INTERVIEW: MAARTEN SCHRAM 10,00 € JUN 2020 » NOV 2020 BIANNUAL NUMBER 15 YEAR VIII LISBON RISES TO SECOND PLACE IN ICCA’S RANKING SLOW COMEBACK AND HYBRID EVENTSOWNER Estação Livre, Comunicação Porto | Portugal Phone: +351 221 113 202 | info@eventpointinternational.com www.eventpointinternational.com DIRECTOR Rui Ochôa [rui@eventpointinternational.com] EDITOR‑IN‑CHIEF Cláudia Coutinho de Sousa [claudia@eventpointinternational.com] NEWSROOM Cláudia Coutinho de Sousa Maria João Leite [mj@eventpointinternational.com] Alexandra Noronha [alexandra@eventpointinternational.com] Olga Teixeira INTERNATIONAL MICE CORRESPONDENTS Ramy Salameh, Rose de Almeida TRANSLATION Diana Reis Marques [diana@eventpointinternational.com] DIRECTOR OF SALES Filipe Silva [info@eventpointinternational.com] ASSISTANT Rita Costa COOPERATING WITH THIS EDITION Aloysius Arlando and Kim Myhre DESIGN Norma Design [info@normadesign.com] COVER PHOTO Musette.Bike PHOTOS Minifoto PRINTING Norprint ‑ a casa do livro Zona Industrial Alto da Cruz ‑ Rua das Artes Gráficas, nº 209 4780‑739 Santo Tirso | Portugal LEGAL DEPOSIT NUMBER 358113/13 CIRCULATING 1.500 copies FREQUENCY Biannual It is strictly forbidden to partially or completely reproduce texts or illustrations by Event Point. Information in the ads are the sole responsability of the advertisers. Consequently, we can not be held responsible for any incorrect information shown. 06 LISBON RISES TO SECOND PLACE IN ICCA’S RANKING 08 Portugal’s quick response to the pandemic 10 “Clean & safe” and “safe travels” 12 Travel in Portugal… through these videos 14 Interview: Milena Nikolova 20 Destination: Algarve 24 Associations: ICCA Iberian Chapter 26 Esports to play a more prominent role now and in future of MICE?, by Ramy Salameh 32 A FILM OF THE SITUATION IN EUROPE, THROUGH THE EYES OF SIX EDITORS 44 INTERVIEW: MAARTEN SCHRAM 50 Competing in today’s “war for talent”, by Aloysius Arlando 54 Designing meaningful brand experiences, by Kim Myhre 56 Companies index DATASHEET CONTENTS TABLE Cláudia Coutinho de Sousa Rui Ochôa WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 4 EDITORIAL ADJUST AND ADAPT Who knew that after a promising start this year would turn our lives upside down? We are writing you from home, a place we got to know better for the last three months, and as we don’t know if you are at the office to receive our magazine, or also at home, we decided to make this 15 th issue a digital one. Another reason has to do with the postponement of almost all the exhibitions where our magazine was made available. At home, Portugal, things look controlled. Lisbon will host the Champions League final and local and national events are taking solid steps forward. Hybrid and virtual are still keywords for the industry, as expected. But the market is adjusting and adapting. We are Portuguese, and Portuguese people can definitely adapt. That’s what we do best… This crisis is global and equally affects all destinations and suppliers of the meetings industry and everybody is coping the way they can. We talked with some editors of MICE magazines and they paint a very grim image of the last few months and the months ahead. A slow comeback and hybrid events are the trends right now. We caught up with Cristoph Tessmar, from ICCA’s Iberian Chapter, and he is delighted to see three Iberian cities in the Top 5 of ICCA’s Ranking: Lisbon, Madrid and Barcelona. What an achievement! Don’t miss all the other interviews and articles in this issue that we prepared digitally for you. Stay safe and be positive!LISBON RISES TO SECOND PLACE IN ICCA’S RANKING The Portuguese capital reaches its best ranking ever. WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 6 RANKING AND PORTUGAL ENTERS THE TOP 10 Portugal went up one place in ICCA’s ranking and now occupies the 10 th place, in a list led by the United States, Germany and France. In all, Portugal hosted 342 international events. With regard to cities, as we saw Lisbon rose to the second place in the ranking, while Porto now occupies the 39 th place, with 63 events. In relation to the remaining Portuguese destinations, they appear in the following world positions: Cascais (150 th ), Braga (247 th ), Coimbra (267 th ), Aveiro (377 th ), and Guimarães (424 th ). In European terms, Portugal ranks 7 th . Lisbon keeps its second place, while Porto is in 22 nd place. This ranking considers regular international congresses, held on a rotating basis between countries, with an audience of at least 50 participants. Lisbon reached the second place in ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association)’s ranking. The Portuguese capital rose from sixth to second place, with 187 international events. It surpassed destinations like Berlin, Vienna, Singapore or Madrid, in a ranking led by Paris. “This achievement is the result of a successful strategy that we have implemented over the years. This second place will reinforce Lisbon’s international visibility and could not have arrived at a better time to help us resume our activity, so affected by the pandemic crisis”, says Paula Oliveira, executive director of the Lisbon Tourism Association. Lisbon Tourism Association emphasised that the capital “is the main national destination in the segment of Business Tourism, with particularly valuable conditions with regard to value for money of tourist services and the experience in hosting the most diverse events”.PORTUGAL’S QUICK RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC MADE NEWS AROUND THE WORLD The first confirmed case of covid‑19 in Portugal was on March 2 nd , sometime after other European countries’ outbreaks. That helped in managing the crisis and averting the exponential growth that cost many lives in places like Spain and Italy. The country was able to prevent the overload of its National Health Service even though there were a couple of setbacks at the beginning, mostly caused by difficulties in access to tests and other supplies, in great demand all over the world. The government and health authorities soon realised that, given the low number of Intensive Care Units in Portugal and the real possibility that public hospitals could face a difficult situation, most people infected with the disease, that had mild symptoms, WWW.EVENTPOINTINTERNATIONAL.COM 8 HIGHLIGHT should stay home to be watched by a team of public health doctors and nurses, with daily phone calls. With a growing number of cases, the Portuguese Government called for a state of emergency, that started on March 19 th , was prolonged twice and ended on May 2 nd . During that period, most companies, schools and public services closed, except in sectors deemed as essential. Borders were shut, people were advised to stay home as much time as possible, and remote work was widely implemented. As a result, Portugal was able to control the spread of the virus and avoid the collapse of its public hospitals, even though there are still outbreaks, mostly due to increased testing, and deaths being reported. As of June 15 th , one million covid‑19 tests had been performed in the country, that has a total population of about 10 million people. Internationally, Portugal’s response to the pandemic has been hailed as a success, especially in comparison with neighbouring Spain and other badly hit countries, like Italy. The country’s self‑discipline, geographic location and early measures were pointed out by the international press as some of the factors that made the country avoid the worst effects of the disease. From Germany’s Der Spiegel, to the financial agency Bloomberg , complimenting articles were published all over the world, notably by The Guardian and El País, that enhanced a decision to temporarily treat migrants and asylum seekers as residents, allowing them to access public health services and other benefits. Like most activities, tourism and the MI sector were, during the lockdown, at a standstill, but in mid‑June, hotels and restaurants opened and were beginning to experience an increase in business, mostly due to internal travellers. Large events, like festivals, are still very restricted, but smaller gatherings, such as team building and other corporate events are also taking off, benefiting from dedicated financing by the Portuguese government. The reopening of many airline routes to the country in June will also help in boosting the event sector, in a country that boasts of widespread testing and equipment like masks, mandatory indoors, and hand disinfectant widely available in shops, restaurants, hotels and other services. Social distancing is also required, and beaches will be closely monitored during the summer.Next >