Four major stakeholders in the Paris business tourism sector have signed a new partnership agreement aimed at boosting the quality of reception given to attendees of major events organised in the Greater Paris region.
They included Pablo Nakhlé Cerruti, CEO of Viparis, Eric Jeunemaitre, President of the Paris Region Tourist Board, Henri-Michel Comet, Deputy CEO of the ADP Group, and Franck Gervais, the Accor Group's CEO for Europe.
The Welcome Pack first launched in 2009 and which is a partnership between the Paris Region Tourist Board, the ADP Group and Viparis, now includes a new component: accommodation services provided by a new partner, the Accor Group.
The Welcome Pack is a comprehensive set of reception services, information and complementary shuttle transfers provided to visitors, exhibitors and congress attendees.
Upon arrival, Pack beneficiaries are welcomed and accompanied as they travel to their event venues.
Since its inception, the Welcome Pack has been rolled out for 462 events. Shuttles have transported nearly 440,000 visitors.
With hotel services and accommodation capacity a key component in boosting Paris’s appeal in the global competition to host the very largest events, the Accor Group now joins the effort to personalise the services available in the vicinity of the Palais des Congrès de Paris, Paris Nord Villepinte and Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.
New services provided by Accor include an event-specific reception desk in hotel lobbies, visuals of the event, and hotel staff able to provide practical information about the event (transport, access, programme, etc.).
The number of free shuttles between Paris-Charles de Gaulle to events organised at Paris Nord Villepinte has also been increased.
The Villepinte Express, first tested at the JEC World trade show I March 2019 has seen demand surge and, starting on 1 January 2020, the Villepinte Express will be systematically included as part of every event covered by the Welcome Pack.
The 446 trade shows held in the Paris region in 2018 welcomed a total of 9.4m visitors, a 1.3% increase over 2017. While 1,992 conferences were held in 2018 in the region, 36 of which were attended by over 5,000 people (that compares to 1,037 in 2017, including 31 events with more than 5,000 attendees).
Attendee numbers are also on the rise, according to the Paris authorities, 882,405 in 2018 (compared with 773,090 in 2017), and with 32% of them coming from abroad (against 30% in 2017).
According to the Paris Île-de-France Chamber of Commerce and Industry, tradeshows and congresses in the Greater Paris region generated €6.3bn in direct and indirect economic benefits in 2018.
“The Welcome Pack is proof positive that providing international visitors with a warm welcome, information and transport all the way to their destination is a winning formula,” said Pablo Nakhlé Cerruti, CEO, Viparis.
