At the General Assembly of Cluster MICE Luxembourg (CML) earlier today, Firday 18 March 2016, at Alvisse Parc Hôtel in Luxembourg-Dommeldange, Luxembourg's Secretary of State for the Economy, Francine Closener, attended the event held 18 months after its inauguration to reflect on the work achieved since October 2014 and to plan ahead.

The Cluster MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conventions, Exhibitions) Luxembourg is an association of tourism stakeholders, a participatory body whose administrative and financial management is operated by the Luxembourg for Tourism“ (LfT) GIE.

The Cluster has 27 member companies, a segmentation that represents a fair cross-section of the domains involved: hospitality (40%), public institutions (16%), transport (12%), professional organisers (12%) and venues which can accommodate international seminars and conferences (20%). In 2015, the cluster consisted of six technical committees which met more than 40 times around several specific projects.

During the year, these committees worked on projects to further develop the tourism sector in Luxembourg. This work included:

• The creation of a specification to target candidates for conventions and international events to bring them to Luxembourg;

• A common calendar of MICE events in Luxembourg;

• The development of a quality charter for the entire sector;

• The analysis of the strengths and weaknesses in this service sector;

• Promotional activities in the MICE sector at a national level, including the organisation of an international event in Luxembourg in September 2016.

During her speech, Secretary of State Closener stressed the importance of the platform, and stated "The MICE Cluster is an incubator of ideas, based on the pooling of efforts and the transparency of trade. In 2015, the MICE (sector) presented a significant growth rate in the hotel industry, increasing its share to 16% of all registered overnight stays.”

The 27 Cluster member companies of MICE Luxembourg as of March 2016 are: Accor Hotels, Alvisse Parc Hotel, Brain&More, Casino 2000, CCRN-Neimenster, Chambre de Commerce, Château Urspelt, Domaine Thermal, Excellence Hotels Clervaux, Goeres Group, LCTO, Le Royal, Legere Hotel, Leweck Sporthotel, Luxair, Luxembourg Congrès, Luxembourg for Tourism, Luxexpo, Mediation, Meetincs, Melia Hotel, Mudam, Park Inn by Radisson, Philharmonie, Rockhal, Sales Lentz and Voyages Emile Weber.