Madrid becomes 12th apostle in BestCities alliance

Madrid Convention Bureau (MCB) has been officially confirmed today (16 May) as the 12th partner of the BestCities Global Alliance. The announcement was made on the first day of IMEX in Frankfurt. The new destination signing brings a new dynamic to the global marketing group. With more than three decades of experience, Madrid has played host in the last years to some of the world’s leading events including the World Petroleum Congress, the World Air Traffic Management Congress and The Congress of the International Dental Federation. Madrid also reports more than 14,000 meetings and events per year serving more than a million delegates. BestCities will now work with MCB to support future innovations and refine its legacy development, such as creating impactful city events for its future association meetings. Madrid becomes the first BestCities destination within the Mediterranean. In line with BestCities practice, MCB is committed to constantly reviewing its standards and undergoes an annual audit associated with ‘Q de Calidad Turistica’ – a quality certification for tourism services in Spain. Madrid says it is also committed to improving its sustainability with various programmes, while ambassador programmes are also a key investment for the MCB. The BestCities partnership includes: Berlin, Bogotá, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Dubai, Edinburgh, Houston, Melbourne, Singapore, Tokyo and Vancouver. The MCB is the first destination to go through BestCities’ revised quality management system (QMS). With admission into the Alliance a guarantee to clients that the vital commitments to excellence such as venue capacity, international accessibility and infrastructure framework are a given, the new QMS further extends BestCities offering beyond the key convention elements a city must possess to host world class events. With a focus on advancing the purpose of meetings through vital areas including sustainability, accessibility and legacy development, it adds a further dimension and unique strength to its partner cities’ offering. BestCities board chair, Jonas Wilstrup from Wonderful Copenhagen, said of the new Alliance member: “Madrid is a world class destination for conferences and events and we’re ecstatic to be welcoming them onto the BestCities Global Alliance. Madrid’s successful submission truly cements BestCities dedication to setting industry standards which we hope to help build with them over the next few years.”