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ICCA Releases 2017 Statistics : BARCELONA claims TOP city for first time since 2004

ICCA Releases 2017 Statistics : BARCELONA claims TOP city for first time since 2004

ICCA Releases 2017 Statistics : BARCELONA claims TOP city for first time since 2004
May 07
14:49 2018

Barcelona claims first place in the ICCA city rankings by number of meetings in 2017 for the first time since 2004. The association meetings market continues to show robust growth.

In another successful year for the international association meetings industry, ICCA captured a record number of 12,558 rotating international association meetings taking place in 2017, with 346 additional meetings taking place 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.

 

Exponential growth market moving to maturity?

In its advocacy report « A Modern History of International Association Meetings: 1963-2013 «  (available at www.icca50.com), ICCA identified a 50-year trend of exponential growth in the number of international association meetings: the number of these meetings doubled every 10 years. In the last 5 – 10 years, this exponential growth seems to slowly transcend into a more mature, but still solid, growth pattern.

More research and data is needed to identify any changes to the long-term pattern, so ICCA will be updating its Modern History of International Association Meetings report with the release of a 55-year history of international association meetings later this year.

 

2017 City rankings: Barcelona overtakes Paris and Vienna to claim first place

The cities in this year’s top 5 remain the same as they have done 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.

Table 1: Top 20 city ranking by number of meetings organised in 2017

Rank                           City                                         # Meetings

1                                 Barcelona                              195

2                                 Paris                                       190

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

Rome                                     96

 

 

2017 Country rankings: U.S.A. in first place

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. The cities in the top 3 have not changed, with Germany and United Kingdom remaining in second and third place after the U.S.A.’s first. France exits the top 5 and drops to sixth place with the rise of Spain and Italy one place to fourth and fifth, and Japan retains seventh place for a second year running. China P.R. drops one place to eighth. Portugal drops out of shared 10th place to 11th in 2017. Argentina falls two spots to 21st place and Denmark enters the top 20 at 20th place.

 

Table 2: 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

 

 

IBTM in Barcelona 2017:

 

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