When considering exhibitions in Poland, trade fair capital Poznan or political capital Warsaw inevitably spring to mind. However, the southern city Krakow is quietly ramping up its exhibition offering with the addition of two new venues to complement many smaller facilities. Add to this the old-European feel of the place and you have a powerful recipe for a memorable destination.
Poland’s third-largest city, Krakow is peppered with small- to medium-sized meetings facilities, but has a surprising dearth of exhibition space. The only venue capable of holding a sizeable expo is Targi w Krakowie (TK), namesake of its managing company who is also the city’s largest organiser. The venue has only 6,000sqm, expandable by temporary structures. Its largest exhibitions are the Krakow Book Fair (3 to 6 November 2011) and the destructively-named Krakdent dental expo (3-5 March 2011).
That is all to change. Privately funded by TK, Cracovia Expo will be the city’s first combined exhibition and conference space. Plans include 18,000sqm of exhibition space and a 1,600-seat auditorium. Although TK has battled local bureaucracy to proceed, site development permission has recently come from the council, and at the time of writing final approval is expected by mid-April.
“Getting the proper permission is a bigger problem than actually building the venue,” said Pawel NikliÅ„ski, vice-president of TK. He added that TK continuously turns away business because Krakow lacks the proper facilities.
“It’s been two years since we asked for permission, but in the end we got it,” he said.
In addition, the International Conference and Entertainment (ICE) centre is due to open in 2015 and will finally deliver what Krakow needs in terms of dedicated venue space. Mostly a conference destination, the publicly-funded ICE aims to capitalise on the European trend towards mixed-use venues as opposed to dedicated exhibition or conference spaces.
The building is modern and curvaceous, sitting on the bank of the Vistula river and 15 minutes from town. ICE will have an 1,800sqm, three-storey glass foyer for exhibitions or banquets, a 2,000-seat auditorium and a 600-seat theatre. The venue will also hold two bars and two restaurants, a florist, shop, VIP room, press centre and two-storey underground car park.
Although construction began in October 2010 the fact that it is being built on public funds means more rigorous bureaucracy than usual. Complications in the process for selecting builders have confounded the project and forced the opening date back almost a year to September 2015. Unfortunately, this means several pre-booked events had to be postponed or re-located.
Rounding out the business-visit experience is Krakow’s varied arsenal of unique venues. These include botanical gardens, castles, towers and museums of everything from pharmaceuticals to aircraft. However, the jewel in Krakow’s unique venue crown is without doubt the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Hundreds of metres below the surface and hand-carved from salt rocks centuries ago, the mine offers event planners an elegant meeting space in a hideout-style.
Krakow’s Mayor Jacek Majchrowski acknowledges the need for dedicated venue space to improve the city’s international standing. “Krakow needs new conference and exhibition venues,” he told EW. “The presence of additional exhibition and conference infrastructure will surely allow the city to be even more competitive on the Polish tourism market in comparison with other big cities in the country. Krakow has all the means and potential to become an important business tourism destination.”
The Krakow Convention Bureau hopes the city’s charm coupled with two big new venues will boost it into the modern-day events market. In the meantime, the race for exhibition business in Poland is getting even hotter with the Amber Exhibition and Conference Centre due to open in Gdansk in spring 2012.
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