Successful Meetings - December 2007 - (Page 58)

12.07 PLACES SPACES & Claus Out! Inside > South Florida > Biloxi & MS Gulf Coast PAGE 63 PAGE 68 PAGE 71 PAGE 74 PAGE 77 > Fort Worth > Monterey, CA > Beijing It’s that time again, when Santa Claus is suddenly everywhere. Each year, this merry icon manages to inspire even the grinchiest among us with some holiday cheer. So it came as a surprise when Successful Meetings discovered that this jolliest of fellows—with his red suit, flowing white beard, and merry features—could inspire a contentiousness worthy of a pro wrestling smackdown. In fact, Santa is at the center of an international crisis; various nations want to be known as the home of Santa, with Finland and Greenland, at least, ready to go to the mat in order to claim him as their ho-ho-homeboy. According to Ritva Muller, spokesperson for the Finnish Tourist Board, “Santa lives in Korvatunturi, in mimegasite.com northeastern Finland. Since there is no road to visit him there, he nowadays has a base on the Arctic Circle near Rovaniemi”—also in Finland. This base, which opened to the public in 1992 as the Santa Claus Office, recently underwent an expansion that quadrupled its size and reopened last month to allow eager visitors their chance to meet Mr. Claus. When confronted with Finland’s claim, Greenland Travel representative Jesper Kunuk Eged scoffs: “It is true that we may not have been entirely successful in communicating the real origins of Santa—at least not in the same way that Finland has been exploiting their ludicrous claim. Every day of the year you can meet ‘Santa’ in the commercialized town of DECEMBER 2007 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS 58 http://mimegasite.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - December 2007

Successful Meetings - December 2007
Contents
Editor's Note
Special Report
Research
Industry Trends
2008 Meeting Events
Planner Spotlight
Websites of the Month
Mouth for Sale
Technology Talk
Food & Beverage
Pre-Event
On Site
Pre-Event
Tools of the Trade
Goodbye, Booth Babes
Five Tips to Improve Your Golf Events
When Crime Pays
Office for Hire
More Miles for Your Money
Places & Spaces
South Florida
Biloxi / Mississippi Gulf Coast
Fort Worth
Monterey
Beijing
Gurus
Special Supplement: Hawaii Island-by-Island Guide

Successful Meetings - December 2007