Australia's top convention cities have united to create a new body, Conventions Australia, in a strategy to grow the country's share of the world conference market. As Australia's first national industry-led entity, Conventions Australia will target the international association market primarily in the key regions of Europe and North America, aiming to increase the number of future confirmed conventions by 10 per cent by 2012. The new organisation is a partnership between 12 venues and convention bureaux, representing the entire country and its eight international convention destinations - Cairns, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and the Northern Territory. Its goal is to reinforce Australia's track record in hosting memorable and successful conferences and increase its standing as one of the world's top ten conference destinations. Conventions Australia chairman Martin Winter said the new organisation had overcome the traditional rivalry between Australian cities to present a united face for the country's conference sector.

Germany again number one in Europe ++++++++++++++++ As a destination for meetings and conventions, Germany is number one in Europe for the eightth time running and number two in the world-wide rankings, which have been published by the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA). Germany has been able to defend its title as conferences and congresses leader for the sixth year in succession now – with a clear lead once again ahead of all our European neighbours. In this highly competitive global market, Germany was runner-up to no other than the United States of America. GCB Managing Director, Matthias Schultze, sees in this positioning additional proof of Germany’s competitiveness and excellent value-for-money ratio - even in times of tighter budgets. This positioning supports the task of the German Convention Bureau to successfully position Germany as conference and congress destination in an international context.

Fourteen partners have joined forces under the auspices of the HCB to promote Hamburg as a destination for meetings and conferences, in Germany and abroad. Together, their aim is to establish the Hanseatic city as one of Europe’s leading destinations for meetings and conferences. The HCB is thus a one-stop shop for event planners who wish to hold their event in Hamburg. In an alliance formed by a diverse range of industry service providers such as venue finders, hotels and caterers, the HCB can offer individual and flexible services as a single entity.

The formation of the new Cyprus Convention Bureau was announced at a recent launch which took place in Cyprus, where it was explained that initially it will operate as a division of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) with an Advisory Committee made up of the private sector. Parallel to the formation of the Cyprus Convention Bureau is the re-branding of the conference product, using the slogan 'Passion for Success', which will feature in all future advertising and promotional campaigns. One of the aims of the slogan is to underline how the passion of the industry in Cyprus pervades every meeting that takes place on the island to ensure that each event is both successful and memorable. Latest figures from a CTO survey found that conference events on the island doubled between 2009 and 2012. The most popular months were March, May, October and November which is due to the island’s comparative advantage over other European destinations in terms of its year-round sunshine and mild winter climate.

Kanga-an, a former Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto has been transformed into a meeting events venue to meet the growing demand for host venues in the city, and is one of the latest venues to join the Kyoto Convention Bureau. Renovated and converted into a restaurant to maintain the beauty and sublime peacefulness of the original building the former temple is well known for its vegetarian gastronomy. Kyoto is consistently ranked as Japan's second most popular city for meetings, conferences and events - and is increasingly the number-one choice for company incentive travel. Tokyo is just over two hours away on the fastest bullet train in Japan and places as far as Hiroshima are also comfortable daytrips.

ILTM Americas is the new three day summit serving the luxury travel sector of the Americas. The first ILTM Americas will take place at the Fairmont Mayakoba, in the luxury resort of Mayakoba, on the Mexican Riviera Maya with the full support of Mexico Tourism. Reed Travel Exhibitions, organiser of Iltm & Iltm Asia has announced the launch of the first luxury travel one-to-one summit North America, and the rapidly emerging Latin American market. By invitation only ILTM Americas will provide 130 VIP Buyers who do not normally attend ILTM an opportunity to meet with over 130 of the most indulgent international luxury experiences. Pre-scheduled appointments will be arranged on a strict one-to-one ratio

ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) confirms that Amsterdam has been able to maintain a place in the top 10 of the worldwide ranking of congress cities. Amsterdam has moved from 8th place to 9th place, despite the fact that the city hosted five additional ICCA related congresses during 2010. The decrease in ranking is due to fierce competition between cities on the international convention market. It goes without saying that Amsterdam is proud to be placed in the worldwide top 10 in this rapidly increasing sector.

Berlin is Germany's gourmet capital with the most Michelinstarred restaurants in the land. Twelve Berlin restaurants were awarded Michelin stars, including four two-star establishments. 93 per cent of Berlin's business travellers visit a restaurant during their stay. This makes sampling Berlin's culinary delights by far the most popular activity in Germany's capital. "Eating in Berlin is an event in its own right and we've shown that we can do well in international comparison” says visitberlin CEO Burkhard Kieker. +++ more info ?? Visitberlin.de

The GCB German Convention Bureau has received European Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) certification developed by the European Commission for companies and other organisations within the EU and the European Economic Area to evaluate, report, and improve their environmental performance. For the GCB, sustainability is an opportunity for the entire industry, especially for making Germany a sustainable meetings and conventions destination - said Matthias Schultze, Managing Director of the GCB. GCB is organising the next greenmeetings and events conference together with the European Association of Event Centres (EVVC).