STOCKHOLM:
MEETING DESTINATION PAR EXCELLENCE

By Karin De Graauw

At only two and a half hours flight with SAS Airlines from Brussels, Stockholm is glitters with water, greenery and pure air. This pearly chain of islands increasingly knows how to enchant the visitor. Indeed, apart from its natural beauty and perfect location, the Swedish capital has an international radiance with its manifold of palaces, museums, trendy boutiques and pubs. Stockholm succeeds in attracting each year some 100 international conferences. Apart from the attractive location the Swedish capital also offers sufficient hotel accommodation and infrastructure to facilitate the conference organiser's job. No wonder that Stockholm score very high on the ladder of conference tourism.

Stockholm is a city of contrasts in many ways. Because the Swedish capital has been built on 14 islands, Stockholm seems to exist of various 'villages', each with it individual character. In Gamla Stan, the ancient medieval town on the island of Riddarholmen, the visitor walks along the narrow winding streets. Södermalm has kept its typically czardas atmosphere, while the Östermalm hamlet breathes the Belle Epoque grandeur. In Sergels torg modern times are present with high-tech glass and concrete. And yet, only one third of the town is a built-up area. Another third is water and the remaining third is greenery with parks. Stockholm is a fine combination of abundant space, air and colour.
In this metropolis on a human scale 400 conference centres and 40,000 hotel beds are at the meeting planner's disposal. This enables Stockholm to host both small- and large-scale congresses and meetings.

MEGA PLAYERS
Somewhat out of the centre (9 minutes by train from the Central Station), theStockholm International Fair(www.stofair.se, staff@stofair.se) may be considered to be one of Europe's largest convention centres. With its 60,000 m2 of exhibition space the building can host some 25,000 conference delegates. The largest conference hall houses 3,000 people. All conference halls and exhibition spaces are located in one and the same building. Seven restaurants take care of the catering. Not surprisingly, Stockholm International Fairs' speciality is large international congresses with thousands of delegates.

TheStockholm City Conference Centre, Norra Latin & Folkets Hus (www.stoccc.se) are situated in the middle of central Stockholm. In fact, these are two adjacent buildings (one of them being a former elitist school) and have a meeting and conference role. In these buildings the meeting planners can choose from over 50 conference spaces. The complex also houses restaurants, pubs, a genuine theatre and the Wallin hotel with 160 rooms.

CONFERENCE HOTELS: TO EVERYONE'S LIKINGS
Most Stockholm hotels offer conference facilities. There is a wide range from classic hotels to modern 'boutique' hotels with the typical Swedish design that has made the country so famous. In the Grand Hotel Stockholm (www.grandhotel.se), right across from the Royal Palace, you can live as a Nobel Prize winner.
This classic five-star hotel combines traditional service with modern facilities. For meetings there is a choice between sumptuous banqueting halls and intimate rooms with 19th-century decoration and furniture. The Winter Garden (built in the Italian Renaissance Piazza style) is famous and very well suitable for large parties and product launches.

Other hotels in Stockholm have a more modern design. Hotel Birger Jarl (www.birgerjarl.se) in the residential area of Norrmalm is specialised in modern Swedish design and has 235 rooms. There are 16 rooms that have been exclusively designed by 16 different architects.
In the Nordic Light Hotel, near the Central Station, some rooms are equipped with a luxurious light bed that can be adapted to the guest's mood.

Patricia De Vuyst (Leisure and Incentive Manager, Scandinavian Airlines Sweden), Magnus Lindbergh (International Sales, Clarion Hotel, Stockholm), Elisabet Elmsäter (Manager, Meet Stockholm)

In May 2003 the Clarion Hotel Stockholm (www.clarionstockholm.com) opened. It offers more than 500 rooms and is the largest accommodation facility in town, enabling organisers to house large groups in exactly the same conditions. The Clarion mainly targets conference delegates, which is clear from its 17 conference rooms. The largest one can host up to 500 delegates in theatre style. The hotel breathes a minimalist, cool and an artistic atmosphere. Also the location is interesting: on the trendy island of Södermalm and in the area where, in former years, Greta Garbo worked as a shop assistant.

Not far from it the brand new Hotel Rival (www.rival.se) opened on 1 September 2003. It has already become the 'place to be' in Stockholm. In not only one year of existence this 99-room hotel has been nominated one of the coolest business hotels in the world by magazines such as Vogue, Business Traveller and Condé Nast Traveller. The editors of these magazines were especially impressed by the original Art Deco cocktail bar, the special trendy interior with high-tech (including plasma screen TVs), by the hotel's own bakery, as well as by 'details, such as the 'pillow menu' and the all-day breakfast menu. They also found the Honesty Bar very original. In this lounge, designed as a homey living room, the guest can literally do like at home. They just take their own drinks or snacks and indicate on an honesty list what the take. The hotel management counts on the guests' honesty, which explains the name of the bar. Also the extensive conference facilities are considered to be an asset. Apart from various meeting rooms, the hotel also has a real cinema theatre for 700 spectators, and this can be turned into a conference hall if needed. A spicy detail (probably not unimportant in with regard to these positive judgments): Abba's front man Benny Anderson is one of Hotel Rival's owners.

PROMENADE ON THE WATER
Stockholm's increasing success as a convention city is, of course, also due to its extraordinary beauty. It is not for nothing called the jewel in the Swedish crown, which waits to be discovered. The conference delegates can explore this town on foot with all the sights being very close together (www.stockholmtown.com) A real must is Gamla Stan, where you can stroll in medieval streets. On this tiny island you find an authentic environment with everything you need: from a stately palace to a small pub or restaurant. You should try Den Gyldene Freden, a restaurant serving traditional Swedish 'Husmanskost' in medieval cellars.

Because Stockholm is built on 14 islands, there is water everywhere. One island is packed with historic houses, the other is a paradise for owners of country homes and parks. The vistas are different wherever you go. You can cross on foot 53 bridges, but the best way to discover the town is by boat. There are water taxis everywhere which you can use for island hopping. The vista point on the island of Södermalm provides a somewhat limited outlook on the Stockholm's city centre. Here, you can perfectly see how Stockholm 'walks on the water', as writer Selma Lagerlöf put it so poetically. Groups can now also take a boat towards the Baltic Sea. During tens of kilometres the landscape exists of water and land. In this natural labyrinth of canals, bays and sailing routes there are no less than 24,000 islands with colourful chalets and manors basking in all their glory. In this magnificent location we find the Grand Hotel Saltsjöbaden, which can be reached by boat. This stately Belle Epoque hotel is ideal for those conference delegates who love peace, quiet and (water) sports.

Islands and water beg for boats. Stockholm's most famous maritime heritage is the Vasa, a colossal sailing ship that went to the bottom of the sea on the very day that it was launched in 1628. Only in the 1960s the wreck was salvaged and puzzled together again. Around the ship, on the island of Djurgården, the magnificent interactive museum Vasamuseet (www.vasamuseet.se) was erected. Groups can dine in the ship's vicinity, in a setting that evokes the life of 17th-century life sailors.

A stone's throw away from the Vasamuseet is Skansen, one of Europe's oldest open-air museums, equivalent to the Belgian Bokrijk. In Skansen you can see how the Swedish population lived and worked in former days. Real animals wander amidst some hundred traditional houses. However, Skansen (www.skansen.se) is more than a museum. It offers various facilities for groups, both for conferences and for leisure.

The Swedish have an original way of dealing with ice. Because not everyone has the money nor time to go to Lapland and visit the famous ice hotel, the creators of the concept have decided to bring the North Pole to Stockholm. You can already get a most taste in the Ice Gallery (www.ice-gallery.com, erik@ice-gallery.com) in Gamla Stan: a frozen room where groups can create their own ice sculptures. Another variation on the ice theme is the Ice Bar in the Nordic Sea Hotel. Guests checking in do not have to doubt their mental health when they see some figures in weird clothes. At the bar, that is built with 20 tons of pure ice from the north, some types in multi-colour ponchos with fur caps sips colourful drinks that are poured into ice glasses. Basically, you are drinking expensive cocktails in a huge fridge, but the gimmick works.

STOCKHOLM: PRACTICAL DETAILS

• Information
  Congress Stockholm is the official Convention Bureau in Stockholm and a department within the Stockholm Visitors Board. The department is a co-operative venture between the City of Stockholm and local trade and industry. The Convention Bureau includes Meet Stockholm that works exclusively with the corporate meeting industry.
  
  Congress Stockholm and Meet Stockholm are non-profit organisations who provide all information regarding the meeting industry.
  
  Congress Stockholm
  Stockholm Visitors Board
  Tel: +46-8-508 28 500 (new phone number!)
  Fax: +46-8-508 28 510 (new fax number!)
  E-mail:congress@svb.stockholm.se
  www.congresstockholm.se
  
  Meet Stockholm
  Stockholm Visitors Board
  Tel: +46-8-508 28 557 (new phone number!)
  Fax:+46-8-508 28 510 (new fax number!)
  E-mail: meet@svb.stockholm.se
  www.meetstockholm.se

• Accessibility
  Stockholm's main airport (Arlanda) is located approximately 42 kms north of the city. The Scandinavian airline company SAS (www.scandinavian.net) has several flights a day between Brussels and the Swedish capital. The flight takes about two and a half hours. A comfortable and swift express train links Arlanda with Stockholm (www.arlandaexpress.com), leaving from two stations under the airport to Stockholm's Central Station. The journey takes some 20 minutes.