VINCIANE JACQUIEZ
MICE Co-ordinator @dmire & President ABITO
(Association of Destination Management Companies)

By Viviane Vogels

She may be young, she may be still in an upward learning curve, but meeting Vinciane Jacquiez is meeting a bright young woman who has a pretty good idea where she is going and what she is doing to get there. And, as always when getting to know people better, in my case for the purpose of an interview, surprises are

never far away underlined by the confirmation of ‘suspicions’ that I had, based on previous meetings.

BELGIAN TO THE CORE!!
First surprise, Vinciane is first and foremost a Belgian. Born in Dinant 31 years ago – she recently celebrated a birthday! – she may be Walloon by birth but she feels a strong Belgian identity.

BBT: “Explain this Belgian feeling which seems to be a rare commodity these days.”
“I understand it may be a strange conviction for somebody who has just spent the last 6 years promoting the Walloon area at the OPT (Office de Promotion du Tourisme). I came to that job by pure fluke. During my tourism studies at the ULB I met Viviane Jacobs who lectured there and got myself a job at the Observatoire du Tourisme: an interesting job, but not my cup of tea as no emotions involved. When after a couple of months an opening occurred in the MICE department I put my hat in the ring and joined the newly founded 3 persons team back in 2001, just after 9/11. It was an exciting period, Wallonia was virtually virgin territory, we started to put it on the map, forged special partnerships and one of these was…Toerisme Vlaanderen. There I met Annick Debels, another true Belgian, who opened my eyes and introduced me to the MICE sector already well developed in Flanders. But it was this joined partnership to the outside world thatstrengthened the whole Belgian image. We struggled against regionalization; weworked for Belgium first and foremost and that was not only the best way to go about it, it was enriching and even today I wake up and tell myself, ‘I’m Belgian’…”

During this exchange I discovered a lot of emotions bubbling under that cool, calm and collected exterior most of us know… another surprise! Vinciane speaks from the heart and her job and her country obviously bring out feelings and strong convictions by which she lives and works.

BBT: “So, why did you leave?”
“I’m a Pisces and started to feel a bit confined in my small aquarium, I want a bigger pond to play in. Now, I must admit I had a hard time leaving my first job, there is a special bond there, but I saw my joining @dmire as an opportunity not only to go back to my first love, travel, but also to get to know the other side of the mirror. The commercial side of things, before we had budgets to spend to increase our visibility, now we have to battle for the budgets by being competitive and creative. It was an important step for me that forced me to take a good look at myself and return to basics. That’s where you realize you have – even after only 6 years in the business!- accumulated baggage, you cannot ignore that and you should not anyway. At @dmire we specialize in developing contacts with International Associations and my natural instinct there is to sell them Belgium, I suppose that that indeed is a direct consequence of my OPT days. Today I have the possibility to leave the beaten track and develop new aptitudes, meet new people and in general have a whole new outlook on the business of selling destinations.”

BBT: “…and as if a new job is not enough, you also take on the Presidency of ABITO…?”
“(Laughs..)Well, I may as well throw myself in the deep end!...I came in at the right moment, ABITO was and still is looking at re-positioning itself and of course positioning ‘Destination Belgium’ and so I put my candidature forward..and was accepted. I may be the least experienced of the lot but it gives me a unique perspective on things whilst of course I learn a lot from the other members.
New challenges are what I thrive on; our first challenge was the new website which I can proudly announce went on line in March (www.abito-incoming.be). My role, amongst the ‘dinosaurs’ of our association is to make ABITO more dynamic and pro-active. I consider the members as my mentors as each and every day I realize how complex the matter is and how much we can all still learn from each other!”

When our young President talks about ABITO, she does it with great respect and humility towards the other members. There is no doubting that the dynamic part of her challenge as President is a given, another of her tasks is of course to find more members (Travel Agents License a must!!) for the Association, the new format website will definitely contribute to this. If after her 1 year tenure her Presidency is not continued she wants to make sure that the next president can benefit from the renewed dynamism of the association, not an unimportant legacy at all!

BBT: “What about the future?”
“Before I left OPT the answer to that question would have been hesitant towards starting up my own agency. Today, I know that one day I will start my own business but when ... That’s the question mark. I would like to develop projects in relation with sustainability, environment, something totally different. I can imagine myself in Peru helping people to reconstruct a church or a school, planting trees ... But today I am still learning and therefore, no time to be bored, but in a few years I can see myself going for new horizons.”

BBT: “Maybe start a family?”
“Not immediately, for the moment my professional life is more important. At heart I am a bohemian, my suitcase is always made, I can leave at the drop of a hat. I think I am not ready to settle down yet, there is project of a world tour trotting around in my head and that is for a no too distant future. I still feel I cannot look much further than 5 , maybe 10 years, in the meantime I just love life and all it has to offer and I want to live it to the fullest. My social life is very important, I have a good bunch of friends, I do a lot of sports, I need people around me. With my partner we went backpacking to Bali and Java for a couple of weeks last year. Before Bali we got our PADI certificate (in Belgium) for deep sea diving, so we really enjoyed the sub-marine world in this part of the world. That was fantastic!“

BBT: “There is the water element again.”
“Yes, the underwater world is great. The calm and tranquillity free your spirit whilst you are floating around in a beautiful world. You get to take time for yourself which is something one cannot do very often and that makes you feel special.”

BBT: “So, how do you spend your free time?”
“I like to read, both in French and English, a good thriller such as a Harlan Coben helps me escape. I read an average of two books per month. My music taste goes more to the jazzy pop genre such as Jamie Culum, Amy Winehouse or Ben Harper – I went to one of his concerts last year and he gave me goose bumps!
And of course, I LOVE to travel; it is my first and great passion. Favorite places? There are so many: Barcelona for example, I think I could live there. Asia: I fell in love with the gentleness of the people, the different rhythm of life and values. I do not know Latin America…yet but I can see myself with a lonely planet guide and a backpack visiting countries like Peru, Bolivia and Chili. Travel makes me dream: I dream of going around the world on a motor cycle. When I was younger I dreamed about going to Africa to help construct waterholes or to help re-plant the Amazonian forest. No, I am not ‘politically green’ I am just convinced that we owe nature a greater deal of respect than it’s getting today!.”

BBT: “As a Belgian, you must like food!”
“I do not take my time to cook myself, I will turn out decent pasta dish or a vegetable pie, but I do like a good Belgian dish such as américain frites. For these I go to two of my favorite restaurants, the Schievelavabo or the Stekerlapatte. Jaloa is another favorite, or Havana and Bazaar. I like a simple menu, good music, salsa, a Mojito and..it’s party time!!”

BBT: “If you could invite 5 people for dinner, without limit, even those who passed away, who should you invite?”
I really enjoy spending time with my friends and family, so I should say that the 5 most important people for me are my best friend, my parents, my sister and my boyfriend!
Nevertheless, if I could meet people like Indiana Jones for a while to listen to all his adventures, Commander Cousteau to hear about all his sub-marine research or someone like Mother Teresa to introduce me to her hard and human job in India...... it would be wonderful.

Vinciane is definitely – like many Pisces and it takes one to recognize one – a person of many facets and hidden depths. On the one hand she is practical and although the glass is half empty for her, she does not see it as being pessimistic but rather as being realistic: there is an end to everything, time is finite and we cannot take it back.
She is also a bit of a dreamer and as seen above she still has many dreams and aspirations that she would like to realize in the years to come.
She is also a bit of a romantic who likes the small attentions and works at being happy with her partner, why else would she buy a book on massages for Valentine?...(yes, she did test it!..)
Vinciane lives life to the fullest and although not an opportunist, she will take the opportunities that present themselves to her and for that she jealously guards her independence and freedom to come and go as she pleases, very 21st century!
She definitely has come into her own, and is on excellent terms with herself, a great position to be in!

ABITO
ABITO is the Belgian Association of DMC ‘s and Incoming renewed in Sept 2007 (see new logo) and composed of 8 members.

ABITO is promoting the practice of good business ethics by its members. The members of ABITO are committed to deal honestly and fairly with each other, clients, providers of services, employees or employers, and with the general public.

Applicants for ABITO membership recognize the role of ABITO in providing a platform for professionalism, quality and business opportunities, and accept the responsibility to abide by and follow the Code of Ethics and the Rules & Regulations as proposed by ABITO.

The objectives of ABITO are:

• to create a community of interest between Belgian incoming travel agencies and including DMC’s.
• to protect its members from non licensed competition.
• to act as representative of its members at the Regional, National and International levels.
• to establish relations for the benefit of the members with Regional, National and International governmental and non-governmental bodies which concern the profession of Incoming agent and/or Destination Management Companies.
• to dispatch promptly and equally to all members the leads which could arrive to the name of ABITO or without any specific name but obviously for a large distribution.
• to promote, in association with other similar associations of PCO’s, events companies, hotels, etc., the best standards of hospitality in Belgium and the best image of professionalism in the destination.
• to be part of other associations or group of associations, national or international, sharing the same goals of hospitality and professionalism. Members of ABITO are: @dmire, All About Belgium, BCD Meetings & Incentives, Brussels International Travel Service, Hansa Incoming, Mindstream International, Ovation Belgium, Tellus Destination Management Company.

Feel free to visit and bookmark the ABITO website: www.abito-incoming.be

For more information contact a member of the executive committee on abito@abito-incoming.be

Vinciane Jacquiez
MICE Co-ordinator
President ABITO, Association of Destination Management Companies
@dmire bvba sprl (Lic. A5999)
Meetings Incentives Conferences Events
Gemeenveldstraat 93
B-1692 BEERSEL (Alsemberg) BELGIUM
TEL : + 32.2 361 65 59
FAX : + 32.2.361.65.58
E-Mail : vinciane.jacquiez@admire.be
URL : www.admire.be

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