Record year of association meetings sees Barcelona top city rankings while the Asian market remains stable.
In another successful year for the association meetings industry, the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) has captured a record number of 12,558 international association meetings in 2017 – with 346 additional meetings compared to 2016. This is the highest annual figure that ICCA has ever recorded in its yearly analysis of the immediate past year’s meetings data.
“In a world of disruption and unpredictability, the continuing growth in international association meetings is a welcome anomaly, but is not that surprising,” ICCA CEO, Martin Sirk, says. “We are still in a period of revolutionary change in terms of scientific and technological advancements, which are transforming traditional association fields such as healthcare and trade.
“To make sense of the tsunami of new data and information, association communities need to meet. Not just at their traditional, well-established meetings, but in new gatherings specifically invented to serve new academic fields or to reach out to new audiences. These are the pressures that we believe will continue to boost the sector for many years to come.”
City and country rankings
The cities in this year’s top 5 remain unchanged since 2015, but Barcelona surpasses regular first and second-place holders Paris and Vienna to claim the top spot. Taking first place for the first time since 2004 with 195 meetings in 2017, Barcelona knocks last year’s number one Paris down to second place. Vienna holds its previous position in joint second place with Paris, and Berlin and London are placed in fourth and fifth. Madrid stays in seventh place for another year, and last year’s other number seven, Amsterdam, drops out of the top 10 to 16th place, making way for Prague to climb three places to join the top 10 in eighth place. As in 2016, Singapore, Lisbon and Seoul remain in sixth, ninth and 10th place respectively.
Notable risers are Buenos Aires, jumping from 17th to 11th place, Budapest, jumping from 16th to 12th, and Hong Kong, jumping from 19th to 13th. Rome remains in 20th place for another year. Newcomers to the top 20 in 2017 are Tokyo and Montreal.
Top 20 city ranking by number of meetings organised in 2017:
| Rank |
City |
# Meetings |
| 1 |
Barcelona |
195 |
| 2 |
Paris |
190 |
| 3 |
Vienna |
190 |
| 4 |
Berlin |
185 |
| 5 |
London |
177 |
| 6 |
Singapore |
160 |
| 7 |
Madrid |
153 |
| 8 |
Prague |
151 |
| 9 |
Lisbon |
149 |
| 10 |
Seoul |
142 |
| 11 |
Buenos Aires |
131 |
| 12 |
Budapest |
128 |
| 13 |
Hong Kong |
119 |
| 14 |
Dublin |
117 |
| 15 |
Copenhagen |
115 |
| 16 |
Amsterdam |
112 |
| 17 |
Bangkok |
110 |
| 18 |
Tokyo |
101 |
| 19 |
Stockholm |
97 |
| 20 |
Montreal, QC |
96 |
| 21 |
Rome |
96 |
Since 2016 there has not been much change in the top 10 country rankings, apart from a minor shift in positioning. As it has done for the past two decades, U.S.A. remains in the number one position with 941 meetings, 7 more than reported at this time in 2016.
Top 20 country rankings by number of meetings organised in 2017:
| Rank |
Country |
# Meetings |
| 1 |
U.S.A. |
941 |
| 2 |
Germany |
682 |
| 3 |
United Kingdom |
592 |
| 4 |
Spain |
564 |
| 5 |
Italy |
515 |
| 6 |
France |
506 |
| 7 |
Japan |
414 |
| 8 |
China P.R. |
376 |
| 9 |
Canada |
360 |
| 10 |
Netherlands |
307 |
| 11 |
Portugal |
298 |
| 12 |
Austria |
281 |
| 13 |
Republic of Korea |
279 |
| 14 |
Australia |
258 |
| 15 |
Sweden |
255 |
| 16 |
Brazil |
237 |
| 17 |
Switzerland |
230 |
| 18 |
Poland |
216 |
| 19 |
Belgium |
208 |
| 20 |
Denmark |
203 |
The annual ICCA country and city rankings report only includes international association meetings that rotate between at least three countries, have a proven attendance of at least 50 participants, and are held on a regular basis. The ICCA rankings should thus not be mistaken as providing an overview of the entire meetings industry.
Record year of association meetings sees Barcelona top city rankings while the Asian market remains stable.
In another successful year for the association meetings industry, the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) has captured a record number of 12,558 international association meetings in 2017 – with 346 additional meetings compared to 2016. This is the highest annual figure that ICCA has ever recorded in its yearly analysis of the immediate past year’s meetings data.
“In a world of disruption and unpredictability, the continuing growth in international association meetings is a welcome anomaly, but is not that surprising,” ICCA CEO, Martin Sirk, says. “We are still in a period of revolutionary change in terms of scientific and technological advancements, which are transforming traditional association fields such as healthcare and trade.
“To make sense of the tsunami of new data and information, association communities need to meet. Not just at their traditional, well-established meetings, but in new gatherings specifically invented to serve new academic fields or to reach out to new audiences. These are the pressures that we believe will continue to boost the sector for many years to come.”
City and country rankings
The cities in this year’s top 5 remain unchanged since 2015, but Barcelona surpasses regular first and second-place holders Paris and Vienna to claim the top spot. Taking first place for the first time since 2004 with 195 meetings in 2017, Barcelona knocks last year’s number one Paris down to second place. Vienna holds its previous position in joint second place with Paris, and Berlin and London are placed in fourth and fifth. Madrid stays in seventh place for another year, and last year’s other number seven, Amsterdam, drops out of the top 10 to 16th place, making way for Prague to climb three places to join the top 10 in eighth place. As in 2016, Singapore, Lisbon and Seoul remain in sixth, ninth and 10th place respectively.
Notable risers are Buenos Aires, jumping from 17th to 11th place, Budapest, jumping from 16th to 12th, and Hong Kong, jumping from 19th to 13th. Rome remains in 20th place for another year. Newcomers to the top 20 in 2017 are Tokyo and Montreal.
Top 20 city ranking by number of meetings organised in 2017:
Since 2016 there has not been much change in the top 10 country rankings, apart from a minor shift in positioning. As it has done for the past two decades, U.S.A. remains in the number one position with 941 meetings, 7 more than reported at this time in 2016.
Top 20 country rankings by number of meetings organised in 2017:
The annual ICCA country and city rankings report only includes international association meetings that rotate between at least three countries, have a proven attendance of at least 50 participants, and are held on a regular basis. The ICCA rankings should thus not be mistaken as providing an overview of the entire meetings industry.
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