The IFA Congress 2015 of the International Fiscal Association has just come to an end in Basel. Around 2500 financial experts from all over the world met on the Messe Basel premises for a total of five days to discuss the challenges of financial and tax legislation, and particularly the increasing internationalisation of the economy and the taxation system associated with this. The accompanying programme was exceptional, presenting the most delightful aspects of Basel – an opening ceremony featuring numerous highlights, a museum night for the participants alone, with shuttle buses running between the Beyeler, Tinguely and Vitra museums, and an exquisite gala dinner in the Event Hall at Messe Basel. The International Fiscal Association congress is the sector’s biggest and most important rendezvous and brings more than 10,000 overnight stays to the different city hosting it each year. The IFA met in Basel in 1960 already, but with only a couple of hundred participants back then.
One congress straight after the other
The IFA Congress 2015 marks the start to a busy congress autumn. Next Sunday, 6 September 2015, already, the 9th European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health (ECTMIH) will be starting, bringing together more than 1500 of the most eminent scientists and experts and making it the most important congress in this field. Then, with experts from transfusion medicine, immunohaematology and right through to biological safety, one key congress follows on from another up until the end of November. The highlight in terms of participant numbers is the DGHO congress from 9-13 October 2015 – the annual meeting of the German, Austrian and Swiss Societies of Haematology and Medical Oncology. Since 2003, the DGHO congress has been a fixed feature in the Basel congress calendar every four years, bringing more than 5000 delegates to Basel for five days each time.
Preparations going back many years
International scientific events that go to different congress destinations all over the world are generally subject to an elaborate bidding process. The team at the Congress Center Basel frequently supports the organisers with all the different aspects involved over a period of several years, working together closely with the city of Basel. This includes the compilation of a so-called bid book, presenting the city and its advantages as a location, together with its hotels and congress centre, and the accompanying programmes, etc. And all of this is precisely tailored to the needs of the event in question. Through this intensive and successful cooperation, it proved possible to stage more than 50 international and 45 national congresses of different sizes between 2010 and 2014, with a total of some 600,000 participants.
Each year, more than 220,000 visitors from all over the world are expected in the Congress Center at Messe Basel. The 25 modular rooms not only accommodate meetings for scientists and other experts but also host a whole range of events, like the Humour Congress at the end of September 2015 and the Swiss Bodybuilding Championships at the end of October 2015. Alongside the scientific events, it is, however, the large number of company events that account for by far the biggest share of business in the Congress Center Basel.
