CONFERENCES - Anatomy of a conference destination

  • 2007-08-29
  • By Kimberly Kweder

DRAWING CROWDS: A conference at the Reval Hotel Lietuva. The market for conferences and conference services in the Baltics is growing, but Vilnius and Tallinn are still in need of bigger venues and more direct flights.

When it's time for a conference, half the battle for companies is figuring out where to hold the event. Whether they're looking for an urban, countryside or seashore setting, the list of possible destinations in Europe seems endless. More often though, organizers are discovering the unique locations and conference services that the Baltic states can offer. In this week's Industry Insider, The Baltic Times takes a close look behind the scenes of the conference service business, who is filling this market niche, and what drawbacks the region presents.

VILNIUS - The formula isn't complicated. Most of the same factors that have been attracting a growing number of tourists to the Baltic states in recent years 's  the history, the culture, the charming Old Town in each capital, the villages, castles and restaurants 's have also been drawing the attention of number of international companies who are looking for new and interesting places to hold their conferences.
At the same time, local Baltic companies are also in need of meeting venues and services, preferably in secluded places outside their capital cities.

The business of providing conference services in the Baltics is very much growing each year, and it would appear that all three capitals are poised to become even more popular destinations for business conferences.
Vita Gircyte, chief convention manager at the Vilnius Convention Bureau, said when she goes to exhibitions and promotional events, she's contacted by a large number of foreigners inquiring about holding conferences in the Baltics. The most common countries to held their conferences in Vilnius are the U.K., Spain, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Norway and other Scandinavian countries.

As in all three Baltic capitals, a large part of the attraction is curiosity. 
"Vilnius is still unexplored," Egle Jaugiene, Managing Director of The Baltic Travel Group, who provide full conference services throughout the Baltic region, told The Baltic Times. "Our first time clients tell us they are impressed by the architecture, Old Town, the nightlife, low prices and quality service."
Despite the quality of service and world-class hotel accommodations however, many meeting and event service experts in the region say there are hurdles in providing all businesses' needs, which often cause the Baltics to lose out against the Western European capitals.

Vilnius, for example, has 37 top-of-the-line convention hotels and 15 meeting venues to choose from, but lacks a multi-functional facility in the center of the city where nearby hotels are within walking distance.
"It would be great to have at least a 3,000 [capacity] conference hall with accommodation in the center," Gircyte said.
The Reval Hotel Lietuva is the only one in the center of Vilnius that offers a large conference capacity 's 600 people. Le Meridien Villon has a 1,000-person capacity, but its location is about 19 kilometers from the center.
Larger meeting venues such as the Siemens Arena (capacity 12,000) and the Lithuanian Exhibition Center (1,800) are alternatives, but don't offer nearby hotels that cater to large groups.
In Tallinn, there is also a large interest among foreign companies to hold conferences but the city faces a similar problem with lack of larger venues.

Kristjan Kolbre, director of sales at the Baltic Hotel Group, said that in addition to the need for new, larger facilities, the conference service industry has been facing a lack of a strong workforce over the last three years.
Lithuanian and Estonian travel representatives are also feeling the pinch from the lack of direct flights to their capitals. The convenience of direct flights is a major factor for companies choosing a destination city.
"It's so much easier [to get] to Riga than it is to Tallinn," Kolbre said.
Indeed Riga seems to be in the best position of all three capitals in terms of infrastructure and connections.
"Riga is the capital of conferences in the Baltics," Jaugiene said.
For the third year in a row, Latvia has experienced a rapid growth in business travelers using their services, she said.

As talk of expanding flight availability in other Baltic cities continues, as well as plans of building larger and better venues, there is hope that Tallinn and Vilnius will overcome some of their infrastructure hurdles and narrow the gap between themselves and Riga. For the time being though, the existing conference business in all three countries continues to be going strong and shows no sign of slowing.