Marina Parra-Flechsig, President of SITE Germany, swears by incentives with impact - "even after Corona".
Shared experiences weld a team together and remain in the memory; incentives work according to this principle. The budget used for an incentive trip generates much more impact for a company than an equivalent financial reward. The experience of a successful event occupies the employees' thoughts much more than an extra amount in the bank account that is quickly spent. This explains why incentive travel was the fastest growing sector of the business event industry before the Corona crisis and hopefully will be again soon.
Munich makes the job of incentive specialists easy, as the metropolis on the Isar offers an almost unlimited variety of possibilities for creating a tailor-made event that is perfectly geared to the wishes of the client. What would you like? A dizzying tour across the roof of the Munich Olympic Stadium, following in the footsteps of the Wittelsbach dynasty through magnificent castles or immersing yourself in the Munich flair between Bavarian tradition and hip urbanity?
The incentive trip becomes even more impressive when all components, from the hotel to the culinary delights to the experience programme, can be coordinated. Munich offers the right infrastructure and capacities for this. For example, a creative day in Munich can start with a street art tour through the city, a hotel with extravagant design serves as accommodation and a film shoot in the Bavaria Studios advances the team building.
For the planning, it is best to get well-connected partners on board, such as those organised in the business event association SITE International and its local association SITE Germany. SITE stands for "Society for Incentive Travel Excellence" and is the only association dedicated exclusively to the "I" in MICE, the worldwide incentive travel industry. SITE International was founded in 1973 and its 2,200 members from 90 countries include professionals from a wide range of tourism sectors, such as marketing & PR consultants, shipping and airlines, DMCs, tourism organisations, hotels and resorts, travel and event planners or trade media.
The German chapter of SITE Germany started in Munich in 1990 and celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2020. Since 2016, Marina Parra-Flechsig, Managing Director of Munich-based DMC Weichlein Tours + Incentives and President of SITE Germany. All events that were cancelled due to the Corona crisis will be made up in 2021 - if possible. Despite the big slump last year, Mrs. Parra-Flechsig remains positive and believes in the future of incentives and events: New impulses are to be set, for example, with a series of networking events for SITE members and friends in Berlin, Frankfurt am Main and Munich.
For more information, please visit www.site-germany.com
As a member of SITE Germany, the Munich Convention Bureau is actively involved in numerous activities, including the organisation of the SITE Education Week and hopefully again next year at the SITE Germany IMEX Reception for members and friends of SITE. The Munich Convention Bureau also regularly supports one of the most exciting networking events in the MICE industry, the annual SITE Nite Europe during IMEX Frankfurt.
Global contacts, continuing education, motivating experiences and measurable results are the basis of SITE. All activities and offers aim to increase the quality of incentive travel, share knowledge, support networking and promote the professional development of individuals, groups and companies. Services include, for example, training events that address current topics such as environmental protection, climate change, compliance, data protection or risk management.
Exchange at national and international level, online offers with best cases and diverse information, certified training or young leader programmes create real added value for the members. The Code of Ethics and Conduct sets out SITE's principles, which are based on respect, fairness and social responsibility.
Marina Parra-Flechsig is Germany's Certified Incentive Travel Professional (CITP). As a quality and service-oriented entrepreneur, Mrs. Parra-Flechsig has the ambition to find creative solutions especially for the "impossible" challenges of her clients. She is helped in this by 28 years of experience in the MICE industry, gained in her home country, the Dominican Republic, and in Germany, her second home for 18 years.
In 2012, Mrs. Parra-Flechsig took over the management of Weichlein Tours + Incentives, the first destination management company in Germany, founded in 1956. Under her leadership, turnover and the number of employees multiplied, and another office was opened in Berlin. "Local knowledge, flexibility, solutions" is the motto of the company, which is considered a specialist for major events.
"Being in the front row, bearing responsibility and holding your own among the "heavyweights" of the Munich MICE industry was quite a challenge," says Mrs. Parra-Flechsig about her start at the helm of the company. She also found Bavarian society quite closed at first, but today Munich is her centre of life, where she lives and works with her family and has made many friends. And even her favourite football club, FC Bayern.
As a football fan, Mrs. Parra-Flechsig is particularly looking forward to next summer, when Munich will hopefully be the only German city to be one of twelve European Championship venues at UEFA EURO 2021. Due to the Corona crisis, the hosting of the tournament has not yet been confirmed at this stage. Three group matches and one quarter-final of the European Football Championship are expected to be played at the Allianz Arena. This will be called "Fussball Arena München" during the tournament.
