BestCities Powers Ahead in 2010

BestCities Global Alliance, 10 years old, and still going strong. Following their alliance-wide certification renewed by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) last year, the BestCities Alliance sharpens their focus on market needs and clients' changing requirements.

A new website will be launched in March, providing 8 cities worth of information at a click of a button. New features will include a variety of resources for meeting planners to use for free.

Also on the horizon is a seminar for BestCities VIP clients to be facilitated by Rohit Talwar, CEO of Fast Future. BestCities Global Alliance is a Platinum Sponsor of Fast Future's Convention 2020 project. This research initiative aims to take a challenging view at the forces, trends and ideas that will shape the meetings industry over the next ten years and provide practical insights on how to prepare for the changes ahead.

The founding sponsors of Convention 2020 are ICCA, IMEX and Fast Future Research. Other platinum sponsors include Melbourne Convention Centre, Qatar National Convention Centre, The QEII Conference Centre London, Visit London and Seoul Tourism Organization, and with Kenes as a gold sponsor.

"We are delighted at the way in which the Best Cities Global Alliance have really engaged with the study and are ensuring that they get the maximum benefit from their involvement," said Talwar.

Martin Sirk, CEO of ICCA added: "I'm convinced that those organisations which get proactively involved in this way will be able to turn their engagement into powerful market positioning as thought-leaders and innovators, and will also be wonderfully placed to incorporate the very latest trends and future business opportunities into their own strategic planning process. Almost inevitably they will generate new competitive advantages in what is an ever more competitive and fastchanging world."

"This year, we will sharpen our focus on client needs and how BestCities can be even more relevant in such competitive times when the supply line is varied and constantly evolving. We hold firm in our belief that BestCities bureaus offer best meeting practices which translates into best meeting experiences," explained Ana Maria Viscasillas, President & CEO of Puerto Rico Convention Bureau, who holds the position of BestCities Board Chair this year. In a recent survey conducted on behalf of the Alliance by LJR, meeting planners rated the BestCities bureau's experience as 9.59 on a scale of 1-10.

A testament that every BestCities destination guarantees the same quality of excellence.
BestCities is the first global alliance to put in place a certification programme -
with standards certified by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) -
to ensure a consistent level of convention bureau service excellence from all partner cities.