Salzburg recognized as a leading player in world business – the city has just been awarded 2nd place in the “International Conference destinations” category at the renowned “Conga Awards” ceremony.

Salzburg has, for decades now, been a world-class sporting and cultural destination, as testified by the ever-growing rise in the number of day and overnight visitors it welcomes. In addition, Salzburg is also valued extremely highly by the world of business, as was proven by being awarded second place, behind Dubai, in the prestigious “Conga Awards“ ceremony, held yesterday in Hamburg, Germany. The Conga Awards recognize the world’s best venues for organising congresses and conferences and the laureates are designated by an impressive panel composed of 25 000 professionals and experts. After Dubai and Salzburg, third place was awarded to the Austrian capital, Vienna, which itself placed ahead of world metropolises such as London and Paris.

The Conga Award for the best international Congress and Conference centre takes into account more than simply the meeting venues themselves, concerning itself also with a number of other factors, such as environment, cost-to-performance ratio, range of offers available, accessibility, location and events.

Klaus Schmidhofer, the director of the Salzburg Convention Bureau, declared: “We all feel unbelievably proud and honoured. This award is testament to the good work provided by all of Salzburg’s meeting venues and centres as well as our hotels, agencies and service providers. It will provide a crucial indicator for conference organisers looking for venues in the future, and it is therefore very important to us to feature so prominently.”

Rudolf Höller, Executive Director of Salzburg 2014, stated: “Of course an award such as this is a huge honour for any city, but particularly one such as Salzburg, which is small compared to world metropolises such as London or Paris. But that is precisely Salzburg’s strength: whilst offering every facility required to accommodate major events, it retains its intimate feel, and offers so much more in addition to conferencing venues, both on the sporting and the cultural front. The Salzburg Congress and the Salzburg Congress Centre would host the IOC Session should Salzburg be awarded the honour of organising the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. However, this is not about the Salzburg Congress alone: it is important to stress how the numerous companies working away in the background, whether they be catering firms, technical companies or local transport specialists, combine to work together and ensure that Salzburg runs like clockwork – another major asset should the 2014 Olympic Winter Games take place here. Magic, Excellence and Trust are the three cornerstones of Salzburg 2014, and this Conga Award shows yet again how geared up Salzburg is for hosting major meetings, and ensuring they run smoothly. And all this, of course, in the midst of breathtaking scenery.”

Alexandra Knoke • Intl. Media Coordinator • Tel. +43 662 422014-19 • Cell +43 664 4299648
alexandra.knoke@salzburg2014.com
Raimund Fabi • Ntl. Media Coordinator • Tel. +43 662 422014-19 • Cell +43 664 2266682
raimund.fabi@salzburg2014.com