Title of the proposed paper: TOURISM CONGRESS AS A SPECIAL TYPE OF TOURISM

Author: Marijana Kožul Co-author: Ivana Brozović Organisation: Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Tourism Department Job Title: Senior Adviser Job Title: Head of Department, Address: Ilica 3, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia Phone: +385 1 4806 272, +385 1 4806 188 Fax: +385 14873 680 Email: kozulm@dzs.hr, brozovici@dzs.hr Title of the proposed paper: TOURISM CONGRESS AS A SPECIAL TYPE OF TOURISM Session (theme) where the paper will be presented: Theme 1: Seasonality in Tourism Abstract: Since 2006. Central Bureau of Statistics conducted the regular monthly survey on congressional tourism in the Republic of Croatia on the form TU-23. The purpose of this survey is to provide data that will be the basis for the analysis of the situation and development of congress tourism in Croatia, and will also serve businesses to review their position on the tourist market. The subjects oft his survey are business, incentive travels and team building programs. The survey covers all business entities performing business, incentive travels and team building programmes (hotel and restaurant facilities, universities, concert and congress halls, fair, cultural facilities etc.).after analysis the quality of the obtained statistical results on business, the Central Bureau of Statistics came to the conclusion that the contents of the form TU-23 should be changed in order to comply the fundamental principles of official statistics and to improvethequalityofstatisticaldata. In cooperation with convection and incentive bureaus in Croatia, it was agreed of reporting on business held on. The aim of this presentation is to present a new method of monitoring congressional activity in the Republic of Croatia. Congressional activity extends tourist season, especially in the classic tourist destination characterized by highly seasonal concentration of tourists. Finally, satisfied participants of congress and other business are the best promoters of Croatian as a tourist, business, scientific and cultural destinations. Keywords: seasonality, measurement, definitions, causality, geography, nichemarkets, seasonal Adjustment Methodology: The document will show analyses and main data from survey conducted by Croatian Bureau of Statistics. User value/application Context:This document can be used for deeper analyzes of the importance and posibilities of this type of Croatian tourism. 1

CONGRESS TOURISM IN CROATIA Introduction Congress tourism is an important part of business tourism in Europe. In recent years it records huge growth in the whole world. Congress tourism contributes to the transmission and exchange of experience and knowledge, as well as generating employment in the area of the congress site. Its development has positive influence on tourist results in the Republic of Croatia. Due to the importance of congress sector Croatian Bureau of Statistics conduct the regular Monthly Survey on Congresses and Other Meetings in the Republic of Croatia on the Form TU-23. The aim of this survey is to insure data which will be basis to analyze congress position and development of the whole tourism activity in Croatia. Also, the aim is to give overview to the business entities for their position on tourist market. The aim of this work is to present a new method of monitoring congress activity in the Republic of Croatia. Report on business meeting (Form TU-23) Since January 2006, the Central Bureau of Statistics has been conducting a regular monthly survey through the TU-23 Form. The survey covers all business entities performing business, incentive travels and team building programmes (hotel and restaurant facilities, universities, fair, cultural institutions and convention centres). Up to 2012 the survey covers all business with at least one realised overnight and all business without realised overnights attended by 20 participants or more. Report of Meeting (TU-23 form) is followed by the following characteristics: name of business meeting, type of business meeting, type of facility in which the business meeting is held, the date of opening a business meeting, the date of closure of business meeting, number at business meeting, business meeting by professional organizer, the number of participants in business meeting (domestic and foreign), business meeting participants overnights, the turnover of the business meeting and extra spending. After an analysis of the quality of obtained statistical results on business ( the period from 2006-2010), CBS came to the conclusion that the content of the Form TU-23 should be changed in a way to improve data quality and and reduce the burden on reporting units (there were problems with evidence on number of domestic and foreign participants, no punctual data of number of participants that realised overnights due to business meeting, no data for extra consumption). In cooperation with convention bureaus from Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Opatija the content of the TU-23 Form has been improved. CBS sent questionnaire to the report units to give their comments on the content of the Form TU-23 for 2012. CBS got only compliments on the new TU-23 Form. In 2012, Report on Meeting (TU-23 form) is based on the following characteristics: name of business meeting, the date of opening a business meeting, the date of closure of business meeting, business meeting by professional organizer (business meeting organised by corporations/companies, business by associations/institutions), business by type (business meeting, congress/conference, incentive, team building), business by the participants (national, international) and the number of participants at a business meeting. Report on Meeting also includes data about business entities, capacities (number of hall, auditorium and maximum number of seats). Because of these changes in methodology, data for 2012 are not comparable with data 2006-2011. 2

Coverage, meeting types and definitions In creating methodology and the questionnaire CBS used Methodological manual for statistics on Congress and Conferences by Eurostat. Also, we take into consideration features that reporting units and Croatian National Tourist Board proposed. In order to be counted the meeting shall take place in a venue specifically contracted for the purpose. The meeting shall have at least 10 participants. The days of the meeting do not include occupied rooms by participants, before and after the meeting. Congresses/conferences are in which participants belonging to different places meet in order to discuss things on a particular topic in a particular place. They can be maintained on a regular basis (semiannually, annually or perennial) or ad hoc (keep only once and not repeated any more). Congresses, in most cases, last for several days and have several simultaneous sessions. Conferences are usually of limited duration and have specific goals and tasks are those business-oriented in which the participants represent the same company, corporate group, joint-venture, or client/provider relation with an orientation toward the improvement of operations or performance under different conditions Incentive travel is a marketing method aimed at stimulating the employees of a certain corporation and improving the corporation s functioning. Incentive travel is a stimulating travel given as an award to the best employees of a certain corporation. It has replaced a classic stimulating money award etc. The firms may thank their clients, motivate or reward their employees for their loyalty and hard work invested in the firm s efficiency by taking them to a nice incentive travel. Incentive programmes may include: golfing, sailing, rafting, ballooning, archery, cycling, paintball, ATV safari etc. Incentive travel can be national or international, organized for smaller or larger groups and can be part of a motivational program. Team building program is a special type of incentive travel and, at the same time, an active relaxation, organised by agencies for employees of certain firms and institutions with the aim of boosting the team spirit, practicing coordination and offering other incentives. Professional organisers of business or incentive travels are domestic and foreign corporation/companies which aim is to make a profit (companies joint stock company, limited liability company, general partnership, limited partnership) and nonprofit organizations/institutions, such as: international governmental organisations (e.g. UN, EU, EFTA, OECD, NATO), international NGOs, the Government of the Republic of Croatia, administration, government bodies and bodies of local and regional government and selfgovernment units, universities, scientific institutions, political bodies, research centers, academies, professional associations, sports associations and other national and international non-profit organizations/institutions). International business meeting is a business meeting which has at least 20% of participants that are not resident in the country where the meeting takes place. In this proportion will not be reached, the meeting shall be counted as national. 3

MEETING TYPES CORPORATE MEETINGS ASSOCIATION MEETINGS CONGRESS/CONFERENCE BUSINESS MEETING INSENTIVE TEAM BUILDING NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL 4

Creating of Address list When we were creating the address list we used different sources such as: CBS Address List for Monthly Survey on Tourist Arrivals and Tourist Nights and information about congress venues from Convention Bureaus, Internet and professional magazines. The address list covered 304 business entities with congress halls, but only 139 business entities really perform business, incentive arrangements and team building program s (hotel and restaurant facilities, universities, concert and congress halls, fairs, cultural facilities). The address list contents: data about business entities (name, address, county, town/municipalities, and post number), type of business entities (hotels by categories, universities, fairs, cultural institutions and others), capacities (number of halls and seats), telephone number and mail address. We are continuously working on better coverage of this survey. End of year, CBS send to the report units circular letter with questionnaire (Form TU-23) and detailed instructions for filling that questionnaire. In order to facilitate the legal obligation to submit monthly questionnaire TU-23, CBS offers report units two possibility for sending the questionnaire: 1. Excel table - filling data TU-23 in Excel table, prepared by CBS according to Form TU-23. Excel spreadsheet should be submitted by electronic mail. In this way data from reports TU-23 is inserted directly into the application, for further statistical analysis. 2. Classical way - fulfilling the form TU-23 in paper form in duplicate. Reporting unit keeps one copy for their own purposes and the other send to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. In this way data from reports TU-23 is entered manually into the application. About 70% of the reporting unit submits Form TU-23 form in Excel and about 30% of them still delivered in paper. Reporting units should submit the Report on Meeting with data to the 10th of the month for the previous month. Response rate is quite satisfactory because reporting units have a legal obligation for filling up Form TU-23. Also, CBS is very friendly and flexible concerning reporting units that do not submit the Report on time. Although the reporting units fulfil their legal obligation to submit TU-23 Form, CBS has a problem with the submission of a report by the deadline. Reporting units from the Address list must be constantly reminded from CBS of the deadline, either by mail or through the phone, which makes data collection and processing very difficult. Survey results about Congress and Other Meeting in Croatia for 2012 After finishing monthly data collecting, data analysis and processing, CBS get a following data about business entities performing business, incentive arrangements and team building programmes: - number of business entities in which business meeting were held and their capacities, - number of by type of facilities in which the meeting were held (by venues), - number of by professional organiser, - number of by types, - number of by participants. In following tables are data from business entities performing business, incentive arrangements and team building programmes for period January to June 2012. 5

1. BUSINESS ENTITIES IN WHICH BUSINESS MEETINGS WERE HELD, JANUARY JUNE 2012 entities Congress halls Seats Hotels and similar accommodation facilities 122 448 46 562 Universities, fair, cultural institutions and convention centres 7 93 15 216 Total 129 541 61 778 Source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2012 In the period from January to June 2012 this survey covered 129 facilities in which business were held, of which 89% are hotels with 541 congress halls. 2. BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY TYPES OF FACILITIES IN WHICH THEY WERE HELD, JANUARY JUNE 2012 Total One-day Multy-day Hotels and similar accommodation facilities 3 182 6 926 206 305 1 674 1 674 102 334 1 508 5 252 103 971 Universities, fair, cultural institutions and convention centres 285 416 46 845 221 221 23 586 64 195 23 259 Total 3 467 7 342 253 150 1 895 1 895 125 920 1 572 5 447 127 230 Source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2012 In the period from January to June 2012 there were 3 467 business held in the Republic of Croatia, of which 1 895 business were one-day (55%) and 1 572 of the events were multi-day (45%).The total number at business was 7 342. Each meeting was held two days on average. were attended by 253 150 participants. 6

Structure of business, by venues, January - June 2012 Univerzities, fair, tural institutions, and convention centres 8% Hotels and similar accomodation 92% Source: CBS, survey 2012 3. BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY TYPES, JANUARY JUNE 2012 Total One-day Multy-day Congress/conference 1 810 3 995 165 436 892 892 73 500 918 3 103 91 936 meeting 1 445 2 619 73 061 953 953 48 869 492 1 666 24 192 Incentive travel 96 357 6 870 11 11 912 85 346 5 958 Team building 116 371 7 783 39 39 2 639 77 332 5 144 Total 3 467 7 342 253 150 1 895 1 895 125 920 1 572 5 447 127 230 Source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2012 There are four types of business by type that are monitored in this survey: congress/conference, business meeting, incentive travel and team building. According to the type of business meeting, the most, 52%, were congresses and conferences, 42% were business meeting, and 6% were incentive and team building. The average number of multi-day congress is 3.3 days and the average number of participants in these is 100 participants. 7

Monthly survey on Meeting conduced in CBS in 2012 also shows that business last less than staying on a holiday of classic tourists. generally last from one to four days. Source: CBS, survey 2012 In the period from January June 2012 even 55% of business were one-day meeting, and 45% of business were multy-day. 8

Source: CBS, survey 2012 4. BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY PROFESSIONAL ORGANISER, JANUARY JUNE 2012 Total One-day Multy-day of corporation/companies 2 182 4 424 141 500 1 236 1 236 73 961 946 3 188 67 539 of associations/institutions 1 285 2 918 111 650 659 659 51 959 626 2 259 59 691 Total 3 467 7 342 253 150 1 895 1 895 125 920 1 572 5 447 127 230 Source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2012 By professional organiser, 63% business were organized by corporations and companies and 37% of business were organized by associations and institutions. 9

Structure of business by professional organiser, January - June 2012 of association/institutions 8% of corporation/companies 92% Source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics, 2012 5. BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY PARTICIPANTS, JANUARY JUNE 2012 Total One-day Multy-day National 2 689 4 650 179 785 1 695 1 695 113 943 994 2 955 65 842 International 778 2 692 73 365 200 200 11 977 578 2 492 61 388 Total 3 467 7 342 253 150 1 895 1 895 125 920 1 572 5 447 127 230 Source: CBS, survey 2012 10

by participants, January - June 2012 International 22% National 78% Source: CBS, survey 2012 According to the participants, 22% business had an international dimension. 78% business were national. When we were defining the characteristics of the Form TU-23 for 2012, congressional offices have emphasized the importance of monitoring characteristics of the business meeting if they are national or international. It was agreed, according to the proposals of congressional offices that have several years of experience in the international congress tourism market, that national business meeting is every business meeting in which 80% of participants and more are Croatian citizens and international business meeting is a business meeting in which 20% or more participants are foreign. Survey results are quarterly published in the aggregated form on the CBS website www.dzs.hr / "Releases"/"Meetings and other business in 2012." Seasonality Croatia for years has the image as a holiday destinations. Awareness that the tourist season can be extend has stimulated business professionals to try to define Croatia as a congress destination also. Congress and business tourism known as MICE tourism (Meetings, Incentives, Congresses, Exhibitions) can be a great way to fill the hotel capacity in the preseason and postseason. Monthly survey on Meeting conducted for years in CBS shows that the period in May and September has always been the most popular time to organize business. The relative popularity of July and August has been decreasing over the past five years. The popularity of March has been increasing. The seasonal distribution of events shows that congress tourism is mainly performed before and after the tourism season (in the spring and autumn). 11

Chart of Tourist nights shows that Croatia is still a holiday destination. The largest number of overnight stays realised in the period from June to August 2012, in the summer. In 2011, the three summer months, June, July and August, recorded the peak of tourism season. Tourist nights realised about 75% of the total tourist nights. 2012th shows the same trend. TOURIST NIGHTS, BY MONTHS, AUGUST 2011 AUGUST 2012 22 000 20 000 18 000 16 000 14 000 12 000 10 000 8 000 6 000 4 000 2 000 0 '000 Total Foreign tourists Domestic tourists VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. 2011. 2012. Source: CBS, survey 2012 Cities with the most business in Croatia travelers are most attracted by Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Opatija, Rijeka, Osijek and Split which recorded good results in business tourism throughout the whole year. These cities have good geographic location, they are close to the main generating markets, have significant natural and cultural attractions, have developed 12

infrastructure, and have large conference halls and five star hotels. They invest in better transport links and airports. MUNICIPALITIES, NUMBER OF BUSINESS MEETINGS, NUMBER OF DAYS, JANUARY JUNE 2012 Municipality Days Zagreb 1 725 137 534 2 669 Dubrovnik 227 16 621 845 Opatija 196 18 886 574 Rijeka 199 10 970 214 Osijek 165 10 058 232 Split 163 8 391 367 Source: CBS, survey 2012 of business per city, January - June 2012 Other 23% Split 5% Osijek 5% Zagreb 50% Opatija 6% Rijeka 6% Dubrovnik 7% Zagreb Dubrovnik Rijeka Opatija Osijek Split Other Source: CBS, survey 2012 The largest number of in the period from January to June 2012, in Croatia, was held in the Zagreb (50%). In the period from January to June business in Zagreb were attended by 54% of the total number of participants. Zagreb is the administrative, economic, diplomatic, and cultural center of the Croatia. From every European city, Zagreb can be reached by plane in less than two hours. Excellent offer in organisation of congresses, Dubrovnik makes one of the most important destinations meeting industry in Croatia. In the spring and the autumn part of the tourist season, Dubrovnik hosts participants of international congresses and groups with special programs that during this period of year 13

achieved the great tourist results. Over the years city established itself as a top congress center for participants 150-700 participants, making Dubrovnik one of the most famous congress city in Europe. Together with Zagreb and Dubrovnik, Opatija is the leading city in congress tourism in Croatia. In the last 5 years, this city has been host to many national and international conferences. With more than 20 hotels, a variety of restaurants and entertainment programs and events, Opatija can already satisfy the congress organizers and business meeting participants. Except the existing ones, Croatia needs a new congress centers equipped by European standards with capacities of several thousand seats. With their construction Croatia could stand side by side with the strongest European congress cities. Conclusion Congress activity is very important, not only for tourism, but also it is an important activity for the Croatian development and the economy. Congress produce an exchange of experience, knowledge and information. There are significant improvements in transport, communication and accommodation. Congress activity also increases the international position of cities. It extends tourist season, especially in the classic tourist destination characterized by highly seasonal concentration of tourists. Congress industry produces numerous of major features. First of all, occupancy of the capacity is in the preseason. Then it should be noted significantly greater consumption of congress participants then the tourists on holidays. An additional advantage is that each business meeting includes short trips so participants have a chance to see natural beauty of Croatia. Satisfied participants of congress and other business are the best promoters of Croatian as a tourist, business, scientific and cultural destinations. Therefore, great opportunities for the increasing demand for Croatia can expect in congress tourism. Significant impact on the development of tourism in Croatia has, and must have, the congress tourism. Croatia is an ideal destination for this type of tourism. Croatia has good transport links, good infrastructure and supporting content such as cultural and historical heritage and natural attractions. Due to the importance of the congress sector, statistics need to be developed to cover a wide range of users requirements. Institutions and government needs statistics to analyses the flows of congress tourism and to renovate venues to be able to accommodate a larger number of participants of the congress in one place. Specialised agencies need statistics for monitoring the movement of congress activities and for further development and spread of work. Enterprises and tourism suppliers also need statistics. Therefore, statistics has to conduct and disseminate quality data of congress activity. In the future CBS will try to enrich the Survey on Congresses and Other Meetings with new data. In association with convention and incentive bureaus CBS will try to prepare survey on the consumption of participants in business. Finally, quality data is the base for quality business decisions, in congress industry and in the tourism in general. 14