Star Alliance: Strong and steady demand for conventions and meetings travel
FRANKFURT, Germany – The dedicated conventions and meetings travel products offered by the Star Alliance network once again grew over the past 12 months, bucking the overall industry trend following the worldwide economic downturn in 2010.
Commenting ahead of next week’s IMEX trade show in Frankfurt, Roswitha Clement, Senior Manager Conventions and Meetings at Star Alliance said: “The conventions and meetings market proved to be the most resilient segment for Star Alliance over the last year. The number of Conventions Plus contracts grew by more than 15%; with our Meetings Plus offer attracting twice the number of organisers than in the same period last year. Current figures indicate that we can remain just as optimistic for 2011 as a whole.”
Star Alliance will be showcasing its Conventions Plus and Meetings Plus products at stand F690, during the IMEX trade fair, which will be held in Frankfurt, Germany from May 24th through May 26th, 2011. Clement added: “IMEX is the essential world-wide exhibition for meetings and incentive travel and Star Alliance will be participating for the sixth year running. For us, IMEX provides an ideal platform to interact with existing customers as well as to acquire new business in the conventions and meetings industry.”
In order to reach even more potential customers, Star Alliance will also be exhibiting at the new IMEX Americas trade show being held in Las Vegas from October 11th to 13th.
Conventions Plus
Star Alliance Conventions Plus has provided simplified travel solutions to event organisers for nearly a decade. More recently the product was extended beyond traditional conventions to include travel arrangements for major cultural and sporting events. Under Conventions Plus, organisers have access to the entire Alliance network through one of the member airlines, with the organiser also receiving a support programme which includes tickets and promotional assistance. In general, delegates are entitled to fare discounts ranging from 10 to 20 percent, depending on the type of fare, class of travel and airline used. Travel can be either in Business or Economy Class, and one companion per delegate may also travel on the delegate fare discounts. For further details on Conventions Plus please see: http://www.staralliance.com/conventionsplus
Meetings Plus
Two years ago Star Alliance launched Meetings Plus as a global product for the meetings market. Companies, meeting planners and incentive agencies needing to organise gatherings with participants from different countries, have access to the entire Star Alliance network and discounted fares, by contracting their travel needs through just one Star Alliance member airline. Meetings Plus can be used for most meetings of 50 people or more, with attendees originating in at least three different countries. For further details or to submit an RFP please see www.staralliance.com/meetingsplus.
MEETINGS:review
In addition to participating at IMEX, Star Alliance is also supporting MEETINGS:review, the web TV and news resource for the international meetings/MICE community. Since early this year, a new MEETINGS:review TV channel - MEETING:the World, has taken to the skies on a global tour of the most exciting destinations for the meetings/MICE community in the world, delivering a regional online TV series to its world-wide distribution of 200,000 meeting professionals. Log onto www.meetingtheworld.net for further information and the chance to win a Star Alliance Round-the-World ticket for two.
