Looking back at ECM Autumn Meeting in Bilbao

Bilbao boosts best practice exchange during the ECM Autumn Meeting The event will be held in Bilbao from 16th to 19th November 2011 and its one-day seminar will focus on best practice in city marketing – approaches, methods, projects and processes that have proven themselves over time and can act as role models.

115 delegates participated in ECM’s Autumn 2011 Meeting hosted by the Spanish city of Bilbao. The seminar topic focused on best practice in city marketing, highlighting leading edge methods, projects and processes that have proven themselves over time and can therefore serve as role models.

Today the chairperson for Bilbao seminar, Camilla Nyman, Director Business Development , Göteborg & Co, offers this retrospective.

Bilbao seminar “BEST PRACTICE IN CITY MARKETING” was a very successful one. What do you think was the reason for this success?

First of all, Bilbao is a destination that has impressed us all with the transformation that has occurred over the years. ECM came here in 2005 and heard about how the Guggenheim had provided an initial stimulus to raising the profile of the city and the development of tourism. The Guggenheim effect is now classic best practice, as were the other examples highlighted in the seminar programme.

For you personally, what part of the seminar was the most interesting for you and why?

The city-planning part where we were informed that the destination perspective is now taken into consideration from the beginning when implementing the updated Bilbao city plan.

What was your impression of the city of Bilbao?

Bilbao is so much more then the iconic symbol of the Guggenheim Museum. Design has been taken into consideration in all aspects, whether it is lighting, green spaces, paving, seating or the use of art in public areas. This creates a modern, very interesting destination to explore.