Hyd likely to host ICCA meet

Hyderabad is all set to emerge as the venue of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) annual meeting to be held in 2010. An indication to this effect has been given by ICCA's chief executive officer, Martin Sirk.

"We started with six different locations for holding the 2010 convention but ultimately are looking only at Hyderabad," Sirk, who is here to carry out site inspection, told Business Standard.

ICCA is a global network of suppliers to the international meetings industry. It currently has 820 members spread over 80 countries.

In India, it has a dozen members including the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) and the National Tourism Board.

It holds its annual conventions in different countries and, for the first time, is considering India's bid to host the meeting three years down the line.

In fact, Sirk said, the presence of HICC and the development of a new international airport that would be operational from March 2008 had helped Hyderabad come under the radar of ICCA for considering it as a possible venue for its convention.

He, however, said that nothing had been decided yet. India has to present its final bid for holding the convention to the ICCA board at the association's annual meeting scheduled to be held in Thailand in October, this year.

"Our board should be convinced that India can deliver a world-class event," Sirk said, adding that he was interested in helping India make its bid "as strong as possible".

According to Sirk, ICCA annual convention is a prestigious event with one-third of the over 600-800 participants from 60 countries being CEOs, managing directors and proprietors of leading companies.

"The impact of these people talking about India going forward will be enormous. It will help in spreading India's potential at the global level," he said.