Q: In your opinion, what makes Vienna special?
Vienna is smart, green, clean and one of the safest cities in the world. Our delegates love the legendary Viennese Charm and all its benefits – such as that it is easy to reach, has a great quality of life and safety as well as the excellent infrastructure.
1. Easy to reach:
Vienna is in the heart of Europe. There are around 600 daily direct flights to 195 cities worldwide – reachable from all over Europe within just 3 hours. It just takes you 16 minutes to the city centre from Vienna International Airport with the City Airport Train.
2. Quality of life and safety:
Vienna is the world’s most liveable city (1st in the Mercer Quality of Living survey, 2009-2017). The Viennese „Gemütlichkeit“ and charm guarantees unforgettable social events: in historic palaces, Heuriger wine taverns or beach bars on the Danube canal. Vienna is of one of the four UN headquarters, Vienna International Centre, right next door to our location, the Austria Center Vienna.
3. Excellent infrastructure:
We are one of the most successful conference destinations worldwide (ICCA and UIA Ranking) – and there are many reasons why: Vienna has a first-class, good value accommodation: 434 hotels with 33,610 rooms, an excellent public transportation network (special conference tickets available, Vienna Card city passes) and we are one of the largest university towns in Europe with more than 10 universities and 140 life science companies: Our city is smart and green – that means that we have 2,000 outdoor recreation areas including 280 imperial parks and gardens, more than 4000 free WLAN hot spots and we are focused in green meeting and green event support, such as for the 2015 Eurovision Song.
Q: Where would you take someone to ‘feel’ the vibe of Vienna and what is your best incentive idea in Vienna?
Well, this is a very difficult question. Of course, Vienna is very well-known for its imperial charm. One could feel this imperial charm at Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens as well as at the Spanish Riding School. When you see the beautiful white Lipizzaner stallions perform history comes alive in Vienna like nowhere else. But Vienna is more than just its imperial flair. It is also the city of music. So I definitely would recommend to go to the opera or to the ballet. If your really want to feel the current vibe of Vienna I would take you to a Heuriger wine tavern or to one of the beach bars on the Danube canal. There your really feel the Viennese “Gemütlichkeit” and our charm for unforgettable social events.
The “best incentive idea” really depends on the time you come to visit Vienna. So this is the reason why we offer special “Vienna tips” to our large conventions that inform them what’s going on in Vienna during the period of their congress.
Q: What do you see as crucial marketing elements to lure meeting planners?
Firstly it is important to take crucial marketing elements to promote Vienna as one of the best meeting destinations worldwide. There our Vienna Convention Bureau does great work. Then it is important to communicate all the benefits we offer al a meeting location.
Meeting planners really love our flexibility. – We offer rooms and spaces for custom event formats. So we offer lecture theatre layout for 4,320 people in one room, galas for 2,000 guests in Vienna’s largest hall, spacious lobby for exhibitions, catering stations and high-profile advertising, up to 40 rooms on one level for meetings and breakout sessions as well as offices and 4 directly linked multipurpose halls. Big ideas need space – and we offer 24 halls for 10 up to 4,320 people, 180 purpose built meeting rooms and 22,000 m2 exhibition space to think in. Our customers also love the contemporary Business Lounge, the Café MOTTO Viennese coffeehouse as well as the new look of our renovated rooms.
Our rooms come with state-of-the -art-technology. Especially we have internationally award-winning digital infrastructure for optimal networking and high-profile sponsoring presence. So we offer a venue-wide, high-availability WLAN infrastructure for 20,000 people or 35,000 simultaneous connections and free 100 Mbit/s WLAN for our events. We are also commited to our social and environmental responsibilities – so we are the first Green Conference Centre in Austria and offer free childcare at large-scale conferences on request.
