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, 26 NOVEMBER, 2009		NUMBER: 4.4.8/9.
				OBLIGED TO NOTIFY DATA SOURCE

CONGRESSES AND OTHER BUSINESS MEETINGS, SEPTEMBER 2009

In September 2009, the number of business meetings held in the Republic of Croatia was 459. There were 253 meetings with overnight stays and 206 without them. The total number of days at business meetings was 983. Each meeting was held 2 days on the average. The number of participants at all meetings was 33 687, out of which the number of domestic participants was 28 911 (86%) and the number of foreign ones was 4 776 (14%).

According to professional organisers, the most meetings, 210 of them (46%), were organised by business entities.

In September 2009, the turnover of 25 792 573 kuna was generated from business meetings. Out of the total turnover, 22 840 622 kuna (89%) was generated from meetings with overnight stays and 2 951 951 kuna (11%) from meetings without overnight stays.

In the period from January to September 2009, there were 3 416 business meetings held in the Republic of Croatia. Out of this number, there were 1 624 (48%) meetings with overnight stays and 1 792 (52%) without them. The total number of days at business meetings was 6 749. Business meetings were attended by 256 163 participants, out of which 226 592 (88%) domestic and 29 571 (12%) foreign ones.

In the period from January to September 2009, the total turnover generated from all business meetings held in the Republic of Croatia was 153 471 584 kuna. Out of this sum, 132 269 259 kuna (86%) were generated from meetings with overnight stays and 21 202 325 kuna (14%) from meetings without them.

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

	Business entities	Halls	Seats
Total	87	400	34 220
Hotels and similar accommodation facilities	82	360	29 712
Universities, fair, cultural institutions and other types of facilities in which business meetings are held	5	40	4 508

2.   BUSINESS MEETINGS HELD IN PERIOD FROM JANUARY – SEPTEMBER 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
IX. 2009.
Total	459	983	33 687	21 504	12 183	31 630	25 792 573
Meetings with overnights	253	691	16 421	4 238	12 183	31 630	22 840 622
Meetings without overnights	206	292	17 266	17 266	-	-	2 951 951
I. - IX. 2009.
Total	3 416	6 749	256 163	168 833	87 330	214 623	153 471 584
Meetings with overnights	1 624	4 250	114 718	27 388	87 330	214 623	132 269 259
Meetings without overnights	1 792	2 499	141 445	141 445	-	-	21 202 325

3. BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY TYPE OF FACILITY IN WHICH BUSINESS MEETINGS WERE HELD, SEPTEMBER 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	459	983	33 687	28 911	4 776	31 630	17 881	13 749	25 792 573
Hotels and similar accommodation facilities	435	944	28 625	24 064	4 561	31 630	17 881	13 749	25 486 284
Universities, fair, cultural institutions and other types of facilities in which business meetings are held	24	39	5 062	4 847	215	-	-	-	306 289

4.   BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY TYPE OF FACILITY IN WHICH BUSINESS MEETINGS WERE HELD, JANUARY – SEPTEMBER 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	3 416	6 749	256 163	226 592	29 571	214 623	137 789	76 834	153 471 584
Hotels and similar accommodation facilities	3 179	6 394	216 421	187 742	28 679	214 623	137 789	76 834	151 847 895
Universities, fair, cultural institutions and other types of facilities in which business meetings are held	237	355	39 742	38 850	892	-	-	-	1 623 689

5.   BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY TYPE, SEPTEMBER 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	459	983	33 687	28 911	4 776	31 630	17 881	13 749	25 792 573
Corporate/business meeting	133	204	5 369	5 118	251	1 073	624	449	1 870 159
Congress (forum, course of lectures, seminar, symposium)	252	632	19 106	15 344	3 762	24 705	13 651	11 054	20 102 099
Public conference/lecture	16	33	2 273	2 100	173	1 133	703	430	887 652
General assembly	6	8	3 190	3 190	-	450	450	-	178 665
Convention	2	2	594	522	72	68	8	60	80 637
Incentive arrangement	11	36	622	224	398	2 106	741	1 365	1 463 082
Team building	14	26	1 093	1 040	53	1 791	1 658	133	967 445
Other^1)	25	42	1 440	1 373	67	304	46	258	242 834

1)  Governmental conference and other types of business meetings

6.    BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY TYPES, JANUARY – SEPTEMBER 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	3 416	6 749	256 163	226 592	29 571	214 623	137 789	76 834	153 471 584
Corporate/business meeting	931	1 433	42 594	39 104	3 490	12 330	6 462	5 868	18 555 697
Congress (forum, course of lectures, seminar, symposium)	1 811	4 057	146 585	128 004	18 581	162 008	106 675	55 333	107 200 423
Public conference/lecture	165	283	18 207	16 463	1 744	7 789	4 802	2 987	8 776 267
Governmental conferences	11	23	1 085	904	181	683	331	352	395 251
General assembly	54	66	11 582	11 582	-	702	702	-	371 226
Convention	8	16	3 330	3 233	97	155	15	140	280 119
Incentive arrangement	66	182	4 203	1 991	2 212	9 467	3 480	5 987	7 269 995
Team building	97	233	7 497	6 797	700	15 754	14 220	1 534	5 756 591
Other	273	456	21 080	18 514	2 566	5 735	1 102	4 633	4 866 015

7. BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY PROFESSIONAL ORGANISER, SEPTEMBER 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	459	983	33 687	28 911	4 776	31 630	17 881	13 749	25 792 573
International organisations	16	59	1 175	357	818	3 216	400	2 816	2 732 522
Croatian government, bodies of state and local government and self-government	21	45	1 211	1 121	90	665	523	142	675 548
Universities, polytechnics, academies, institutes	24	84	3 269	2 610	659	3 794	2 164	1 630	3 364 209
Travel agencies	38	89	2 260	1 452	808	4 616	1 675	2 941	4 080 701
Business entities (enterprises)	210	377	14 805	14 185	620	6 573	5 003	1 570	7 324 363
Professional associations	54	114	3 973	3 701	272	5 423	4 848	575	2 785 786
Other (banks, insurance agencies, political parties, NGOs)	52	103	5 003	4 581	422	3 474	2 650	824	1 825 150
Foreign enterprises, institutions, organisations	44	112	1 991	904	1 087	3 869	618	3 251	3 004 294

8.   BUSINESS MEETINGS, BY PROFESSIONAL ORGANISER, JANUARY – SEPTEMBER 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	3 416	6 749	256 163	226 592	29 571	214 623	137 789	76 834	153 471 584
International organisations	92	274	6 051	3 364	2 687	9 865	1 939	7 926	7 933 347
Croatian government, bodies of state and local government and self-government	184	369	14 694	13 846	848	14 626	12 459	2 167	8 688 126
Universities, polytechnics, academies, institutes	177	475	20 431	18 477	1 954	16 717	12 128	4 589	10 425 211
Travel agencies	252	583	20 958	15 939	5 019	37 059	22 667	14 392	26 415 952
Business entities (enterprises)	1 689	2 871	106 704	101 235	5 469	42 547	31 697	1 0850	42 358 834
Professional associations	374	791	36 034	33 173	2 861	48 580	38 103	10 477	26 911 686
Other (banks, insurance agencies, political parties,  NGOs)	389	707	34 734	33 335	1 399	20 128	15 996	4 132	12 711 295
Foreign enterprises, institutions, organisations	259	679	16 557	7 223	9 334	25 101	2 800	22 301	18 027 133

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