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The meeting industry is a growing industry around the world, and the technological development in recent decades is one of the contributing factors to the increased travel opportunities and meeting industry's expansion. It can be assumed that the technology could replace some of the personal meetings, but humans have always had a need to meet in physical locations in work related purposes, therefore there is no evidence that personal meetings will disappear. Technological development should be seen as complementary rather than a substitute to the existing professional meetings. Public and private sectors within countries has drawn attention to meeting industry's potential, as favored destinations in terms of economic administration, image creation, expansion and acquisition of further market share in the global market. Meeting industry is complex precisely because there are so many different actors and stakeholders that integrate. For a destination to differentiate them and excel in the increasingly global world needed an elaborate marketing plan and effective cooperation between the various actors at the destination. Usually the largest professional meetings takes place in cities where there is capacity to receive large numbers of visitors. Essential elements for sustainable meeting industry are mutually dependent network relationships with strong organizational skills, and are of primary importance to a functioning whole. Among the various meeting actors, Convention Bureau occupy key role as the representative, the primary aim is to market the destination, display options, and finally bring together stakeholders with meeting participants. Lack of a Convention Bureau inhibit communication between meeting participants and stakeholders, also weakened the meeting related image because of incomplete representation.

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate marketing activities of the regions Prague, Karlovy Vary and South Moravia in the area of meeting industry and to suggest recommendations to increase their marketing effectiveness in this area. In the theoretical part, the concept of destination marketing is explained and the meeting industry is characterized. In the practical part, the prerequisites of the Czech Republic for meeting industry are assessed. Subsequently, the potential of each individual region is evaluated as well as their marketing and especially promotional activities. For the overall evaluation the SWOT analysis is used. Finally, by means of synthesis, the recommendations to improve marketing presentation of the Czech Republic and individual regions as convention destinations are formulated.

The thesis focuses on the congress tourism, situation of Prague and other 4 competing cities. It describes the specifics of marketing in tourism, congress tourism and destination management. Then follows the comparison of destinations and activities of each city convention bureau and the resulting recommendations for the Czech capital.

Este trabalho teve por objeto principal os serviços ofertados pelos Convention & Visitors Bureaux (CVBx), avaliados pelo seu grau de importância tanto pela ótica dos seus gestores como por organizadores profissionais de congressos (OPCs). Na qualidade de promotores do destino que representam, e pretendendo o aumento do fluxo de turistas, os CVBx utilizam-se de estratégias que incluem a atração de eventos profissionais. Por esse motivo, essas organizações direcionam seus esforços para a divulgação das potencialidades turísticas da localidade, visando com isso o convencimento dos planejadores desses acontecimentos e de seus intermediários - grupo no qual os organizadores de congressos ocupam lugar de destaque. Para o alcance de uma maior eficácia, entende-se que seja relevante um bom alinhamento entre os desejos e as necessidades dos compradores com a oferta proposta pelos CVBx. Tendo esse pressuposto como diretriz principal, decidiu-se investigar a valoração atribuída aos serviços ofertados, tanto pelos OPCs como pelos próprios CVBx. Teve-se por objetivo principal, gerar uma matriz dos serviços considerados mais importantes por esses intermediários dos compradores de destinos turísticos, ordenada do maior para o menor valor obtido. Pretendeu-se ainda comparar as percepções dos dois grupos, buscando-se evidenciar convergências e divergências na valoração dos serviços. Optou-se pela utilização de uma metodologia de pesquisa exploratório-descritiva, com processo de coleta de informações por meio de formulários estruturados, que incluíam questões de medida de opinião por meio de escalas de intensidade. A aplicação da pesquisa foi realizada junto aos representantes tanto de organizadores, como de CVBx. Definiu-se uma amostragem delimitada por área geográfica (região sul do Brasil) - que representava mais de 20% do universo dos CVBx brasileiros - e OPCs selecionados intencionalmente. A análise dos dados foi quantitativa e utilizou-se de métodos estatísticos. Os resultados encontrados permitem que se perceba um bom alinhamento na atribuição de valor entre os dois grupos, muito embora, tenha sido evidenciado um relacionamento precário e algumas lacunas na disponibilização efetiva desses serviços, com o registro de atividades com alta valoração atribuída e rara oferta / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-05-29T14:04:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Vaniza de Lima Schuler.pdf: 1787306 bytes, checksum: efc4644d3c4b2936a322e7bf24e637d8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-29T14:04:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Vaniza de Lima Schuler.pdf: 1787306 bytes, checksum: efc4644d3c4b2936a322e7bf24e637d8 (MD5) / This work has as its principal object the services offered by the Convention & Visitors Bureaus (CVBs), evaluated both from the perspective of its administrators and from professional congress organizers (PCOs). As promoters of the destination, and intending to increase the flow of tourists, CVBs make use of strategies that include the attraction of professional events. For this reason, these organizations direct their efforts to publicize the tourist potential of the region, aiming thereby convincing the planners of these events and their intermediaries - group in which the congress organizers have a prominent place. To achieve greater efficiency, it is understood that is relevant good alignment between the desires and needs of buyers with the offer proposed by CVBs. Taking this assumption as a guiding principle, it was decided to investigate the value attributed to the services offered, by both OPCs as by the CVBs. The primary of this research it was generating an array of services considered most important by these middlemen buyers of tourist destinations, ordered from highest to lowest value obtained. Second aim was to compare the perceptions of the two groups , seeking to highlight similarities and differences in valuation services. It was opted for the use of a descriptive research methodology, with the process of gathering information through structured forms that included questions measuring opinion by means of intensity scales. The application of the research was carried out with representatives of both organizers, as CVBs. It was set up a sampling delimited geographical area (southern Brazil) - which represented more than 20 % of the universe of Brazilian CVBs - and intentionally selected OPCs. Data analysis was quantitative and it was used statistical methods. The results allow us to realize a good alignment on the allocation of value between the two groups, though, have been shown a poor relationship and some gaps in the effective provision of these services, in which there have been activities with high value attributed and rare offer.

Este trabalho teve por objeto principal os serviços ofertados pelos Convention & Visitors Bureaux (CVBx), avaliados pelo seu grau de importância tanto pela ótica dos seus gestores como por organizadores profissionais de congressos (OPCs). Na qualidade de promotores do destino que representam, e pretendendo o aumento do fluxo de turistas, os CVBx utilizam-se de estratégias que incluem a atração de eventos profissionais. Por esse motivo, essas organizações direcionam seus esforços para a divulgação das potencialidades turísticas da localidade, visando com isso o convencimento dos planejadores desses acontecimentos e de seus intermediários - grupo no qual os organizadores de congressos ocupam lugar de destaque. Para o alcance de uma maior eficácia, entende-se que seja relevante um bom alinhamento entre os desejos e as necessidades dos compradores com a oferta proposta pelos CVBx. Tendo esse pressuposto como diretriz principal, decidiu-se investigar a valoração atribuída aos serviços ofertados, tanto pelos OPCs como pelos próprios CVBx. Teve-se por objetivo principal, gerar uma matriz dos serviços considerados mais importantes por esses intermediários dos compradores de destinos turísticos, ordenada do maior para o menor valor obtido. Pretendeu-se ainda comparar as percepções dos dois grupos, buscando-se evidenciar convergências e divergências na valoração dos serviços. Optou-se pela utilização de uma metodologia de pesquisa exploratório-descritiva, com processo de coleta de informações por meio de formulários estruturados, que incluíam questões de medida de opinião por meio de escalas de intensidade. A aplicação da pesquisa foi realizada junto aos representantes tanto de organizadores, como de CVBx. Definiu-se uma amostragem delimitada por área geográfica (região sul do Brasil) - que representava mais de 20% do universo dos CVBx brasileiros - e OPCs selecionados intencionalmente. A análise dos dados foi quantitativa e utilizou-se de métodos estatísticos. Os resultados encontrados permitem que se perceba um bom alinhamento na atribuição de valor entre os dois grupos, muito embora, tenha sido evidenciado um relacionamento precário e algumas lacunas na disponibilização efetiva desses serviços, com o registro de atividades com alta valoração atribuída e rara oferta / This work has as its principal object the services offered by the Convention & Visitors Bureaus (CVBs), evaluated both from the perspective of its administrators and from professional congress organizers (PCOs). As promoters of the destination, and intending to increase the flow of tourists, CVBs make use of strategies that include the attraction of professional events. For this reason, these organizations direct their efforts to publicize the tourist potential of the region, aiming thereby convincing the planners of these events and their intermediaries - group in which the congress organizers have a prominent place. To achieve greater efficiency, it is understood that is relevant good alignment between the desires and needs of buyers with the offer proposed by CVBs. Taking this assumption as a guiding principle, it was decided to investigate the value attributed to the services offered, by both OPCs as by the CVBs. The primary of this research it was generating an array of services considered most important by these middlemen buyers of tourist destinations, ordered from highest to lowest value obtained. Second aim was to compare the perceptions of the two groups , seeking to highlight similarities and differences in valuation services. It was opted for the use of a descriptive research methodology, with the process of gathering information through structured forms that included questions measuring opinion by means of intensity scales. The application of the research was carried out with representatives of both organizers, as CVBs. It was set up a sampling delimited geographical area (southern Brazil) - which represented more than 20 % of the universe of Brazilian CVBs - and intentionally selected OPCs. Data analysis was quantitative and it was used statistical methods. The results allow us to realize a good alignment on the allocation of value between the two groups, though, have been shown a poor relationship and some gaps in the effective provision of these services, in which there have been activities with high value attributed and rare offer.

This thesis deals with the topic of congress tourism, which is perceived as a substantially attractive form of tourism in many destinations. The practical part focuses on the annual congress organized by ICCA - a significant international conference association, that Prague will host in 2017. The aim of this work is to characterize the sector of convention industry with emphasis on the segment of congresses and conferences organized by associations and other non-profit organizations, and subsequently to evaluate the steps the entities participating in preparation and execution of the ICCA prestigious congress have taken so far.