Wallonia: Economy and congress tourism are holding their heads up high

Any reference to Wallonia is a reference to the entire southern region of Belgium, so it should come as no surprise that this region has such a diverse range to offer the congress market. Nevertheless, Wallonia was searching for, and has found, a common thread: plenty of nature, cultural and historical heritage and all this with the added extra of several large cities with excellent access. “Art de vivre” is a term often used to describe this in its entirety. Though the term may seem a little vague, it hints mainly at an atmosphere of authenticity, quality of life and conviviality. In order to understand what this means to business tourism in a large region, it makes sense to examine the provinces in detail based on this common thread.  

Walloon-Brabant

The smallest of the five Walloon provinces can easily lay claim to its proximity to Brussels, but also to numerous attractive facilities near to the European capital city. This year the re-enactment of the battle of Waterloo 200 years after Napoleon's defeat really pulled in the crowds, but congress tourists are equally interested in the abbey in Villers, the many castles and the equally numerous golf courses. The real eye-catcher for congresses, however, is the Aula Magna in Louvain-La-Neuve, a university city, with a capacity of 1,700 people. Then there is Walibi theme park and its amphitheatre with a capacity of up to 2,000 people.  

Liege

The provincial capital, Liege, is also the economic capital of Wallonia. With its 600,000 residents, it is Belgium's third largest city, and is located, moreover, only a stone's throw from Flanders, the Netherlands and Germany. The combination of an inland port (the third largest in Europe), a TGV station and an airport succeeded in attracting a lot of economic activity in the field of transport and logistics into this city on the Meuse river. This focus is in addition to the presence of large companies such as Mittal, Umicore, FN Herstal, Techspace Aero and Eurogentec. This list clearly demonstrates the competences in which Liege likes to profile itself: aeronautics and aerospace, the steel industry, bio-technology, ICT and the agricultural industry. For large-scale congresses, Liege has its Palais des Congrès with a maximum capacity of 1,700 people. The city's hotels also include the five-star Crowne Plaza with 124 rooms and its own meeting room with a capacity of 300 people).  

Namur

If Liege is the economic beating heart of the Walloon region, then the elegant city of Namur is its administrative capital. Unlike Liege, the economic fabric on which Namur is built is mainly comprised of SMEs. This is a city with a typically large share of the tertiary sector, but what is also evident is the focus on the agricultural industry, the stone quarries, the building, metal, chemistry and glass industries, ICT and even wood processing. The entire province of Namur includes 28 artisan zones (industrial or mixed), a science park, a business park and a river port. The largest hall of the Namur Palais des Congrès allows just over 300 people to attend congresses.  

Hainaut

The province of Hainaut has two large cities within its borders, Mons and Charleroi. Its capital city, Mons was designated Europe's cultural capital this year. Based on this role, it profiled itself as a European hot-spot for technology and culture. This led them to invest in a new station with impressive architecture that will connect the city centre with the Les Grands Prés shopping centre and the Digital Innovation Valley. There is a new, modern congress centre near the station. The prestigious project, named MICX (Mons International Congress Xperience), is being managed by Artexis. It is located not only close to the station and the city centre, but also near to the Lotto Mons Expo. The largest conference hall in MICX can accommodate up to 500 people. This year the conference centre managed to make immediate reservations for such large companies as Microsoft and Google. Charleroi is similarly interested in technology, though this city generally focusses mainly on aviation and space technology. Charleroi, like Mons, has its own exhibition venue (Charleroi Expo), with halls and a specific conference infrastructure (Geode) for organisations of up to 450 people. The city is trying to attract the conference market, particularly with its Centre Espace Meeting Européen (CEME), which has halls with a maximum capacity of 250 participants. The city is also working hard on an ambitious project entitled Charleroi District Créatif (Charleroi DC), that is located to the north-west of the city centre. In addition to redesigning its public spaces, the project also includes: renovating the existing expo venue and developing a new congress centre, renovating the Palais des Beaux-Arts, and creating a university centre in the Zénobe Gramme building.  

Luxembourg

The province of Luxembourg is located in the southernmost corner of Belgium and Wallonia, in between France, Germany and the grand Duchy of Luxembourg. In square miles it is Belgium's largest province, but it is also the least populated. Next to the capital city of Arlon, the Ardennes region is ideal for green events requiring plenty of room, e.g. in Durbuy or Houffalize. Luxembourg does not have any congress locations with capacities exceeding 1,000 participants. The exhibition and congress park (LEC) in Libramont and the Euro Space Center in Transinne can cope with a maximum of 600 people, and there is also the Jemeppe Castle with halls for up to a maximum of 400 people.  

Nature, economy and culture

Luxembourg enjoys describing itself as “100 per cent nature”, although the whole of Wallonia can claim to be equally green. Other arguments that apply to all the provinces are the focus on culture and cultural history. This relates not only to the efforts of, e.g. Mons 2015, but also the extensive range of UNESCO-heritage sites in the Walloon region. However, Wallonia is increasingly adding the economic element. The region has made impressive steps in the right direction in the past few years. Wallonia's export total has increased sharply, with the chemical industry (+14 per cent export in 2014, source: Awex) and the pharma-industry (+19 per cent) as absolute eye-catchers. This economic recovery is going hand-in-hand with the increased success of congress tourism. In 2014 the region provided 550,889 overnight stays. That is a fifty per cent increase compared with the turn of the century.