Post-IMEX Educational Trip to Dresden

After a very successful and eventful 3 days at the IMEX 2024 in Frankfurt, our team, in cooperation with the Dresden Convention Service and the Dresden Convention Bureau, have put together a Post-IMEX Educational Trip to introduce the magnificent city of Dresden to seven of our European Hosted Buyers from Germany, France, Belgium and the UK from companies such as Informa Tech & Uniglobe Carter Travel from the UK, Brands & Places as well as Vincentz Network GmbH & Co. KG from Germany, GROUPAMA & ADP from France and Co-mana srl from Belgium, a diverse mix of corporates, agencies and media companies!  

The educational trip started immediately after the end of IMEX on Thursday 16th May. The European 'delegation' boarded the shuttle bus and headed to the main station to catch our 5 hour train to Dresden. Our journey began and ended on time, with the Dresden Convention Bureau team waiting to greet us at the Dresden Neustadt train station to escort us to our designated hotels, the Bilderberg Bellevue Hotel, the Hyperion Hotel and the Maritim Hotel.

The first day started bright and early with our first site inspection at the Ostra Dome & the Messe Dresden. After spending some time exploring these indoor venues, it was about time to board a ship, namely the conference ship of the Weiße Flotte Dresden. After that we headed for lunch at the Schloss Wackerbarth, where we also enjoyed a lovely guided wine tour. The afternoon was then filled with a variety of experiences and site visits, from a visit to the Dresden International Airport & the Dresden Chamber of Crafts to a beer tasting at Lohrmanns Brewery in Kulturkraftwerk Mitte all the way to a site inspection of the Löwensaal Dresden. We ended our first day with a wonderful dinner at the VEN Restaurant in the INNSide by Melia and topped it all off with a “an after work drink” in their rooftop Bar.  

On our last day, our Dresden colleagues with the help of Fuchs Incentive have planned a more of a relaxed itinerary for our Hosted Buyers, which included a visit to the three hotels where we were staying, namely the Maritim Hotel in the morning, the Hyperion Hotel for lunch, and the Bilderberg Bellevue Hotel for dinner, so that all of our hosted buyers had the opportunity to see the locations and their offerings up close. During the day, we had a sightseeing tour of the historic city of Dresden with a warm welcome from the official mistress of King August the Strong, Anna Constantia von Brockdorff in person! The highlight of the day however, was an afternoon tea at the 5 stars Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski Dresden.

Many thanks to our Dresden colleagues from the Dresden Convention Service, the Dresden Convention Bureau (DCB), the Agentur Seidel GmbH, from Smart Events and from Brähler Convention, as well as all the members of the DCB for making this Education Trip possible! A big thank you also goes to our hosted buyers who decided to take part in the GCB hosted buyer program and made the long journey to discover one of our truly hidden gems!