Economic promotion missions, international fairs and exhibitions... Luxembourg's strategy to sell itself as a global business place is being put to the test by covid-19. We took stock of this with Lex Delles (DP), minister of tourism and middle classes.

Mathilde Obert: Since 2019, the strategy to promote Luxembourg as a business destination was based on a list of sectors (logistics, eco-technologies, information and communication technologies, space). How is it evolving in this period of health crisis?

Lex Delles: Obviously, with the coronavirus situation, we have to readjust our strategy. Now the priority markets are mainly national, regional and European.

On the one hand, we remain focused on these main sectors. On the other hand, we are also looking for any other events or conferences. Now, we prefer to have other conferences and congresses perhaps a little smaller, different. That's why it is very important to have the “Safe to meet” label, formulated together with the Luxembourg event association (LEA).

The strategy has to evolve on the substance but also on the form. How to promote Luxembourg “from a distance”?

Digital transformation is a key word in this discussion. A large hall like Luxexpo has made adaptations to its internet infrastructure to be able to host the world congress of business events, Icca. In terms of digital transformation, Luxembourg was already very well positioned, but is still in the process of taking a step forward.

In 2020, 48 sales missions (commercial canvassing missions, organised by the Luxembourg Convention Bureau, NDLR) were cancelled and 20 took place differently, for example in webinars or hybrid.

Do you still carry out economic missions abroad?

That's at a complete standstill.

What about your participation in international trade fairs?

The purpose of a fair like ibtm in Barcelona [a fair for conferences and business trips, editor's note] or iMex in Frankfurt [a fair for business trips, editor's note] is to meet people, to be able to discuss Luxembourg as a destination for business events. Now it's different, it's more like the phone call, the webinar.

Has this already produced concrete results?

There is a certain amount of uncertainty in the whole sector.

Could this model be generalised, even after the crisis?

The contact within business events is the most important thing. It is a direct link. You call someone you know and have already seen to make business connections. I think that digital can be a complement, but will never replace on-site business events. It is the exchange after the conference, the coffee break that is important.

Can you quantify the impact of the crisis on business tourism?

The problem is that it is very difficult to calculate what comes out of business events. What kind of relationships do we make? Who really signed up immediately afterwards? Within the LEA members, we can see that companies working in the event industry have lost 80% of their turnover.

When we talk about what a business event brings to a country, there are other pillars, such as the goods and services directly consumed: the hotel room, the cab, the cup of coffee... Is there additional assistance to support this struggling sector?

I think the events sector is the first in, because it was already in crisis a few months before the March lockdown, and it will be the last out, because organising a congress or a conference is not done overnight.

The hotel industry in rural areas, which lives on leisure tourism, is doing better for the moment than the hotels in Luxembourg which live on business. The government is aware that these are the sectors most affected by this crisis. That is why they are covered by the Recovery and Solidarity Fund [Editor’s note: this fund provides financial aid of €1,250 per employee until November for companies in the tourism, events, hotel and catering, culture and entertainment].

Will the budget allocated to the Luxembourg Convention Bureau be increased?

We are very happy to have created it in 2019, we see the importance of having this agency to promote Luxembourg in the business event sector. The budgets will be further adapted. [Editor’s note: Financed half by the City of Luxembourg and half by the General Directorate of Tourism of the Ministry of Economy, this budget was €900,000 in 2020. It should amount to €1 million in 2021, €1.01 in 2022, €1.02 in 2023 and €1.03 in 2024]. The Luxembourg State already has a lot of expenses, if there are any that we can reduce, we will do it. I think this is the bad sign at the moment, it is important to invest for the Luxembourg convention bureau to promote, but in a more targeted way. It must be supported to attract congresses, conferences, and position itself, especially during this crisis.

This original version of this article was published in French on Paperjam.lu