Whenever there is a conference hosted in a foreign country in any given industry, it serves as an opportunity to explore. The conferences are usually business centered. However provision for touring the host country is also made. This is extremely important as business delegating from all over the world is now exploring the host country as a tourist, hence having a potential booming effect in that country regarding to tourism. Meaning that if the business men and women explore the host country they might find that they really like the country and would like to return for future trips. Another factor could be that they see opportunities in the host country and would like to set up a business there. Thus attracting foreign investment into the host country.
One conference that is an exceptional example of this is the World Cargo Association (WCA) who has annual conferences in different parts of the world. Hence as stated by a press release from the WCA, freight forwarding conference the article reads that although the freight forwarding associations gather for a conference in any particular country, the objective of that conference is dual and multilateral partnerships between businesses and thus they also offers excursions to the delegates to explore the host country while abroad.
It then becomes a cultural experience for all parties involved as not only you get the business side of things but you are also exposed to the cultural and social attributes in the host country. The conference actually then serves as a dual purpose in the fact that once business has adjourned that you can now go site seeing and attend to the all the fun activities the host country has to offer. Beeing exploring the local cuisine, or going to visit ancient monuments, it all works in your favor.
Likewise for the host country, as stated by Traveller 24, tourism boom the tourism industry booms at the time that these conferences are held as the delegates come with foreign currency and all they want is to spend it in the local markets. Buying souvenirs and partaking in any activity that one has to pay for is all part of the tourist experience. Hence it helps to make friends for life in different parts of the world and also strengthens the working relationships with the delegates who are accompanying you on your trip there.
All of this then attests to the fact that attending a conference is never a waste of time as if held in a foreign country, you get to have business and pleasure all enclosed in the same trip.