In the recent weeks, Prague Convention Bureau has been focused, among others, on the activities at the US market. We co-organized a roadshow in three American cities, we participated in the IMEX America trade show and joined the events held by Meeting Professionals International (MPI).

Our colleague Martina Fundaro, PCB’s representative in North America organized a three-day networking roadshow for US hosted buyers in cooperation with the Czech Convention Bureau and CzechTourism foreign office in the US. From October 4 to October 6, 60 clients representing associations, corporates and incentive houses attended the roadshow that took place in Washington, D.C., Chicago and Dallas. Networking with the Prague & Czech partners was accompanied by destination presentations. Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the USA, Mr. Miloslav Stašek, joined the social evening in Washington, D. C., to give a short speech. Consul General of the Czech Republic in Chicago, Mr. Jaroslav Kantůrek, was another guest of honour, who attended the Chicago part of the roadshow.

Just a week later, we moved to Las Vegas to participate in the B2B MICE trade show IMEX America. Between October 11 and 13, we had another chance to present the meetings offer of Prague to potential clients attending the show. This year’s edition welcomed more than 12,000 delegates, a 45% increase in attendance in comparison with 2021, including more than 4,000 hosted buyers. Prague Convention Bureau participated in the trade show as a co-exhibitor at the CzechTourism booth.

At the turn of October and November, there were two more events to attend organized by MPI. On October 27, Martina joined the MPI October Chapter Experience in Fort Worth, Texas. The topic of the meeting was „Powerhouse panel“ – listening to industry experts and joining in the conversation as they dived into important topics like Sustainability, Contracting, Technology, Travel and Economic Challenges. The meeting was attended by 150 meeting professionals from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The last in our line of US events was the networking mixer of the MPI D/FW Chapter in Dallas, where Martina had a chance to make new connections with industry colleagues again.

“Prague is definitely on the map again for US meeting planners. After the challenges of the past few years – Covid and war in Ukraine – US corporations, associations and incentives are now ready to return to central Europe, and the increased number of leads for Prague declare that,” says Martina, and reveals more: “The lead time is currently still very short, many clients are looking at next two years, which also makes it challenging to find availability in the destination, but clients are very excited about the new developments, hotel and venue openings in Prague, and we are ready to bring our members new business opportunities.”