PCMA AND GERMAN CONVENTION BUREAU PARTNER TO ADVANCE  AI-DRIVEN DESTINATION INTELLIGENCE 

Open Data MICE Germany Meets PCMA’s Destinaitor  

ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS — PCMA and the German Convention Bureau (GCB) today announced a strategic collaboration bringing together two innovative initiatives – Destinaitor and Open Data MICE Germany – to shape the future of business events intelligence and destination marketing.  

Destinaitor, PCMA’s and dFakto’s AI-powered destination research platform that goes beyond dates, rates and space and Open Data MICE Germany, a strategic data management initiative which structures and connects MICE-relevant data across Germany’s business events community, collectively deliver the strengths of open data and AI. The partnership aims to enhance global accessibility, foster cross-border collaboration, and position business events as catalysts for innovation, sustainability, and shared progress worldwide. 

“Destinaitor is designed to unlock the full power of data for the global business events community. By partnering with the GCB and its Open Data MICE initiative, we are expanding the platform’s intelligence and reach—creating new opportunities for destinations and business events strategists to collaborate more effectively,” said Sherrif Karamat, CAE, President and CEO of PCMA and CEMA. “This partnership reflects our shared belief that data transparency and innovation are essential to driving economic and social progress through business events.” 

This partnership marks a major step toward a more connected, transparent, and data-driven business events ecosystem. Under the new agreement, German destinations participating in Open Data MICE will contribute their structured, machine-readable data to Destinaitor, enhancing both the depth of global destination data available through the platform and the international visibility of Germany as a premier meetings and conventions destination.  

A Shared Vision for Smarter Global Collaboration 

“With the collaboration between Destinaitor and Open Data MICE, the long-standing and close partnership between PCMA and the GCB gains a powerful new dimension,” said Matthias Schultze, GCB’s Managing Director. “Open data and AI-powered marketing hold tremendous potential for the future of business events. The fact that German destinations are among the first to contribute to Destinaitor clearly illustrates how, moving forward,  

applications worldwide will be able to access and leverage the open, machine-readable data we provide – setting a benchmark for innovation and strengthening Germany’s global positioning in the business events industry.” 

Open Data MICE Germany is led by the GCB in cooperation with the German National Tourist Board (GNTB). The project systematically captures and structures MICE-related data from across the entire German business events landscape in an open, machine-readable format. By linking this information within a semantic knowledge graph, Open Data MICE enables AI-driven tools to make smarter, faster, and more sustainable event planning decisions. 

The integration with Destinaitor extends these capabilities globally. Destinaitor leverages advanced large language models (LLMs) to curate, analyze, and match destination and venue information delivered by partners Simpleview and Tempest. Only participating entities can manage and update their respective data, ensuring users are engaging with accurate and reliable data. 

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PCMA CONTACT
Meghan Risch
Chief of Staff, Vice President, Corporate Communications  
Email: [email protected]  

GCB CONTACT
Dr. Martina Neunecker
Director Communications & Strategy
Email: [email protected]  

About PCMA
PCMA, PCMA Foundation and CEMA educate, inspire, and listen, creating meaningful experiences wehere passion, purpose and commerce come together. We are the world’s largest community for Business Events Strategists, providing senior-level education, networking, and market intelligence for the global business events industry. Our mission is to drive social and economic progress through business events. Headquartered in Chicago, IL PCMA has 17 North American Chapters, regional communities in APAC, EMEA and LATAM, and members in 72 countries and communities. The Corporate Event Marketing Association (CEMA), a PCMA subsidiary, advances strategic event marketing and marketing communications for senior-level event marketers and industry professionals. Visit us at pcma.org. 

About the GCB
The German Convention Bureau (GCB) is tasked with securing and further extending Germany’s position as an internationally leading and sustainable destination for conferences and meetings. Driving innovation in the meetings and congress sector, the GCB provides its members with premium market research data. The GCB develops target-group-specific marketing activities for international markets as well as for Germany and supports its members and partner in marketing their offering. 

The GCB’s more than 160 members represent more than 450 businesses and include leading hotels, convention centres, venues, municipal marketing organisations, event agencies and service providers within the German meetings and conventions industry. As “Strategic Partners”, Deutsche Lufthansa, Deutsche Bahn and the German National Tourist Board (GNTB) support the work of the GCB. The IMEX Group is the GCB’s “Strategic Exhibition Partner”. H World International is the GCB’s „Premium Partner 2025″ while darmstadtium congress centre, Frankfurt Airport Marriott Hotel – Sheraton Frankfurt Airport Hotel & Conference Center, Tourism Agency Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia Tourism support the GCB as “Partners in Focus 2025“. More information: www.germany-meetings.com.  

About dFakto
dFakto is a data-driven, business-minded expert in advanced data platforms, committed to revolutionizing how organizations transform, perform, and comply with their data. We provide innovative tooled-consulting and licensing solutions, highlighted by our leading platforms, beVault (www.bevault.io) and proPilot (www.proPilot.io). Our mission is to empower a diverse range of clients, from governments and large corporations to associations and SMEs, by enabling them to build, run, and maintain agile, state-of-the-art data platforms. The dFakto platform excels at preparing and integrating data from multiple sources, ensuring it is handled in a secure and compliant way. Furthermore, our future-proof solutions are designed to flexibly cope with the rapid advancements and changing demands of Artificial Intelligence technologies, providing future-proof data management capabilities. dFakto currently has offices in Brussels and Paris and will operate on the North American market through the JV in Chicago. Visit us at www.dfakto.com. 

About Open Data MICE
Open Data MICE is a strategic data management initiative led by the GCB German Convention Bureau in cooperation with the German National Tourist Board (GNTB). It structures and connects MICE-relevant data across Germany’s business events ecosystem to make it accessible in an open, machine-readable format, enabling AI-powered applications for destination marketing and event planning.
Learn more at: https://opendata.gcb.de/en/