The opening-up of the Eastern Europe countries creates op-portunities for new business relationships. Although some companies have already been successful in this respect, others start realising that it is difficult to succeed on their own. Companies from the East have the same experience when dealing with Western European countries. In order to do something about this, Mr Alex Karpov, a Ukrainian businessman, living in Belgium for well over 10 years now, stimulated the creation of a non-profit organisation: the TTI Club Crystal Lotus.
Building business bridges is the main objective of the TTI Club Crystal Lotus. It aims at being a meeting platform for trade and travel professionals from East and West so that business partnerships can emerge. Mr Karpov is a Ukrainian with Russian roots, but lives in Belgium, where he is the dri-ving force behind Travel and Trade International, Inc., a concern with sister companies in England, Belgium and Ukraine. The following pages provide an introduction to Russia and Ukraine. In later issues, more attention will be devoted to various aspects of business and the travel trade in these countries, as well as in other Eastern European states.
Corporate parties can be divided into two categories, firstly, according to their ideological background, to the problem they solve, and, secondly, to type of organization.
Ideologically, the event may be directed: on staff (predominant problem “team building”); on partners, customers, state, officials (political problems dominated: “fixation of success”, the strengthening of - partnerships, to build new “bridges” or simply “coaxing the right people”).
By type of organization corporate parties can be divided into:
Banquet events.
This is the most common type of organization of the holiday. People choose it because of their “traditional” habit. Festivals are hold in restaurants, banquet halls. If you choose this type of holiday, special attention should be given to the banquet program, diversifying it by inclusion of the corporate entertainment themes, such as: light-hearted quiz on the history of the company and the bluff-tours in specific occupations, not serious rewarding of “outstanding” employees by fun prizes and so on.
Events tourism – this is a great chance to become a witness of the unique music, sports, cultural events. Such visits are remembered for a lifetime. You can really brag them to your friends. Your friends will not be ready to go home after the phrase “Now I will show you pictures of our trip and visited hotels, and vice versa – they will rub their hands in anticipation of the story about your adventures.
The main difference of the event tourism from the usual tours is that an event becomes your goal. Today, almost any travel agency is ready to offer a choice of dozens of routes. It all depends on your desire, imagination and taste.
We can identify several key thematic areas: national festivals and celebrations, theatrical performances, film and theater festivals, gastronomic feasts, flower shows, fashion shows, auctions, sporting events, music concerts and festivals. As you can see, there are a lot of proposals. Thoughtful travel agencies are coming to help the doubters. They will listen to all your wishes, laments, requests and threats and will pick the appropriate event.
The acronym MICE is used to refer to a particular type of tourism in which large groups, usually planned well in advance, are brought together for some particular purpose. Most components of MICE are well understood, perhaps with the exception of incentives. Incentive tourism is usually undertaken as a type of employee reward by a company or institution for targets met or exceeded, or a job well done. Unlike the other types of MICE tourism, incentive tourism is usually conducted purely for entertainment, rather than professional or educational purposes.
MICE tourism usually includes a well-planned agenda centered around a particular theme or topic, such as profession trade organization, a special interest group or an educational topic. Such tourism is often a specialized area with its own exhibition. Location of MICE events are normally bid on by specialized convention bureaux located in particular countries and cities and established for the purpose of bidding on MICE activities. This process of marketing and bidding is normally conducted well in advance of the actual event, often several years. MICE tourism is known for its extensive planning and demanding clientele.
The opening-up of the Eastern Europe countries creates op-portunities for new business relationships. Although some companies have already been successful in this respect, others start realising that it is difficult to succeed on their own. Companies from the East have the same experience when dealing with Western European countries. In order to do something about this, Mr Alex Karpov, a Ukrainian businessman, living in Belgium for well over 10 years now, stimulated the creation of a non-profit organisation: the TTI Club Crystal Lotus.
Corporate parties can be divided into two categories, firstly, according to their ideological background, to the problem they solve, and, secondly, to type of organization.
The acronym MICE is used to refer to a particular type of tourism in which large groups, usually planned well in advance, are brought together for some particular purpose. Most components of MICE are well understood, perhaps with the exception of incentives. Incentive tourism is usually undertaken as a type of employee reward by a company or institution for targets met or exceeded, or a job well done. Unlike the other types of MICE tourism, incentive tourism is usually conducted purely for entertainment, rather than professional or educational purposes.