The rise and rise of Gdansk

Its invasion by the Nazis in 1939 marked the start of the Second World War, and it was the birth of the Solidarity movement in its shipyards that triggered the overthrow of communist rule.

Tuned in tourists flock to see the architecture and monuments of the Old Town as well as the neighbouring spa resort of Sopot on the Baltic coast, and the city’s reputation as a cultural, academic and commercial centre has seen a growth in business bookings too.

Since 2005, the Convention Bureau (GCB) has promoted Gdansk, and the wider Pomeranian region, to international conference and event organisers on behalf of local service providers, everything from hotels, travel agencies and venues to transport companies and interpreters. The UK is a key target market, along with Germany and Scandinavia, given the relatively short flight times, and beyond the information portal at www.gdanskconvention.pl, GCB’s breadth of activity includes an active presence at the likes of EMIF, IMEX and EIBTM, and membership of ICCA and MPI.

Support for incoming business runs from advice and assistance at the earliest stages of enquiry and booking, through to the co-ordination of site inspections, recommended professional conference organisers (PCOs), and the provision of promotional materials and collateral. The bureau can also help secure discounted flights for delegates and arrange welcome/tourist information desks at the airport or conference venue, as required. There’s even the possibility of a few extra pairs of hands on the ground, come the time, through the Volunteers for Gdansk project, designed to engage local people in major events taking place on their doorstep.

Modern Take

“To date, 70 to 80 per cent of our business is from Poland, but it’s growing every year and Euro 2012 will really help us increase our international bookings,” reports Anna Gorska, GCB chief executive The major hotel chains that have opened, Hilton, Radisson, Sheraton among them, are not just about accommodating an influx of visitors during the tournament, but the expected rise in tourists ever after, corporate nights included. The new builds have incorporated meeting and event spaces, and the business facilities to suit, and with Poland outside the Eurozone, the figures stack up in their favour.

“We are still not as expensive as the rest of Europe,” Gorska nods. “Hotel rates, excellent restaurants and shopping, including our famous amber markets, are all attractive to organisers. But also we’re still pretty undiscovered as a destination, and the infrastructure is to a very high standard.”

Some 80 per cent of the world’s amber deposits are in the Baltic Sea, Gdansk the starting point for the ancient trade routes down through Europe, with evidence of workshops producing pendants, amulets and other talismans dating back to the late 10th century. The streets in the Old Town are still lined with shops and galleries selling handcrafted jewellery and collectibles, and every March the Amberif trade fair draws thousands of international visitors to the city.

No surprise then that the 40,000 capacity stadium being constructed for Euro 2012 in the Letnica district has an exterior designed to resemble the mineral, and the exhibition and convention centre being built next door has been christened Amber Expo. Fifteen minutes from the city centre and 10 from the shore, the latter will boast 12,000sq m of interconnected, modular exhibition space, together with 1,150sq m of dedicated conference rooms, a restaurant, reception area, and state of the art technology when it opens next spring.

Amber Expo drew attention at Confex, along with the stadium and the multiuse Ergo Arena, which opened further along the coast towards Sopot last summer. With a 12,000 capacity for sports events and up to 15,000 for concerts, the technical specification is higher than at any other arena in Poland, put to good use when Lady Gaga rolled in with her Monster Ball last November. Sting, Ozzy Osbourne and Rihanna will all play there this year, and it hosts the FIVB Volleyball World League in July. Ergo too is highlighting its conferencing potential, with a separate training hall, post match interview room and VIP lounges among its offering.

“We’ve had positive feedback about Gdansk and Pomerania region and its growing infrastructure, and particular interest in the new build venues,” reports Marta Wisniewska, convention specialist at GCB. “We were also promoting the ICCA Research, Sales and Marketing Programme which we are hosting in July, and we’re very happy with the positive interest in the destination as well as the conference.”

ICCA (International Congress & Convention Association) has chosen the Hotel Mercure Hevelius, a stone’s throw from the Old Town, as the base for its three day event, with a welcome reception at Artus Court, a sumptuous 15th century Gothic mansion built as a meeting place for merchants and dignitaries, and a last night party at the Sofitel Grand Sopot.

Accommodation

The Tri-City, the metropolitan area encompassing Gdansk, Sopot and the modern seaport of Gdynia, has 51 registered and categorised hotels, with a total of 3,599 rooms between them. The Hilton Gdansk, which opened last summer, set on the Motlawa riverside at the heart of the city, has already won awards for its architectural design, sympathetic to its surroundings, and took ‘Best Hotel Debut’ and ‘Hotel With An Idea’ at awards organised by Polish trade title Hotelarz.

Aside from its 150 bedrooms, it has four ground floor conference suites that can be interlinked to create an overall space of 600sq m, and a dedicated boardroom set up next to the business centre. There’s also a private dining room behind the Mercato restaurant, where modern international cuisine comes with a view of the harbour through floor to ceiling windows.

Over in Sopot, the 127 bedroom Grand Hotel opened in 1927 overlooking the beach and the pier. Now operated by Sofitel, it has been refurbished in art nouveau style, the original chandeliers a feature of the 250sq m ballroom. There are a further four conference rooms, ranging from the 31sq m Copenhagen seating 25 people theatre style, to 75sq m Helsinki which can accommodate up to 60. In addition to the business facilities, there’s a casino, cigar room, and an Algotherm spa.

Next door, the 189 bed Sheraton Sopot boasts a purpose built conference centre with 11 rooms and more than 4,000sq m of conference and banqueting space, the biggest Tri-City offering. Located over two floors, they include the 345sq m Marco Polo ballroom, which seats 240 for dinner, and the Christopher Colombus ‘audiohall’, a 545sq m space that can accommodate up to 660 theatre style, or 360 for dinner, and can be sectioned into four smaller zones. There’s a cargo lift right opposite too, so equipment can come straight up from the loading bay. The hotel also has a private dining room, for up to 70, situated next to its Wave restaurant, which serves international and Polish dishes, and it too has a spa, referencing Sopot’s long held reputation as health resort.

Local Colour

Lech Walesa, co-founder of Solidarity, and Polish president from 1990 to 1995, has been known to address conferences held in the Tri-City, should that appeal, and there are plenty of other ways to build something of the region into your event.

The Wikimedia Foundation chose the Gdansk Music & Congress Centre, home of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic, built in the shell of a 100 year old power station on Olowianka Island in the Motlawa, as the location for Wikimania 2010. Since it was first held in Frankfurt in 2005, the annual international conference has been to Harvard Law School, Taipei, Alexandria and Buenos Aires. Gdansk headed off bids from Amsterdam and Oxford, and, according to Wikipedia, it was the first time the event included a major focus on the cultural aspects of the host nation, in particular the 10th anniversary of the death of pianist, composer and memoirist Wladyslaw Szpilman, subject of Roman Polanski’s multiple Oscar winner The Pianist.

And the convention bureau’s recommended PCOs, such as Gdynia-based destination management company ATP Activity, are on hand to organise anything extra-curricular, whether that’s a day trip to the spectacular Malbork Castle, built by the Teutonic Order in the 13th century and a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, or a visit to one of the region’s many cultural festivals, such as the three week St Dominic’s Fair, where traders, artists, artisans and collectors set up stalls in the streets of Gdansk. Or there’s Opera Lesna, an open air amphitheatre in the forest outside Sopot, authentic Polish cooking workshops, or 23km of sandy beaches to explore by sail, cycle or horseback.

Direct flights from the UK are currently the preserve of the budget airlines, national carriers connect with local services in Warsaw. But there’s a new terminal under construction at Gdansk airport, which will be open in 2012.

“With the new Amber Expo opening next spring and more flights every day we are looking forward to hosting more and more business next year,” Gorska smiles. “In the meantime, ICCA, that’s the one keeping us very busy at the moment.”

 

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Contact the editor: olivia.vanstraten@oceanmedia.co.uk