Tourism Vancouver reports that the recent BestCities Global Alliance board recently outlined plans for the year, which include: the provision of additional resources at head office to assist with business development services and management support; a new robust and interactive website; plans to further engage the international association market; and exploratory discussions for enhanced working relationships with other key associations.
"It is now some nine years since the Alliance was formed and I am pleased to say that all partners remain strong in the belief that co-operative working brings many benefits," said Sue Stuart, board chair of BestCities Global Alliance and chief executive of Edinburgh Convention Bureau. "By sharing industry expertise, research and sales leads, as well as capitalizing on the exceptional reputation of our partners, we have succeeded in gaining valuable market advantage over other competitor destinations. One of the Alliance's most significant introductions in the last couple of years was Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance certification, and I am delighted to confirm that BestCities is on track to successfully achieve our annual renewal of the certification for 2009."
In its infancy, the Alliance, comprised of convention bureau partners from Cape Town, Copenhagen, Dubai, Edinburgh, Melbourne, San Juan, Singapore and Vancouver, developed a self-assessed CVB quality service process to evaluate and benchmark each partner's client service standards. This self-assessment process evolved into a desire for services to be audited by an independent third party, in turn leading to the development of an Alliance-wide Quality Management System (QMS).
In 2008, the Alliance received certification verifying that its QMS had been approved by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA), making it the first world-wide certification program for convention bureau organizations. Certification is dependent on all eight partners successfully achieving accreditation. To retain certification, each partner in the Alliance annually undergoes one internal audit and one external LRQA audit. The accreditation process allows BestCities to maintain its best practices, best meetings promise to each of its clients.
Jane Cunningham, managing director of Medley International Ltd, is joining the Alliance head office to provide business development services and support and will work closely with the Alliance's Management Committee and Sales Group to identify and expand business leads and bidding opportunities. Cunningham has an established background in the association and business events industry, having worked for the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Visit London (CVB) and Congrex UK (PCO). Selina Chow, a former employee of Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau, is also joining the Alliance's head office team, providing additional administrative support.