EUROPE – Maastricht‘s Exhibition and Convention centre (MECC) reports that it ended 2013 with a modest profit, following an €800,000 loss in 2012. MECC credits the improvement to the stringent reorganisation in 2012 paired with significant sales growth in 2013.
The Netherlands venue says the growth in revenues was achieved by focusing on higher margins, upselling and purchasing savings. Withdrawing from the Amsterdam RAI left the MECC with room to create a new corporate climate and Alderman John Aarts advocated a takeover of the MECC shares owned by the Amsterdam RAI.
“When we took over the MECC, most people expected it to be a financial black hole,” he says. “With a positive end to the first fiscal year, it seems quite the opposite is true. The MECC is once again a true Maastricht company. It will take years of careful planning to attract new companies, conferences and tradeshows to the city, but we’re working hard to achieve this.”
In 2013, the MECC hosted a record number of international conferences, with a sharp rise in the number of international multi-day medical conferences reported.
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