Lyon unveils its Amphithéâtre

On the 1^st June, Lyon will be laying on a lavish meal to celebrate the opening of the Amphithéâtre, the new name given to the Salle 3000. The amphitheatre, designed by Renzo Piano, boasts 3000 seats which gives Lyon an outstanding facility to offer conference organisers few European cities can match. Lyon will also join the ranks of the main players in the business tourism industry, becoming one of the "beacon" destinations encompassing corporate events, conferences as well as other types of meeting.

151 million euros were invested in the extension to the existing conference centre. The new space offers 3000 seats, 10 break-out rooms seating between 50-300 and 5400 m2 of exhibition space. "Our available space has grown from 8250 m² to 25 000 m², representing a three-fold increase of our surface area", said a delighted Antoine Perragin, general manager of the conference centre. "With the original structure we could hold events for up to 2000 people. However, with the Amphitheatre we can host up to 10,000 and, with other venues, we can even host up to 19,000 participants at the same time!"

Apart from Porte Maillot in Paris, there is no equivalent facility elsewhere in France and it is clear that this impressive resource will enable Lyon to boost its business tourism.

Antoine Perragin can already put figures to the increase in business: "We've been marketing Amphithéâtre since 2003 because big international conferences are organised between four and ten years in advance, whilst decisions on national conferences are taken between one and three years in advance. As for "corporate" events, they are usually organised with between six and eighteen months' notice.

At present we already have 370 events on the books, up to December 2010, and I estimate that we'll go from 350 annual events to 400 reflecting the two sides of our work: business tourism as well as cultural, because we can now also attract large shows. In terms of our business figures, we've calculated that we'll go from 10.2 million euros in 2005 (40% in the corporate sector, 30% in the medical and 30% in the Association sector) to 17 million euros in 2007".

Antoine Perragin also confirms that "if our previous competitors were Paris and Nice, today we're up against Barcelona, Vienna, Birmingham, Prague and Kuala Lumpur".

As part of his development plan, Antoine Perragin is counting initially on the strength of GL Events, the company which has been given the job of managing the conference centre until the current lease runs out at the end of December 2006. "On 23 April, we presented two proposals to Lyon for continuing with the management: one for six years and the other for ten years," explains Olivier Ginon, President of the Lyon-based company which is one of the world's leaders in the management of meeting spaces and event organisation. "Our teams have given their all to this opening and we're certainly going to defend our interests".

Lyon is lucky to have the presence of such a large company as GL Events, also active in 15 countries and 75 towns, including Barcelona, Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Montreal, London, Padua and Lisbon. "Practically every week I have foreign delegations visiting me in Lyon, and we're beginning to become truly attractive," says Olivier Ginon. "This amphitheatre is a real opportunity for Lyon and we're in the position to offer the technical "know how" for managing the sites as well as the capability to create special events which are respectful of local needs whilst at the same time giving organisers and suppliers easy access. And if, for example, a company organises corporate events in Barcelona, as is the case for a major computer company involving several thousands of people, we would hope to succeed in attracting it to Lyon".

This ability to make use of its network of offices is a major "plus" which has not escaped the attention of anyone, least of all Antoine Perragin. He is keen to emphasise the importance of financial results and the need to "develop a partnership with both transport suppliers and hoteliers to give a strong image of the destination" and he is proud of the close relationship which has developed with Eurexpo "which enabled us, for the national conference for Gamm Vert due to be held in October 2007, to offer the exhibition space at Eurexpo and the conference space at the Cité Internationale". One of the Conference Centre's General Manager's other developments has been the introduction of "seasonal rates, in partnership with the Accor group. We've been looking through our occupancy figures over the last five years in order to identify those days when there was less business. We've highlighted about sixty days when event organisers will be able to take advantage of special rates offering reductions up to 50%."

And Antoine Perragin, who is resolutely optimistic about the chances of attracting more conferences to Lyon, also sees growing opportunities to compete with "Paris, in particular, especially for medical conferences because Paris has three major problems: the transport system, lack of hotel rooms and the negative image of events due to safety problems."