Bienvenido WEC a Riviera Maya, México!
MPI’s signature education event, the World Education Congress (WEC), is going to México in 2023, the association announced Wednesday during IMEX America.
This marks the first time WEC will be outside the U.S. or Canada.
The announcement comes after St. Louis, which had been selected to host 2023, requested to move to 2024. MPI then reopened the RFP process and selected Riviera Maya for its annual education and networking event.
WEC México is scheduled to take place in June 2023 at the Barcelo Maya Riviera resort with an opening night at the Xcaret nature park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The President’s Dinner is scheduled to take place at the new Hilton Tulum.
“A little bit of everything for everybody.” Watch this Facebook Live video from IMEX America to learn what you can expect at WEC 2023 in Riviera Maya!
“We are thrilled World Education Congress 2023 will be at the beautiful all-inclusive Barcelo Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico,” said Annette Gregg, senior vice president, experience for MPI. “This is the first time we are taking our premier conference (WEC) to Latin America, and the support from the community there has been extraordinary. It is the fastest-growing region of MPI membership, and all of our Latin America clubs and chapters will come together to create an unforgettable experience, immersed in the local culture.”
The conference has been held in the U.S. except for four times, all in Canada, the most recent in Toronto in 2019.
Michel Wohlmuth, CEO of Creatividad in Mexico City, a member of MPI’s International Board of Directors and former president of the MPI Mexico Chapter, approached MPI’s senior leadership at IMEX Frankfurt in 2017 about the possibility of hosting WEC.
“Dreaming is the first step to achieving a goal,” he said. “Four years after that talk with Paul Van Deventer and (former COO) Darren Temple, the dream was ready to materialize thanks to the work of an infinite number of people.
“Bringing WEC to Mexico is extremely exciting. It fills me with joy because it is the perfect showcase to make known worldwide the incredible destination that Mexico is for the organization of congresses, conventions and incentive trips.”
Ken Torres, director, North America business development for Quintana ROO Tourism Board, the host committe, said the total number of visitors in the Mexican Caribbean in 2019 was around 23 million, about 30% of which were attending meetings and events. The total visitors in 2020 was around 10 million, with about 25% of visitors attending meetings and events.
The Riviera Maya, stretching across Playa del Carmen and Tulum, is located 45 minutes from Cancun International Airport, with more than 50 hotels in the area that have meeting space. The Barceló Maya resort has 850 rooms and has the largest meeting space project in the Riviera Maya. The convention center has 42 rooms with multifunctional spaces.
“The Riviera Maya has experienced a significant growth of its hospitality infrastructure including in opening new hotels with state-of-the-art convention centers,” Torres said. “Just this year we have opened six new meetings hotels, with four more opening in 2022. By hosting the WEC23, it will give us the opportunity to showcase our products and services but more importantly educate the meeting professionals on our great infrastructure and service. No new hotel is built without having meeting space to support the importance of this market.”
MPI has seen extraordinary growth in Latin America in recent years, growing to eight chapters and clubs—Mexico, Caribe Mexicano, Colombia, Bajio Occidente, Ecuador, Panama, Chile and the Dominican Republic. The Caribe Mexicano chapter, for example, was founded in just 32 days with 54 partners, said Rocío González Jonguitud, chapter president.
“The Riviera Maya has experienced a significant growth of its hospitality infrastructure.”
“The creation of the (chapter) not only helped to bring education and professionalism to the local meeting industry, it also brought the opportunity and became the platform to show the expertise and knowledge of our members and local industry to the MICE world,” she said.
“It’s going to be a huge responsibility, challenging yet rewarding,” she said of hosting WEC. “It will definitely be a motivator for the local, national and Latin American meeting industry to be part of this association. It will give us the opportunity to raise awareness for the meeting planners about the quality and capability of our local suppliers. WEC23 open the doors to more business opportunities, and this makes a domino effect.”
Torres said it is a great honor for MPI to select the Riveria Maya location.
“We understand we were running against some very special destinations,” he said. “Personally, I am very happy with the excitement and cooperation of all our industry partners in Mexico in bringing the event to the Riviera Maya.”
WEC will be in San Francisco in 2022, celebrating its 50th anniversary. The following two years will be in Mexico and St. Louis, and MPI is currently working to determine sites for the 2025 and 2026 WEC conferences.
