More than 70 directors and managers of various hotels and companies in the hospitality sector witnessed the official launch of the new marketing campaign of the Maastricht Convention Bureau this afternoon.
During this festive meeting, Alderman John Aarts, and MCB Managing Director Jurgen Moors, unveiled the new campaign under the name Maastricht Conference City. With a catchy image and innovative slogan, this campaign will give meaning to the proposition “Maastricht: City of Health & Materials”, which the Maastricht congress community uses to make international congress organizers enthusiastic about the city. The campaign combines the excellent scientific ecosystem with the hospitable and intimate character of the city. A combination that guarantees successful congressing. Business and the South Limburg ‘joie de vivre’ are merging and this combination of tradition and innovation ensures that more and more international conference organizers are being encouraged to consider Maastricht as the destination for their next congress.
Conference tourism has been on the rise in Maastricht since 2015: in the period 2015-2018, the number of successful conference acquisitions has doubled. Viewed over the year 2017, congress tourism provided an economic spin-off of more than 30 million euros for the city and surrounding region. It is already clear for this year that this economic impulse will increase even further.
Managing Director Jurgen Moors – MCB:
“We focus primarily on multi-day scientific conferences within the medical field and the chemical / new materials sector. In this way we make the optimum connection between the economic strength of South Limburg and the market potential within the international congress market.“
The new marketing campaign follows the recent news that the City of Maastricht has increased its financial contribution to the MCB for the coming four years by 110 percent. Jurgen Moors, Alderman John Aarts and Jurriaan de Mol, director of NBTC, entered into discussions with each other and underlined the fact that congresses give an important boost to the hotel occupation during the week, generate business for a wide range of suppliers around congresses and also create employment within the hospitality industry. With the extra investment, the municipality has clearly confirmed that the importance of business tourism as a relevant economic factor for the city is recognized. With the extra funds, the Maastricht Convention Bureau will expand its organization and process the international congress market even more intensively.
