Submitted on Tue, 18/05/2021 - 12:21
We are proud to announce that Kraków has been shortlisted as a host city for the 61st ICCA Congress! The International Congress and Convention Association has selected 3 cities as potential organisers of the 2022 event. Kraków’s rivals are Athens and Bangkok.
A great challenge
The selection process itself was a highly complex affair and involved multiple stages – Kraków has been competing to land the title of the Congress organiser since spring 2020. The very preparation and submission of the city's bid posed an enormous challenge given the new reality created by the pandemic. It is worth mentioning that the city managed to organise a virtual site inspection visit, for which it produced 4 films and engaged over 30 companies from the MICE industry in a record-short time. The tour itself lasted almost 5 hours!
A shared goal
The fact that we have qualified for the final stage of the selection process is a great honour in itself. We owe our success so far to our numerous partners – in fact, the entire country has contributed to the city’s bid. We have received declarations of support and commitment from the Ministry of Development, Labor and Technology, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, LOT Polish Airlines, the Polish Tourism Organisation and its Poland Convention Bureau, the SKKP and MPI, the local Congress Offices of Warsaw, Poznań, Wrocław and Łódź, as well as ICCA members from Poland, including Mazurkas, Targi w Krakowie, and Grupa MTP. The cooperation and involvement of the local industry has also been invaluable: the entire team of the ICE Kraków Congress Center, Symposium Cravoviense, CMA Concept Music Art, Alwernia Studios, TAURON Arena Kraków, Stara Zajezdnia, the Sheraton Grand Kraków, the Radisson Blu and the Park Inn by Radisson hotels.
Ahead of us is the final and most important stage in the Host City selection process – on 25 May this year, Kraków will make its official bid presentation, after which the board of the Association will formally announce its final decision. We sincerely believe that ICCA’s representatives will appreciate our incredible energy, fantastic team effort, and huge commitment and determination in pursuing our goal, and that Poland and Kraków will be given an opportunity to make a bold entrance in the new reality of 2022.
ICCA – an international association of MICE industry professionals
The International Congress and Convention Association was founded in 1963 by travel agencies to promote cooperation between its members in the face of a rapidly developing international conference market. The ICCA network consists of over 1,195 entities: service providers, companies and organisations from 92 countries around the world. Annual ICCA congresses are held in its member countries – this year in Cartagena, Colombia, and in previous years in Kaohsiung, Houston, Dubai, Prague and Kuching, among other cities.