More than 160 domestic and foreign participants, exhibitors and buyers, will attend numerous ‘one to one’ business meetings, lectures, virtual informal coffee and lunch breaks during the three days. The goal is to promote Croatia as an ideal meeting and incentive destination, create new opportunities and establish cooperation. This event is specific as it offers and presents only one destination – Croatia. Buyers will come from European markets interested in Croatia – like the UK, Benelux and Nordic countries, Germany, France, Italy, Poland etc. This year, the program also includes several lucrative buyers from remote markets.
MEETEX will gather a record number of exhibitors this year. The organisational team of professionals with abundant experience in the MICE industry had an important mission – to encourage networking and to support and empower the MICE industry and economy in general. Adem Braco Suljić, MEETEX Cofounder and Director explained why it is important: “We are really happy that, despite the catastrophic pandemic’s impact on the travel industry, we managed to adapt MEETEX financial terms so that many professionals from the travel industry could join us. We hope this will be the only online edition and that brighter days are ahead. The organisers would like to thank all our exhibitors for their trust – the number of applications is a record one. This year’s event is extremely important in the sense of promotion since this is the year when we should invest in the future, expecting the return of live events. Special thanks go to all our partners and sponsors for their continuing support of MEETEX as a flagship of the Croatian meeting industry.”
Kristjan Staničić, Director of the Croatian National Tourist Board underlined: “Although the global pandemic had significantly impacted business travels, the MICE industry represents an important product for Croatian tourism. Individual and group business guests show stable demand that is, depending on the trends, most expressive in the period of pre-and post- main tourist season. Research shows that business guests make 10 – 15 % of all hotel guests, and they represent a segment that spends 2-3 times more than an average leisure tourist.”
The Croatian National Tourist Board is, besides the Zagreb Tourist Board and Croatian Chamber of Economy, the main partner of the event. Unlike other similar online B2B events, MEETEX will also provide a live experience of Croatia for foreign buyers this autumn. In accordance with the epidemic situation, together with Croatian National Tourist Board and local tourist offices, MEETEX will organize Fam trips in September. After the B2B meetings, the exhibitors will pick buyers who will be offered the Fam trips.
“We believe in the recovery of the MICE industry, which proved to be one of the toughest in the previous crises”
“I would particularly like to recognize the efforts of the organizers to prepare Fam trips for the buyers in the autumn if epidemic measures allow travel. Zagreb will be happy to host these buyers. MICE is of vital importance for our city because, at the same time, it brings large expenditure and great promotion and image to the city,” said Martina Bienenfeld, Director of Zagreb Tourist Board.
“We are proud to be a partner of the MEETEX event third year in a row. By co-financing the attendance of our members at this event, we are supporting this sector that suffered huge losses since the pandemic started. We believe in the recovery of the MICE industry, which proved to be one of the toughest in the previous crises. MEETEX is the right step towards this recovery,” said Luka Burilović, President of the Croatian Chamber of Economy.
Numerous professionals from the MICE industry recognized the priority of networking in these challenging times. The organizers announced over 1000 meetings, which will result in new business opportunities. The program also includes educational lectures from distinguished domestic and foreign speakers, which will also be available to university students as well. Proof that MEETEX is organized at the right time, is the record number of applicants from regional and local tourist offices from all over Croatia. Permanent education, following the market trends and business networking with a positive dose of authentic Croatian experience, continues to be the foundation of the MEETEX events, regardless of the circumstances – is the main message from the organisational team.
