Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions Competitiveness and Urban Branding in Prague, Bucharest and Rome

Bogdan Popovici ()
Additional contact information
Bogdan Popovici: Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest

No 15316954, Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences from International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences

Abstract: Urban competitiveness in Europe and all over the world is stronger than ever. The Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) industry is one of the most recent strategic tools which helps the economic development of the cities and their branding. This study analyses competitiveness of Prague, Bucharest, and Rome to attract international business and more European Union funds using the MICE industry. The three cities have different approaches to use MICE industry that reflect their European and world branding, historical, cultural and economic contexts. The study evaluates three key points: MICE infrastructure and capacity, urban branding strategies, and the absorption of EU funds to improve competitiveness. Data collected from EU reports, policy analyses and national and city studies are confronted with competitiveness and branding theories to identify development trends. Prague combines particular heritage with modern MICE facilities and demonstrates consistent know how in utilising EU funds. Bucharest offers a low cost skilled workforce and underlines innovation but lacks brand visibility and has difficulties with fund absorption. Rome has a global prestige and cultural heritage which brings a lot of advantages but faces structural challenges: high costs, infrastructure age, economic structure. The study concludes that the three key points are vital for competitiveness. Recommendations are: stronger public private cooperation, integrated branding policies, and cross city collaboration in Europe for attracting premium MICE.

Keywords: MICE Industry; Urban Competitiveness; City Branding; European Cohesion Policy; Central Eastern Europe; Comparative Urban Studies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F00 M38 O57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 12 pages
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-inv
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Proceedings of the Proceedings of the International Conference on Economics, Finance & Business, Rome, Nov -0001, pages 58-69

Downloads: (external link)
https://iises.net/proceedings/international-confer ... 53&iid=005&rid=16954 First version, 0000

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sek:iefpro:15316954

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences from International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Klara Cermakova ().