Routes Europe provides a great opportunity to stimulate the development of air connections in the host country. The forum has been held 15 times in cities such as Sofia, Porto, Prague, Toulouse, Cagliari, Tallinn, Budapest, Marseille, Aberdeen, Belfast, Bilbao, Hanover, and Bergen. Poland has hosted Routes Europe delegates twice: in Warsaw in 2006 and in Krakow in 2016.

Łódź applied and was chosen before the pandemic. The Routes Europe forum was scheduled to take place in Łódź in 2021, but the coronavirus caused the events calendar to be postponed by two years. The acquired event in Łódź is an excellent opportunity to promote Poland as a leader of Central Europe for meetings and events.

The organizer of the forum is the British company Informa, based in London, listed on the local stock exchange, dealing with organizing events worldwide and publishing industry publications.

Panel Discussion with industry experts

The Polish Tourism Organisation is a partner of the Routes Europe 2023 conference in Lodz, Poland. Therefore, on May 10, 2023, Poland Convention Bureau is co-organizing a panel discussion on Destination Marketing in the MICE Industry and Cooperation with Airlines.

Meetings and events play an integral role in strengthening regional and national economies as well as key business sectors. Choosing the venue for an event is one of the most important elements of the event planning process. There are many factors that determine the attractiveness of a destination for meeting and event organizers, but infrastructure and transport accessibility are probably the most important.

The following experts will participate in the panel:

• Tomasz Koralewski, President of the Łódź Tourist Organization - Łódź Convention Bureau
• Paweł Kranc, Director of the Management Office, Deputy Director of the Sales, Marketing and Communications Office, State Enterprise "Airports"
• Krzysztof Steiman, former Director of the Marketing and Communications Department at the Polish Tourist Organization
• Kamil Szymański, President of G2A Arena - Exhibition and Convention Center of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship in Rzeszów
• Agnieszka Szymerowska, Director of the Polish Conference and Congress Association (PCCA).

The discussion will cover the following topics:

• Is Poland an attractive destination for meetings and events?
• How can airlines help event planners attract events to a destination?
• What opportunities do second and third-choice cities have?
• Carbon footprint in the meetings industry - how to reduce it?

Łódź is located in a strong economic region in the very center of Poland. The city is rapidly developing and is an excellent destination for investment, business, and organising events. It is also a perfect city for a city break, full of post-industrial architecture, greenery, creative young people, excellent cuisine, and a city with a tradition of film art. The unique, world-class character of a European post-industrial city has made Łódź one of the "Best of the World 2022" according to National Geographic. Łódź is often called the "last undiscovered city". Thanks to its infrastructure and a capacity of 2 million passengers annually, the airport in Łódź offers great development opportunities.