The Poland Convention Bureau published a report entitled “Poland Meetings and Events Industry 2011”. The publication discussed meetings and events which were held in the country last year. The data was received from eight cities, including Katowice, and regional Convention Bureaux cooperating with the Poland Convention Bureau (PTO).
The analysis was conducted and based on the standards accepted and prepared by the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and affiliated members, including the International Convention and Congress Association (ICCA), Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and Reed Travel Exhibitions.
The overall number of meetings and events which took place in Poland amounts 18 000 in 320 venues. In Katowice was held 1077 meetings and events which is 6% of the total number. It gives the City fifth place after Kraków – 7112 (40%), Warsaw – 3556 (20%), Tricity – 3258 (18%), and Poznań – 1110 (6%). Katowice is followed by Wrocław – 725 (4%), Szczecin – 512 (3%), Toruń – 325 (2%), other – 325 (2%).
If all the meetings and events are divided into categories, the largest group is composed of corporation events – 9669, which stands for 54% of all those summarized. In Katowice the number is estimated at 581. This category is followed by congresses and conferences – 450 in the City (6420 in all locations). Trade fairs and exhibitions took third place in overall classification with 1008 events, however there were 15 events of these type in Katowice which gives the category a fourth place. The more numerous category was that of incentive events, with 31 in Katowice (903 in total).
All the mentioned events created demand for 49 850 accommodation places in the City (1 324 715 in all summarized locations). Proceeds from the sale of accommodation services to participants of meetings and events in 2010 in Katowice amount PLN 11 964 000. In other cities, the volume of income fluctuated from over PLN 101 million in Warsaw, PLN 85 million in Kraków, PLN 69 million in Poznań, to slightly over PLN 1,5 million in Bydgoszcz. According to the report, the demand for accommodation in relation to business meetings and events in Katowice was as follows:
– nights spent in hotels in total: 238 063
– total accommodation places in the collective accommodation base: 378 187
– nights spent by meetings participants: in total – 49 850, % of total nights spent in hotels – 21, % of total nights spent in the collective accommodation base – 13.
To promote business tourism in the area of Katowice and the region, the City Hall set up the Convention Bureau Katowice (CBK) as a section of the Foreign Affairs Department. It is one of the nine convention bureaux operating in Poland within the structures of local government.