A comparative study of the congress tourism in Belgrade and Prague

Abstract

There is fierce competition among destinations in attracting a greater number of international congresses, both on the international market of congress tourism and, particularly, in Europe. The number of destinations that have recognized the benefits of this kind of tourism is continuously growing, while simultaneously contributing to the infrastructure of congress tourism by providing substantial funds necessary for the development of congress tourism. The aim of this paper is to perform a comparative analysis of two popular European congress destinations, Belgrade and Prague, regarding congress and accommodation facilities in both cities, and characteristics of the congress industry. The analysis is based on the data obtained from the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) database and from the data acquired by the Convention Bureau of Belgrade and Prague. The results have shown that the congress tourism of Prague is at the significantly higher level of development in comparison to Belgrade. Ergo, our capital has to continue improving its offer as regards congress tourism, in order to become competitive with both, the European and global congress market. These research results can be useful to tourist organizations, destination management companies, convention bureaus, hotels and business event organizers with the aim of improving congress tourism not only in Belgrade, but beyond that, on the territory of the entire Republic of Serbia as well.

Keywords

• congress tourism
• ICCA
• Belgrade
• Prague