Lublin: Poland's rising star on the European meetings landscape

Lublin, the capital of the Lublin Voivodeship in Poland, is a city rich in history and culture, and is fast positioning itself as a premier destination for international meeting planners, with its blend of state-of-the-art facilities and old-world charm. The city is also vying for the title of European Capital of Culture 2029. Poland Convention Bureau representative Jarosław Marciuk recently made a study visit to the city where he met Dorota Lachowska, director of the Lublin Regional Tourist Organisation, and held meetings with hotels and conference venue teams in Lublin to get a first-hand feel for the MICE community there. Central to the new MICE vision is the Lublin Conference Centre (LCK), a modern complex that nestles among cultural landmarks such as the Centre for the Meeting of Cultures, the Philharmonic, and the Musical Theatre. The LCK boasts 11 versatile conference rooms and is close to railway and bus stations, along with Lublin Airport in Świdnik Lublin’s academic centre, which includes the Catholic University of Lublin, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS), and the University of Life Sciences, is just a 15-minute walk from the Old Town, the National Museum, and many local restaurants. The LCK has hosted a variety of events, including the international scientific conference, Problems and Challenges of Contemporary Oncology, the Virtual Congress of Family Medicine, Lublin Neuroforum, the Corporate Social Responsibility Forum, the three Seas Local Government Congress, Education of the Future, Check IT, Innovations in Ophthalmology – Education and Practice, the European Solidarity Workshop. The list goes on, including the Lublin Tourism Forum, the Conference of Allergologists, Pulmonologists, and Clinical Immunologists, Passion for Watches – Antoni N. Patek, and the CEE Edu Digital Summit. Additionally, this year, the Polish Tourism Organisation, in collaboration with the Lublin Regional Tourism Organisation (LROT), organised the Cooperation-Innovation-Sustainable Tourism conference at the LCK. The Centre for the Meeting of Cultures (CSK) is the largest cultural institution on the right bank of the Vistula River and is the venue for many business meetings. Its multifunctional conference spaces include the Opera Hall, which can accommodate nearly 1,000 spectators. The glass viewing terraces and the City Artistic Apiary on the roof of the building are also worth visiting. The spaces of the Centre for the Meeting of Cultures have also been used as film locations for several Netflix films. One example of the hotel meetings stock is the Mercure Lublin Centrum which offers 104 rooms and modern conference rooms that can accommodate up to 200 people. The hotel sits right next to the Centre for the Meeting of Cultures (CSK), the Lublin Conference Centre (LCK), and the Saxon Garden (Ogród Saski).