a very exciting time for Business Events Canada.  Our annual roadshows are the perfect opportunity for European MICE buyers and event planners to meet with and quiz our Canada partners on what’s new, and why they should be bringing their event to Canada. This year we were delighted to be joined by an amazing range of participating partners which included: Tourisme Montreal, Tourism Vancouver, Travel Alberta, Dragonfly Meeting Solutions Inc, and Pan Pacific Vancouver"

destinationcanada.com