The organizing committee of the 12th International Conference on Permafrost (ICOP), held in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada in June 2024, was the winner of the 2024 Bravo Award, handed out by the Yukon Convention Bureau (YCB). The award recognises local groups/individuals that through their efforts, have secured or assisted in the planning of a meeting or event in the Yukon, Canada. The YCB pointed out hat this was the first time an International Conference on Permafrost has been held in Yukon and the event hosted over 470 delegates, 439 of which travelled internationally to attend. 220 of the ICOP delegates arrived early or extended after to travel throughout the Yukon on scheduled tours to over four Yukon communities. This one event alone generated over $2.2million in economic impact to the Yukon, contributing about 30% towards the total economic impact generated from meetings and conference in Yukon in 2024. In addition, Gúnta Business, the company supporting ICOP2024 and was responsible for the excellent virtual conference component, was the winner of YCB’s Golden Bravo Award in recognition of going above and beyond in service excellence in the meeting & conventions sector. The organizing committee wants to thank everyone that participated, volunteered or contributed to ICOP 2024. Without all that support, the conference wouldn’t have been such a success and the economic impact the international permafrost science and engineering community managed to generate for the Yukon would have been much lower.
