Meeting News - December 15, 2008 - (Page 40)

European Incentives Edited by William Ng william.ng@nielsen.com Brussels Invites Meetings to the ‘Square’ Under a cloud of sawdust and welding sparks, Brussels Palais des Congres—built for the world exposition of 1968—is being transformed into a modern exposition center called Square. Future arriving attendees will converge under a glass and steel cube with a 43,000-sf, modular exposition hall and have access to three auditoriums (the largest seats 1,300), 20 meeting rooms, two larger conference rooms, and a sprawling reception area on the top floor with city views. Square is expected to open in September 2009, in the heart of Brussels, near the Royal Palace. Nearly 9,000 rooms at four- and five-star hotels are within walking distance, including the 281room, five-star Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, which features 15 meeting rooms for events of up to 500. A Roman wall unearthed during excavation for the hotel and an indoor stream stocked with colorful koi fish harken back to Brussels’ past, when canals flowed through the city center—creating a cityscape similar to Venice. Groups looking for venues that show off Brussels’ heritage could do no better than the Town Hall on the Grand Place center square. An ornate Gothic facade features scores of statues representing nobles and saints, and a collection of tapestries and paintings grace the inside. Groups can reserve some of the galleries, a large Gothic hall, and a room used for civil weddings. Brussels is also famous for its love of comic strips; it is the birthplace of Tintin, the Smurfs, Lucky Luke, and others. The Belgian Comic Strip Center, an Art Nouveau gem, offers mezzanines, an auditorium, and meeting space for dinners, parties, and events. Beginning in February, Belgium will celebrate 2009 as the Year of the Comic Strip, with parades and exhibitions throughout the country. Brussels’ capital also touts its easy access to the East Coast and to European cities in its appeal to groups and meetings. London is just two hours away via the Eurostar high-speed train, and there are nine direct flights a day to North America. Indian carrier Jet Airways established its Euro- Radisson SAS has outdoor event space. pean hub in Brussels in 2007, and now offers daily service to New York - JFK, Newark Liberty, and Toronto. —Corrie Dosh Zaragoza, Spain, Wants Even Higher U.S. Profile Riding on the recent Expo 2008, Zaragoza wants to turn the success from the world exposition into a bigger share of the incentives market. Several pavilions from the international event alone have been made permanent displays, adding grist to a city that has had no trouble in the past convincing meeting planners that cultural attractions are king here. It has 2,000 years of artifacts, beginning with its founding by the Romans in northeastern Spain as a military outpost, a fifth-century invasion by the Visigoths, occupancy by the Moors 300 years later, and a conquest by Christian armies in the 12th century. Now, there’s a new convention center to seal the deal. The six-story convention venue has a wave-like roof with skylights, a divisible banquet hall for 1,454 attendees (including facilities for 20 atten40 MeetingNews December 15, 2008 dees with disabilities), plus a theater. In all, the venue has 177,000 sf of function space. Meeting rooms and reception areas can be booked at other Expo attractions such as the sleek, biomorphic, and covered bridge pavilion designed by Pritzker Prize winner Zaha Hadid; an aquarium where attendees can view live animals and plants from the Nile, Amazon, and Mekong river ecosystems; the soaring Water Tower, which will have simulations of storms, ice floes, and rainbows; and a water park on the banks of the Rio Ebro, which offers white-water rafting, swimming, beaches, and Parisian-style Bateaux-Mouche boats for short cruises. To prepare for more U.S. groups, English-language captions and videos have been added to museums and the facades of historical palaces and castles, while the venerable Basilica of the Virgin of Pilar, which contains one of Spain’s most revered relics, a jasper pillar on which the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to St. James in 40 AD, has been cleaned. All of this will only enhance the profile Zaragoza already has in the meetings and incentives market, said Menno Overvelde, marketing director of the local, upscale chain Palafox Hotels. “In the last five years, there’s been high demand for incentives,” he said.“People are looking for alternative cities for events.” Overvelde said hotel capacity has increased 30 percent, to 10,000 beds from 7,500 beds, to prepare for more attendees. He added, “Zaragoza is an emerging destination that is smaller, walkable, and cheaper than its bigger rivals.” And, for groups flying into Madrid or Barcelona, Zaragoza is two hours away via the new Ave high-speed train, he said. r —Patricia Alisau www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - December 15, 2008

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