City report
Viparis adds in custom
hotel services welcome
Now that the new convention centre is
firing on all cylinders, a major
modernisation project for the Porte de
Versailles Exhibition Centre is a priority
and, by 2024, it will be equipped with new
facilities and equipment. There will also
be a 205-room Mama Shelter hotel on
site.
Another new congress centre opened
its doors in 2018, right in the heart of the
Paris Saclay economic hub.
Viparis is also behind the Paris Event
Booster, an innovation platform for
hosting start-ups for the professional
meetings and events industry.
Après meet, there is always Parisian
nightlife, and the city has been awarded
the title of LGBT-friendly capital by the
Gay Travel association.
While Paris is one of the world’s
bustling capitals, there are 490 public
parks and gardens and greener public
transport options are being championed.
The Paris tramway is being extended
and self-service bicycle and scooter
networks are being developed. New cycle
paths are helping the city to stay on target
to achieve 15% bicycle travel by 2020.
There are also 16 metro lines serving
the city and work on The Grand Paris
Express, the biggest urban transport
project in Europe continues.
In terms of a travel hub, Paris boasts
two international airports and six
international train stations.
Major PCOs that work closely with the
Paris CVB include LIVE! By GL events,
K.I.T. Group France, Colloquium,
Hopscotch Congres, Europa
Organisation, AOS and MCI France.
our major stakeholders in
the Paris business tourism
sector recently signed up to
improve the quality of
reception given to event delegates and
visitors in the city.
Pablo Nakhlé Cerruti, CEO of Viparis,
Eric Jeunemaitre, President of the Paris
Region Tourist Board, Henri-Michel
Comet, Deputy CEO of the ADP Group,
recently welcomed Franck Gervais, the
Accor Group’s CEO for Europe to add
accommodation services to their Paris
Welcome Pack programme.
The Welcome Pack is a comprehensive
set of reception services, information and
complementary shuttle transfers provided
to visitors, exhibitors and delegates.
Since its inception, the Welcome Pack
has been rolled out for 462 events and its
shuttles have transported nearly 440,000
visitors.
New services provided by Accor include
an event-specific reception desk in hotel
lobbies and staff able to provide
information about the event (transport,
access, programme, etc.).
The Villepinte Express, first tested at
the JEC World tradeshow in March 2019
has seen demand surge and, starting on 1
January 2020, it is being systematically
included as part of every event covered by
the Welcome Pack.
There were 1,992 conferences held in
2018 in the Paris region, 36 of which were
attended by over 5,000 people (that
compares to 1,037 in 2017, including 31
events with more than 5,000 attendees).
Attendee numbers are also on the rise,
according to the Paris authorities, 882,405
in 2018 (compared with 773,090 in 2017),
and with 32% of them coming from
abroad (against 30% in 2017).
New for 2020
The New Year is to see the Paris CVB
increase the political and institutional
presence at events and incentivise
companies to come to the city when
events aligned to their sector are
running.
Other initiatives aimed at boosting the
destination’s capacity and attractiveness
include supporting the Ambassador Club
and running an Eductour on Parisian
events and site inspections for buyers,
organisers and influencers.
Corinne Menegaux, Managing
Director Paris CVB, says she is “very
pleased” with the 2019 results of the
bureau’s work. “Paris is a renowned
destination, with tourist sites and range
of leisure activities. In recent years,
however, the city has also demonstrated
real momentum, with a willingness to
develop, modernise and optimise its
facilities and infrastructure,” she says.
“Business tourism is a major asset for
Paris: tradeshows and conferences
generate €5.5bn in economic benefits
each year and have a direct impact on
employment (85,000 full-time equivalent
positions). In 2018, the Tourist Office
provided support for more than 300
conferences and major events, and
submitted 148 bids.”
Right:
The Paris
hotel recep-
tion is now
fully compre-
hensive
ISSUE 104
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CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
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23