FIRST RELEASE		CROATIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS 10000 ZAGREB, ILICA 3, PHONE: +385 1 4806-111, P.O.B. 80, CROATIA ISSN 1334-0565
YEAR: XLVI.	ZAGREB, 30 DECEMBER, 2009		NUMBER: 4.4.8/10.
				OBLIGED TO NOTIFY DATA SOURCE

CONGRESSES AND OTHER BUSINESS MEETINGS, OCTOBER 2009

In October 2009, the number of business meetings held in the Republic of Croatia was 575. There were 306 meetings with overnight stays and 269 without them. The total number of days at business meetings was 1 124. Each meeting was held 2 days on the average. The number of participants at all meetings was 48 146, out of which the number of domestic participants was 41 760 (87%) and the number of foreign ones was 6 386 (13%).

According to professional organisers, the most meetings, 275 of them (48%), were organised by business entities.

In October 2009, the turnover of 36 793 451 kuna was generated from business meetings. Out of the total turnover, 33 059 012 kuna (90%) was generated from meetings with overnight stays and 3 734 439 kuna (10%) from meetings without overnight stays.

In the period from January to October 2009, there were 3 991 business meetings held in the Republic of Croatia. Out of this number, there were 1 930 (48%) meetings with overnight stays and 2 061 (52%) without them. The total number of days at business meetings was 7 873. Business meetings were attended by 304 309 participants, out of which 268 352 (88%) domestic and 35 957 (12%) foreign ones.

In the period from January to October 2009, the total turnover generated from all business meetings held in the Republic of Croatia was 190 265 035 kuna. Out of this sum, 165 328 271 kuna (87%) were generated from meetings with overnight stays and
24 936 764 kuna (13%) from meetings without them.

1. BUSINESS ENTITIES IN WHICH BUSINESS MEETINGS WERE HELD, OCTOBER 2009

	Business entities	Halls	Seats
Total	89	405	46 926
Hotels and similar accommodation facilities	83	348	31 088
Universities, fair, cultural institutions and other types of facilities in which business meetings are held	6	57	15 838

2.   BUSINESS MEETINGS HELD IN PERIOD FROM JANUARY – OCTOBER 2009

	Business meetings	Number of days  at meetings	Participants			Night overstays	Turnover generated by meeting,  kuna, incl. VAT
			Total	Participants without overnight stays	Participants with overnight stays
X. 2009.
Total	575	1 124	48 146	26 451	21 695	49 618	36 793 451
Meetings with overnights	306	789	26 548	4 853	21 695	49 618	33 059 012
Meetings without overnights	269	335	21 598	21 598	-	-	3 734 439
I. – X. 2009.
Total	3 991	7 873	304 309	195 284	109 025	264 241	190 265 035
Meetings with overnights	1 930	5 039	141 266	32 241	109 025	264 241	165 328 271
Meetings without overnights	2 061	2 834	163 043	163 043	-	-	24 936 764

3.    BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY TYPE OF FACILITY IN WHICH BUSINESS MEETINGS WERE HELD, OCTOBER 2009

	Business meetings	Number of days at meeting	Participants			Night overstays			Turnover  generated by meeting,  kuna, incl. VAT
			Total	Domestic	Foreign	Total	By  domestic  participants	By  foreign participants
Total	575	1 124	48 146	41 760	6 386	49 618	35 070	14 548	36 793 451
Hotels and similar accommodation facilities	543	1 081	41 240	35 107	6 133	49 618	35 070	14 548	36 456 179
Universities, fair, cultural institutions and other types of facilities in which business meetings are held	32	43	6 906	6 653	253	-	-	-	337 272

4.    BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY TYPE OF FACILITY IN WHICH BUSINESS MEETINGS WERE HELD, JANUARY – OCTOBER 2009

	Business meetings	Number of days at meeting	Participants			Night overstays			Turnover generated by meeting,  kuna, incl. VAT
			Total	Domestic	Foreign	Total	By domestic  participants	By foreign participants
Total	3 991	7 873	304 309	268 352	35 957	264 241	172 859	91 382	190 265 035
Hotels and similar accommodation facilities	3 722	7 475	257 661	222 849	34 812	264 241	172 859	91 382	188 304 074
Universities, fair, cultural institutions and other types of facilities in which business meetings are held	269	398	46 648	45 503	1 145	-	-	-	1 960 961

5.    BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY TYPE, OCTOBER 2009

	Business meetings	Number of days at meeting	Participants, total			Night overstays			Turnover generated by meeting,  kuna,  incl. VAT
			Total	Domestic	Foreign	Total	By domestic  participants	By  foreign participants
Total	575	1 124	48 146	41 760	6 386	49 618	35 070	14 548	36 793 451
Corporate/business meeting	180	284	8 601	7 329	1 272	3 239	1 537	1 702	4 495 788
Congress (forum, course of lectures, seminar, symposium)	286	643	27 852	23 645	4 207	37 993	27 409	10 584	25 551 404
Public conference/lecture	24	49	3 948	3 648	300	3 426	2 828	598	2 455 555
General assembly	15	19	3 396	3 298	98	1 365	1 359	6	552 649
Convention	5	10	1 000	971	29	889	813	76	621 334
Incentive arrangement	13	33	646	300	346	1 792	335	1 457	2 280 246
Team building	16	37	717	658	59	826	727	99	576 234
Other	36	49	1 986	1 911	75	88	62	26	260 241

6.    BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY TYPES, JANUARY – OCTOBER 2009

	Business meetings	Number of days at meeting	Participants			Night overstays			Turnover generated by meeting,  kuna, incl. VAT
			Total	Domestic	Foreign	Total	By domestic  participants	By  foreign participants
Total	3 991	7 873	304 309	268 352	35 957	264 241	172 859	91 382	190 265 035
Corporate/business meeting	1 111	1 717	51 195	46 433	4 762	15 569	7 999	7 570	23 051 485
Congress (forum, course of lectures, seminar, symposium)	2 097	4 700	174 437	151 649	22 788	200 001	134 084	65 917	132 751 827
Public conference/lecture	189	332	22 155	20 111	2 044	11 215	7 630	3 585	11 231 822
Governmental conferences	11	23	1 085	904	181	683	331	352	395 251
General assembly	69	85	14 978	14 880	98	2 067	2 061	6	923 875
Convention	13	26	4 330	4 204	126	1 044	828	216	901 453
Incentive arrangement	79	215	4 849	2 291	2 558	11 259	3 815	7 444	9 550 241
Team building	113	270	8 214	7 455	759	16 580	14 947	1 633	6 332 825
Other	309	505	23 066	20 425	2 641	5 823	1 164	4 659	5 126 256

7. BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY PROFESSIONAL ORGANISER, OCTOBER 2009

	Business meetings	Number of days at meeting	Participants			Night overstays			Turnover  generated by meeting,  kuna, incl. VAT
			Total	Domestic	Foreign	Total	By domestic  participants	By  foreign participants
Total	575	1 124	48 146	41 760	6 386	49 618	35 070	14 548	36 793 451
International organisations	14	39	844	276	568	2 172	564	1 608	1 661 908
Croatian government, bodies of state and local government and self-government	33	79	3 617	3 298	319	5 915	5 318	597	3 532 632
Universities, polytechnics, academies, institutes	36	79	4 476	4 030	446	4 796	3 544	1 252	2 694 930
Travel agencies	26	56	1 982	1 797	185	3 234	2 933	301	1 771 759
Business entities (enterprises)	275	465	20 461	19 223	1 238	9 905	7 515	2 390	10 220 018
Professional associations	68	139	6 889	6 280	609	13 495	11 374	2 121	7 028 525
Other (banks, insurance agencies, political parties, NGOs)	59	117	5 265	4 993	272	3 745	3 204	541	1 701 229
Foreign enterprises, institutions, organisations	64	150	4 612	1 863	2749	6 356	618	5 738	8 182 450

8.   BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY PROFESSIONAL ORGANISER, JANUARY – OCTOBER 2009

	Business meetings	Number of days at meeting	Participants			Night overstays			Turnover generated by meeting,  kuna, incl. VAT
			Total	Domestic	Foreign	Total	By domestic  participants	By  foreign participants
Total	3 991	7 873	304 309	268 352	35 957	264 241	172 859	91 382	190 265 035
International organisations	106	313	6 895	3 640	3 255	12 037	2 503	9 534	9 595 255
Croatian government, bodies of state and local government and self-government	217	448	18 311	17 144	1 167	20 541	17 777	2 764	12 220 758
Universities, polytechnics, academies, institutes	213	554	24 907	22 507	2 400	21 513	15 672	5 841	13 120 141
Travel agencies	278	639	22 940	17 736	5 204	40 293	25 600	14 693	28 187 711
Business entities (enterprises)	1 964	3 336	127 165	120 458	6 707	52 452	39 212	13 240	52 578 852
Professional associations	442	930	42 923	39 453	3 470	62 075	49 477	12 598	33 940 211
Other (banks, insurance agencies, political parties,  NGOs)	448	824	39 999	38 328	1 671	23 873	19 200	4 673	14 412 524
Foreign enterprises, institutions, organisations	323	829	21 169	9 086	12 083	31 457	3 418	28 039	26 209 583

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

Data sources

The data source is the regular monthly survey on business tourism conducted through the Report on Business Meeting (TU-23 form).

Coverage and comparability

The survey covers all business entities performing business meetings, incentive arrangements and team building programmes (hotel and restaurant facilities, universities, concert and congress halls, fair, cultural facilities). The survey covers all business meetings with at least one realised overnight and all business meetings without realised overnights attended by 20 participants or more.

Due to the fact that not all of reporting units have established their registers of business meetings, the coverage in this survey is not full yet.

Definitions

Corporate/business meetings are those business-oriented meetings in which the participants represent the same company, corporate group, joint-venture, or client/provider relations.

Congresses are meetings of generally fixed frequency having an extraordinary nature, in which participants belonging to different places meet at a predetermined site and time in order to discuss things. Scientific congresses and conferences can be subcategorised into forums, colloquiums, seminars and symposiums.

Public conferences are unidirectional meetings in which discussion is proposed by the conference organiser, the audience taking an essentially passive role, and where specialised knowledge is not necessarily required. 

Governmental conferences are technical or political meetings between governments with the aim of discussing national or international topics to reach agreements of a political nature.

General assemblies are civil meetings, limited to the members of one organisation, of an internal nature, committed to discussing the function of the organisation itself, and to signing legally binding agreements (election of candidates, reviewing programmes, setting norms and rules) concerning predominated issues.

Conventions are general and formal meetings of legislative bodies, social or economic groups in order to provide information on a particular situation in order to deliberate and, consequently, establish consent on policies among the participants. Usually of limited duration with set objectives, but no determined frequency.

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 classic stimulating money award etc. This is the way firms thank their clients, motivate or reward their employees for their loyalty and hard work invested in firm’s efficiency, by taking them to a nice incentive travel. Incentive programmes include: golfing, sailing, rafting, ballooning, shooting, cycling, paint ball, ATV safari etc.

Team building programme is a special type of incentive travel offering active relaxation at the same time, organised by agencies catering for the employees of certain firms and institutions with the aim of boosting the team spirit, practicing coordination and offering other incentives.

Other types of business meetings are presentations, candidate testing, promoting campaigns, religious congresses and similar meetings.

Business meetings with overnights are meetings at which at least a part of participants realised an overnight.

Business meetings without overnights are meetings at which no participants realised an overnight. Regarding meetings without overnights, e.g. evaluation of candidates for a job, it is possible for the number of days to be more than one, since a meeting may last for several days, but not all participants stayed all the time at the meeting (that is, there were no overnights).

Professional organisers of business meetings or incentive travels are institutions, associations, companies that organise a business meeting (orderers), such as: international governmental organisations (e.g. UN, EU, EFTA, OECD, NATO), international NGOs, the Government of the Republic of Croatia and administration, bodies of state and local government and self-government, universities, polytechnics, research centres, academies, institutes, travel agencies, business entities (enterprises), professional associations and others (e.g. banks, insurance agencies, political parties, NGOs, religious organisations etc.) as well as foreign enterprises, institutions and organisations.

Turnover generated by meetings or incentive travels in kuna (including VAT) includes the turnover of accommodation services, food services (restaurants, bar services, cafés), hire of the meeting rooms, display area and technical equipment when the reporting is being done by accommodation facilities, fair, universities, cultural institutions or other service providers.

Abbreviatins

ATV       All Terrain Vehicle

EFTA    European Free Trade Association

e.g.        for example (from Latin: exempli gratia)

etc.        and so on (from Latin: et cetera)

EU         European Union

incl.       including

NATO   North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

NGO     non-government organisation

OECD   Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

VAT       value added tax

UN        United Nations

Symbols

-  no occurrence