Published by Ozgur Tore
Sunday, 15 May 2011 15:15
While upward trend of meetings and conventions to Istanbul continues, the city continues to better its position in the global ranking.
iccaIstanbul which was the world’s 17th destination at the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) rankings with 80 congresses in 2009, achieved to enter Top 10 in 2010 while enjoying the 2010 European Culture Capital title.
Istanbul steadily continues to increase its position in the MICE industry by capturing the 7th position in the world and 6th position in the European ranking ahead of metropolises such as Lisbon, Amsterdam, and Sydney.
Ranking | City | Number of Congresses
——————————-
1 Vienna 154
2 Barcelona 148
3 Paris 147
4 Berlin 138
5 Singapore 136
6 Madrid 114
7 Istanbul 109
8 Lisbon 106
9 Amsterdam 104
10 Sydney 102
Elif Balci Fisunoglu Evaluating the ICCA results, General Manager of Istanbul Convention & Visitors Bureau; Mrs. Elif Balcı Fisunoğlu said, “Obviously this was something we expected, ICCA is gathering information from many sources to create this ranking. When we created the list of congresses in the city, we expected that those numbers will rank us in the top 10 this year. Each year in February, we sent information of congresses our members hosted and organized in the city to ICCA. Cooperation of our industry with us to share that information is very important. Istanbul is an international convention destination approved by the authorities of MICE industry. Today, congresses such as AIDS, Cardiology, and Rotary are planning to be held in Istanbul; this is a proof of Istanbul’s popularity as being one of the top convention destinations of the world”.
“In the early 2000s, Istanbul entered the listing from the 40th place with 20 congresses annually. In the last 10 years, with a rapidly increase in number of congresses in the city, positioned Istanbul in the Top 10. Undoubtedly, ICVB’s role at presenting and promoting the city as a convention city abroad, studies done by DMCs, presence of national associations and institutions in the international arena, internationally recognized convention centers and hotels and their high quality services played a major role at positioning Istanbul one of the world’s leading convention cities” added Mrs. Fisunoğlu.
According to the ICCA Statistics report, Turkey ranked world’s 20th and Europe’s 12th with 160 congresses. USA ranked at first place with 623 congresses followed by Germany with 542 congresses. Spain with 451 congresses and UK with 399 congresses follows Germany.
The annual ICCA “International Association Meetings Market” statistics present an in-depth evaluation of trends in the international meetings industry. The association conventions reviewed by the ICCA must have at least 50 attendees, be regular events and take place alternately in at least three different countries. Founded in 1963, the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) is based in Amsterdam and has been collecting data on association events world-wide since 1972
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