DMC ITALY DMC AUSTRIA
DMC ITALY DMC AUSTRIA
ABOUT
Forte Europe was founded in 2014 in response to the ever-increasing demand for efficient congress and event management that features inside expertise in specific destinations and their deep local culture.
Our legal headquarters are located in Austria (Vienna) and a second office is run in Italy (Venice).
Our multicultural and multilingual team had fostered its previous professional expertise not only in the MICE industry, but also in international corporations, hotels, airlines, and logistic companies.
Our multi-layered combined experience represents a solid base to better approach challenges in corporate events and deliver efficient, outstanding A to Z MICE solutions.
“Behind the Company.”
OUR STORY
by Vessela Kristianova
On a snowy day at the Brussels airport in December 2013, my friend Christine and I encountered Paolo, who was living in Vienna (just like us), and his friend Alessandro. At that time, I was working as a manager in an Austrian PCO, Christine in a well-known international hotel chain, Paolo as the Country Director of a major airline, and Alessandro as a corporate travel expert. We met occasionally at industry events. That night in the Brussels airport, thanks to a flight delay, we spent some pleasant hours with Paolo and Alessandro. Our professional diversity brought us into a discussion of what it takes to make a unique, outstanding corporate event that does justice to the destination. Each one of us had something to say: Christine and I drew on our hospitality and PCO background, Paolo dug deep from his management career forged in the tour operator and airline industry, and Alessandro shared experiences as a travel guru from the corporate world.
Effortlessly, we found ourselves envisioning a future Austro-Italian DMC.
This would be an unusual, dynamic DMC that engaged in continuous, relentless scouting for extraordinary ideas and proposals. It would draw from top-notch venues and thrilling incentive activities and explore the culinary secrets and the discovery of territories rich in tradition and culture. This DMC would emphasize these values and sculpt them to fit the MICE sector, avoiding working on standard proposals. It would offer a strong inclination towards listening to the customer, with a particular eye for detail. We planned to look to the future, organising virtual meetings and integrating digital solutions, with cloud-based cost breakdown and proposals.
That day, at the Brussels airport in early December 2013, we planted the seeds of our project.
Founders
Forte Europe’s Managing Director, Vessela Kristianova, began her MICE career in the late 1990s in Sofia, Bulgaria. She was part of the event management
Paolo Baruffol began his career in Italy in the late 1980s as a general manager for the international Tour Operators and then abroad in the airline industry.
department of a five-star international hotel chain and soon became Project Director in a global leading PCO.
Since 2010, Vessela has been living and working in Italy and Austria organising meetings, incentives, and events of all size and complexity. Her experience carrying out projects for corporate clients and associations from all over the world has enhanced her cross-cultural understanding, creativity, and strategic thinking.
Cosmopolitan by birth, he worked and travelled in various continents, appreciating the cultural differences of our planet.
With a deep knowledge of Italy and particular attention to detail, Paolo constantly brings his Italian touch to the company’s operations while developing marketing and sales.