Vienna calling

The Vienna Convention Bureau (VCB) will be out in force at IMEX Frankfurt (stand E160), together with many of its city partners. The team says it is a lot to talk about, including Vienna’s new Ariana event location. Situated at Seestadt Aspern, one of the largest urban development projects in Europe, Ariana boasts 1,300sqm of flexible event space suitable for all kinds of meetings for up to 830 people. In the autumn, Weitsicht Cobenzl, will be added to the city’s location event portfolio. It will offer space for up to 2,600 people and a magnificent view over Vienna. Hotel openings in store include Rosewood Vienna, the first Rosewood Hotel in the German-speaking region, Almanac Vienna, a 5-star-plus property on Vienna’s Ringstrasse, and the business hotel Magdas Hotel Vienna City. Director of VCB, Christian Woronka, will also be a a panellist at the ‘She Means Business’ conference at IMEX Frankfurt. Austria Center Vienna has used the Covid period of event postponements of the past two years to accelerate progress on modernisation work and is ready to show its new facility opportunities off at IMEX. Susanne Baumann-Söllner, the congress centre’s MD, notes that with work on the danubeSAIL, the Panorama Walk and the new access building complete, the project to modernise the entrance hall, Halls E and F and the lounge areas has now begun in earnest. “The entrance hall is the centrepiece of the venue. New materials, a centrally controlled lighting system and giant digital branding spaces now open up completely new ways of engaging with participants,” Baumann-Söllner explains. The General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) at the end of May, the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) Conference and European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Congress in June, and the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) in July 2022 will be the first to put the new spaces to the test.