Andalusia “MICE INTENSELY” – update about latest developments in the Southern Spanish Region

The Southern Spanish region of Andalusia is bringing along a whole range of it’s fascinating cities and products to Germany to network and make new business with German MICE planners.

Please register here for your participation:

Köln, Mittwoch, 18. September

München, Donnerstag, 19. September

Although well-known to many people in Germany and elsewhere as a holiday or golf destination associated with that special mix of history, sun-drenched plains and mountain villages, the colours of the Spanish South and Moorish architecture, romantic paradores and the coast the upcoming roadshow “MICE INTENSELY” will update planners of events on how to best combine these assets to create stunning programs for corporate conferences, creative incentive programs or business-matching congresses.

MICE is an important economic segment within the development of tourism for the Andalusian government it contributes to employment, secures quality and sustainability and makes the best use of new and existing products off-season.

New hotel projects open in 2019 and 2020: so there are 4 new hotels planned in Malaga this year, which will be added to by H10, Only You and Soho opening up in 2020 and 2021.

Also along the Costa Del Sol more luxury hotel products are coming up like the Palladium or the luxury hotel group IKOS which is to embark on its first Spanish venture with a 150-million-euro investment in Estepona.

The previous four-star Princess Costa Del Sol hotel will be converted into an all-inclusive luxury resort. “IKOS Andalusia will open its doors in 2020, with the objective of becoming the best all-inclusive resort in the country,” said the group which aims to implement its Ikos Infinite Lifestyle experience. “This is a concept which has recently been recognized as number one in the world in the all-inclusive category, according to TripAdvisor.”

Other new projects at the Costa Del Sol are the Four Seasons Marbella and Magna Palace Hotel & Resort

In Seville an amazing 31 new hotel projects with a total of 1.618 rooms will also look after MICE, among which 5 properties with 5 stars and 12 in the 4star segment.

We will keep you updated here about more new hotel investments and renovation projects in the different regions of Andalucia!

So why is Andalusia a good idea for planning future MICE Events there? Key attractions are

— a trustable climate allows safe planning of pleasant outdoor MICE programs

— accessibility is easy from all over Europe and distances are not an issue

— a key destination for gastronomic experiences with Almeria as the Spanish capital of gastronomy in 2019 and Huelva with the same excellence in 2018

— security and reliable partners for events

— authenticity and unique assets

— and: Andalusia can promise a WOW factor be an element in any program!

Some more news on infrastructural improvements are:

Granada is now connected with the AVE rapid train and has three daily departures from Granada and three departures from Madrid — It takes about 3h 05min — 3h 19min to get to Madrid from Granada. There is one stop in Antequera, which is 47 minutes away from Granada; and another stop in Cordoba, 1h 21 min away.

Seville airport is improving and expanding — a new flight with United Airlines will directly connect NYC with Seville in 2020

The city of Cadiz (connected through Jerez airport) opens connections with Manchester and London with Easyjet

Malaga airport now serves 235 routes to a total of 133 destinations.

Cordoba will open the extension of the Palace of Congresses and offers capacity for up to 1.100 delegates.

Business opportunities in Andalusia

(taken from the website of Invest in Andalusia)

“Andalusia’s geographic location provides easy access to the European and rapidly expanding North African markets. Andalusia itself also represents a large consumer and business market with diverse business opportunities. With over 8 million consumers, Andalusia is comparable in size to Austria or Sweden and larger than many other European countries such as Bulgaria or Switzerland.

There are over 500,000 companies located in Andalusia, which is comparable to Madrid or Catalonia, and over 2,000 multinational businesses operate here. One of the main attractions of the Andalusian business community is its organization into clusters. …. The public authorities have supported the development of successful clusters by assigning a technology centre to each one.

Among the region’s more than 25 industrial clusters, the most significant are: • Aerospace (Cadiz and Seville) • Renewable energies (Almeria (PSA — CIEMAT) and Cadiz) • Information & Communication Technology (Málaga and Seville) • Agriculture & Food, including for example fruit & vegetables (Almería, Granada, Huelva), viticulture (Jerez — Cadiz) and olive oil (Córdoba, Granada, Jaén and Seville) etc. • Biotechnology (Granada, Seville and Málaga) • Other manufacturing sectors such as the maritime industry (Cadiz, Huelva and Seville), petrochemicals, energy and metals (Campo de Gibraltar) and chemicals (Huelva)

Here is a video about investing in Andalusia, by the Government Investment Agency on Vimeo:

The Municipality of Malaga offers via “Open4business Malaga” a variety of information on international companies who have opened offices in the city. The term Malaga Valley points out the efforts to be an Entrepreneurial Smart City and the Economic and Technological Capital of Andalusia. Main sectors are Tourism, Construction, Technology and Agriculture.

With the Malaga University: 36,000 students and Andalusia Tech Campus of Excellence, research and talent is available on the spot.

A range of business incubators, accelerators & venture capital programs help start-ups to develop and investors to set foot in a massive high-tech ecosystem

This invitation and information is brought to you by: