This year, for the fourteenth time, the Conventa regional trade show was held in October together with the Conventa Crossover conference and the Conventa Best Event Award under the joint name Conventa Week, which lasted from August 23 to 26, 2022, and was held in the Gospodarsko razvatsišče congress centre and numerous other locations throughout Ljubljana.

The Conventa trade show brought together 92 exhibitors, including numerous hotels, congress centres and convention bureaus from the region, and 146 international MICE buyers, mostly event organisers, from as many as 32 countries. The organisers particularly emphasised the quality of the hand-selected hosted buyers - out of a total of 497 applicants, only 22.9% with the highest potential were selected. More than 2,500 business meetings were held during the event.

Exhibitors at the trade show were also representatives of the Croatian meetings and incentive industry - the Convention Bureau of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, the Convention Bureau of the Zagreb Tourist Board and the Croatian Tourist Board, as well as companies such as Croatia Airlines, Plava Laguna d.d., Wine & Heritage Hotel Roxanich, Kempinski Hotel Adriatic, Le Meridien Lav and AC Hotel Split.

International interest in Dubrovnik as one of the best MICE destinations in the region

The Convention Bureau of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board once again successfully presented the MICE offer of the pearl of the Adriatic. A total of 35 meetings were held with buyers from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, the USA, Spain, Portugal, France, Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Israel and countries from the region. Interest in Dubrovnik was expressed through the meetings by buyers of various profiles, from agencies organising business events to representatives of corporations and associations. New contacts were made with buyers who are not yet familiar with Dubrovnik, and who are interested in the organisation of corporate events, incentives, and conferences in Dubrovnik.

In February this year, at the virtual Meetings Star Award ceremony, Dubrovnik was awarded for the 12th time the award for the best meetings destination in the M category (for up to 1,200 participants) in Central and Southeastern Europe. During this year's Conventa Week in Ljubljana in August, the award was presented live to the director of the Convention Bureau of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, Romana Vlašić. This award further confirms the quality of Dubrovnik's meetings and incentive offer.

Conventa Crossover – festival of events and marketing

As part of the Conventa Week, the Conventa Crossover, a conference that brought together the creative marketing industry of Southeast Europe, gathered around 120 participants. Interesting and diverse speakers and panellists spoke about key topics such as sustainability, innovation and dialogue. Through the Crossover Legends and Meet Busters formats, the sustainable aspirations of the industry and greenwashing were discussed, while the Ljubljana Talks panellists elaborated on the pros and cons of the metaverse.

The Conventa trade show is traditionally held in January, but due to the conditions of the pandemic this year and last year, it was held in August. For the next edition, it was announced that the show will be held again in the winter term, that is, from February 1 to 2, 2023.