VIENNA
The Vienna Convention Bureau was created in 1969 with the support of the Vienna City Hall and the Vienna Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Composed of 11 people, the team is led by Christian Mutschlechner.
The Vienna Convention Bureau has an annual budget of 2.9 million €. 45% of this budget is spent on staff, 49% is dedicated to the marketing, and 6% are for the travels.
The Vienna Convention Bureau offers to financially support some events. To receive this assistance, you must meet specific criteria : the delegation should be composed of 50% of non-Austrians people, the congress is to be held between November and March, or between July and August and the delegation must stay in a Viennese hotel. € 36,000 is the maximum amount, only the major conferences can claim this amount.
This structure has an Eco-Label for Green Meetings and Events license since 2011. Providing opportunities for delegations to organize eco-responsible events which correlates with the current demand. Indeed, the Vienna Convention Bureau has seen its "green" congresses grow significantly from 56 in 2014 to 90 in 2015.
This Convention Bureau had developed a mobile application in 2013. But faced with low demand on this product, they stoppedthe project earlier this year.
Along with this, the Vienna Convention Bureau offers some services to enrich its offer. In terms of communication, it offers to the congress organizers free brochures, city maps and videos to delegations upon their arrival. They communicate on the event on the online calendar.
Moreover, to promote the destination and to attract new conventions, the structure is very present on business tourism fairs in the world (the VCB will be present over thirty shows in 2016).
Finally, the strategy on social networks adopted by the VCB is notable. Indeed, they are present on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Foursquare, the VCB has set up on its website a tool to manage live every post they make on the various platforms on which they are actives, this tool is the Social Media Newsroom.
