Luxembourg's Minister of Tourism, Lex Delles, the first alderman of the City of Luxembourg, Serge Wilmes, and the CEO of the Luxembourg Convention Bureau GIE, François Lafont, presented yesterday the 59th congress of the “International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) - European Regional Hub”, which will be held in the Grand Duchy from 1 to 3 November 2020.
The Minister of Tourism and for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Lex Delles, explained that international congresses constitute an engine for the economic, technological, scientific and cultural development of a destination. In this context, the ICCA Congress represents an opportunity to highlight Luxembourg's potential as a reference destination in the professional events segment and thus to develop the government's priority economic sectors.
Minister Lex Delles emphasised that “the ICCA Congress, which is one of the most important organisations in the world of international meetings, is a hybrid event of great magnitude. This event will allow us to show that we are up to the task of organisational, technological and sanitary requirements. The ambition to make Luxembourg one of the best destinations for the organization of international congresses is not a trivial objective. This ambition is well founded, because the professional events segment has significant growth potential, which must be exploited. The 59th ICCA Congress is an important step in this process”.
Serge Wilmes added that “it is with great pride that we learned that our capital has been selected as the European regional centre for the 59th congress of the International Congress and Convention Association. Hosting this flagship event in the field of international meetings allows us to promote Luxembourg City, not only as a welcoming land for companies but also for the organisation of major events and conferences. As a smart city, we indeed offer many solutions that make our city a top choice destination for holding professional events: free public transport, free wifi throughout the city, state-of-the-art technologies or the promotion of sustainable development".
François Lafont also commented: "It is with great pleasure and great enthusiasm that we welcome major players in the professional events sector located around the world who have agreed to participate as as speakers to share their visions on the future of professional events. Representatives from all sectors of the business event industry will be present in Luxembourg including Nick Dugdale Moore, vice-president of the Union des foires internationales, Didier Scaillet, director of the Events Industry Council, and Matthias Schultze, CEO of the German Convention Bureau”.
During this congress, health and safety measures will be of great importance. Each venue, hotel and service provider will follow the “Safe to Meet” rules, which have been put in place by the Luxembourg Event Association (LEA). In addition, they will be regulated by an external company to ensure that all protocols are followed.
The Luxembourg programme of the 59th ICCA Congress will be broadcast on five continents and highlights include the speeches of Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, Tourism Minister Lex Delles and the Mayor of Luxembourg City, Lydie Polfer. The programme will focus mainly on drawing the contours of the events of the future, followed by sessions which will deepen this theme, such as the digitalisation of events, the understanding of the transmission of messages by neuroscience and “intelligent” research modules, to name a few.
The full program is available on events.iccaworld.org/congress2020-luxembourg-hub/schedule.a
