Utrecht, 13 May 2024 - Putting Utrecht on the map as the city and region for hosting top international congresses. That is what the Utrecht Congress Alliance, a collaboration between public and private partners, is fully committed to in the coming years. These are congresses that fit the positioning 'Utrecht, Heart of Health' and are in line with the regional themes Life Sciences & Health, New Digital Society and Smart Sustainability. In the coming years, this will be the foundation of a targeted acquisition strategy.
Utrecht Region aims for more top international congresses
The targeted acquisition strategy is the first achievement of the Utrecht Congress Alliance in which the Municipality of Utrecht, the Province of Utrecht, ROM Utrecht Region, HOST (foundation of Utrecht hoteliers), Utrecht University, Royal Jaarbeurs and Utrecht Marketing (with its Utrecht Convention Bureau), among others, have joined forces. The parties' joint aim is to increase the commitment to business visits to top congresses on a multi-year basis. Daniël Kusse, Head of Marketing & Communications of Utrecht Marketing: "Business events and congresses are crucial for the Utrecht region. Besides their great economic impact and employment, congresses are an important link in the knowledge economy and also contribute to making visible what our region stands for even more. Utrecht as the beating heart of a healthy society: 'Utrecht, Heart of Health'. It is great that we are working with more and more partners from various sectors and investing in this shared ambition. For example, a broad representation of the Utrecht Congress Alliance is present this week at IMEX in Frankfurt, the trade fair for the global meeting and event industry."
Utrecht, Heart of Health
The Utrecht region, recently voted Europe's most competitive region again, has the ambition to make a major contribution to a healthy, sustainable society. This is translated into the positioning 'Utrecht, Heart of Health'. The targeted joint acquisition strategy for conferences should ensure that the 'Utrecht, Heart of Health' profile is further strengthened internationally. The emphasis here is on association congresses and congresses of professional associations. An example is the international WHO European Healthy Cities Network congress with over 350 visitors that Utrecht hosted last November. Also, the Future Green City World Congress will take place in September for over 4,000 visitors where all aspects of the green city of the future will be discussed.
International ambition
There is broad support in the Utrecht region for business visits and the acquisition of international conferences. Jeroen van Hooff, CEO Royal Jaarbeurs: "The new acquisition strategy fits seamlessly with Jaarbeurs 's strategy in which we focus, among other things, on (trade) fairs and events in the field of health & life sciences. Jaarbeurs was voted by the public for the second time in a row as the best congress location in the Netherlands of the year 2023 because of our personal assistance in organising congresses and meetings and our central location in the country. We have the ambition to also position Jaarbeurs internationally as the conference location of the Netherlands with a focus on health & life sciences. It is therefore very valuable to work with our Utrecht partners to put our innovative region more strongly on the map internationally."
Meanwhile, an increasing number of municipalities and partners in the Utrecht region are willing to join the cooperation for the purpose of encouraging business visitors to the region.
