Hybrid City Alliance launches in response to growth of multi-hub meetings

A Hybrid City Alliance has been launched in a collaboration that sees four like-minded destinations come together with a new creative offer for meetings buyers. The Hague Convention Bureau, Ottawa Tourism Business Events, Prague Convention Bureau and Geneva Convention Bureau are behind the initiative at a time when multi-hub hybrid meetings and conferences continue to grow in popularity, particularly in the association sector. Delegates are choosing to attend virtually, at their local hub or at a central ‘main event’ destination based on their needs, resources and travel restrictions. The Hybrid City Alliance says it can offer clients a central point of contact at their preferred Alliance member, who can then coordinate responses, RFPs and delivery. The Alliance partners say their similarities make them ideal partners for aligned conferences and meetings in terms of destination size, offering, speciality and feel. A hub system, they argue, can offer the benefit of reducing delegate travel time. The Hybrid City Alliance says it is open to other destinations joining this collaborative approach and Bas Schot, head of The Hague Convention Bureau, welcomed the new initiative saying: “Today it is not about I but about WE. In order for the industry to rebound faster, we all need to act together. Therefore, we are glad to extend our Ottawa partnership with like-minded innovative destinations such as Prague and Geneva, who are eager to focus on solutions for tomorrow and we also look forward to welcoming other destinations to join us to shape the future.” Glenn Duncan, senior vice-president and chief marketing officer, Ottawa Tourism added: “Building on the success of our partnership with The Hague, which was signed in 2019, Ottawa Tourism is proud to co-launch the Hybrid City Alliance along with other world-class destinations, who share our passion for the future of meetings. We look forward to leveraging our strong relationships with the other destinations in the Alliance and sharing resources and contacts.  The result will be attracting more business to our capital city, showing the world Ottawa’s strengths and telling Canada’s stories on an international stage.”