Safe to Meet Label, Guidebook Announced for MICE Sector Relaunch

Luxembourg's Tourism Days - Business Events Edition took place in the form of a webinar on Thursday morning; this edition looked at the challenges, opportunities and strategies for the relaunch of the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) sector in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.

Speaking on this occasion were Lex Delles, Minister of Tourism, Patrick Hoffnung, Director General of the European Convention Center Luxembourg, François Lafont, CEO of the Luxembourg Convention Bureau (LCB), François Koepp, Director of Horesca, Charles Schroeder, President of the Luxembourg Event Association, Adriana Migonney, representative of the chain hotels industry on LCB advisory board, Marc Molitor, representative of the technical service sector on the LCB board, and Carole Platz, representative of the advisory agencies branch on the LCB board.

Although the business events sector is currently going through a difficult period, conferences and meetings remain real generators of economic and social ties. They thus contribute to the success of the policy of economic promotion of the Grand Duchy. Professional events therefore represent not only a strategic pillar but also a vector of the local economy. The speakers, which represent the entire sector, therefore stressed the importance, particularly in this turbulent period, of repositioning Luxembourg as a destination for business events. 

On this occasion, the speakers spoke of the need to regain customer confidence, for instance through the new Luxembourg Event Association (LEA). LEA is open to new members and one of its first activities, together with Horesca, will be to develop the "safe to meet" label, much like the "safe to serve" label. In a first phase, the association will publish a guidebook on good practices for professionals in the sector. The five-step protocol (included in the guidebook) for holding events according to the health and safety regulations are as follows: risk analysis; organisation of space (eg managing distances); managing and controlling who comes and goes; implementing hygiene measures (eg frequent cleaning and disinfection); and training employees working at events and informing invitees about barrier gestures. This new guide will be made available to professionals in the sector from mid-July. In a second phase, it will include self-evaluation from labelled organisations.

François Lafont added that it was important to transform and reinvent the sector, especially in the context of the pandemic. He explained that the Luxembourg Convention Bureau (LCB) focusses its promotional activity on three pillars: reassuring, adapting and helping make these events possible at the national and international level. In this context, it is important also for its website to adapt and provide a marketplace where clients can find information and receive answers from partners to their questions.

Tourism Minister Lex Delles recalled that the current restrictions for holding events are maintaining a two-metre interpersonal distance between attendees and compulsory mask wearing. He said that the sector was working with professionals who guarantee that these measures are held in order to also regain public confidence. Regarding the hotel sector, Minister Lex Delles recognised the difficulty of relaunching activity, although he said that the voucher scheme (€50 vouchers per resident / cross-border worker for accommodation) was the first step in this journey.