24 Member Hybrid City Alliance Commits to Global Association Meeting Protocol

The Hybrid City Alliance, which boasts 24 member cities in 16 countries across five continents, has committed to the development and implementation of strategies based on the findings and recommendations of the ICCA Global Association Meetings Protocol. The 24 destinations will report back on their individual activities and success at Imex America in October, and the ICCA Convention in November.

The announcement was made yesterday at IMEX in Frankfurt by Lesley Mackay (Ottawa Tourism) and Bas Schot (The Hague Convention Bureau), Members of the alliance leading this initiative are Ottawa Tourism, The Hague Convention Bureau, Business Events Sydney, Explore Edmonton, Fukuoka Convention & Visitors Bureau, Lausanne Montreux Congress, Prague Convention Bureau, Department of Tourism and Information, Taipei City Government, Tourism Winnipeg and Zurich Convention Bureau.

Described as ‘A Strategic Future for the Global Events Industry’, the Global Association Meetings Protocol focuses on four key pillars, which it describes as follows:

Sustainability, Equity & Legacy Sustainability; equity, diversity and inclusion; and legacy are now top of mind for association clients when it comes to site selection. Therefore, destinations should dedicate more resources to deliver on those priorities more effectively.
Crisis Planning & Mitigation Protocols to enhance safety, health and security should be further enhanced and codified to protect against future cataclysmic shocks and chronic stresses that impact business events.
Advocacy & Policy Association clients are asking destinations and their partners to continue to advocate stridently for reducing barriers to travel
Sector & Community Alignment Providing access to local clusters of advanced industries and community leaders is critical for attracting business events in those industries. Selling brainpower as well as buildings improves competitiveness for the destination and enhances legacy outcomes for the client.

“The Hybrid City Alliance was set up to bring likeminded destinations together at a time of extreme stress for our industry,” comments Lesley Mackay, founding member of the Hybrid City Alliance and Vice President, Meetings & Major Events Ottawa Tourism. “All of the member cities are committed to constantly improving themselves for the sake of their clients. This commitment provides the perfect demonstration of our willingness to make big decisions and implement the strategies, policies and infrastructure that association clients around the world need now and in the future. I am looking forward to seeing the examples and case studies our members will bring to life and share later in 2022.”

About The Hybrid City Alliance
The Hybrid City Alliance brings together like-minded destinations to offer a simple, streamlined, transparent and free to access approach to engaging with multiple locations for hybrid and multi-city events. Their vision is to be the world leaders in developing ways for people to gather together in safe, flexible, and effective ways. The city partners act as one point of contact for PCOs and event buyers looking to work with multiple suppliers and destinations on a single event. The Hybrid City Alliance is developing a range of services and additional tools for organisers, including educational content and white papers. These are available through the Hybrid City Alliance website: www.hybridcityalliance.org. Launched in December 2020 by four co-founding cities (Geneva, Ottawa, Prague and The Hague), the Hybrid City Alliance is growing and currently includes 24 members.