Congress in Cannes : the GSM on the heels of the Festival...

24.000 participants of 135 countries, 12.000 rooms and 400 villas, 70 million francs of spin-off; the 3GSM congress emerges as the second event in Cannes after the film Festival.

Some impressive figures ! Those of IBC Global Conferences & GSM Association concerning the 3GSM congress which took place in Cannes late February. Let's have a look : 24.000 participants (to compare with the 1.400 participants of the first GSM congress edition in 1997 !), 135 countries, 338 operator companies, 123 banks and investment companies, 600 journalists, 468 exposing companies, 9.560 m2 of exhibition at the Palais des Festivals, in the Espace Riviera and under adjoining tents. In five editions, the GSM World Congress has become the second great event in Cannes after the International Film Festival.Fire works, private parties on yacht, gala diner at the Palm Beach, private Lionel Richie concert, hundreds of rented limousines, animations on the Palais' square : the mobile telecom's world had a party. The spin-off for the city has been even more important. It was up to 70 million francs.Let's add in this amount of figures, 12.000 rooms in hotel and tourism flats on the whole Riviera, 400 reserved villas and apartments, 120 ground hostesses in the Palais, hundreds of buses and shuttles… Cannes, which even considers it as a 'GSM festival', already thinks about the sixth edition, from February 10th to 22nd 2002.