US remains top country for international association meetings
The U.S. and Vienna are the top country and city destinations for international meetings of associations, according to the International Congress and Convention Association, Amersterdam.
ICCA reports that in 2011, for the first time, there were more than 10,000 regularly occurring association events that rotate between at least three countries, 800 more than in 2010, as reported by ICCA members as well as research by the association.
The top-10 countries for association international meetings are:
1. U.S. - 759 meetings in 2011
2. Germany - 577
3. Spain - 463
4. U.K. - 434
5. France - 428
6. Italy - 363
7. Brazil - 304
8. China - 302
9. Netherlands - 291
10. Austria - 267.
The top-10 cities for association international meetings are:
1. Vienna - 181 meetings in 2011
2. Paris - 174
3. Barcelona - 150
4. Berlin - 147
5. Singapore - 142
6. Madrid - 130
7. London - 115
8. Amsterdam 114
9. Istanbul - 113
10. Beijing - 111.
The top-10 countries showed little change, with the top six repeating their rankings from 2010. The U.S. saw the biggest jump in number of events, up by 136 to a new record 759 meetings.
The Netherlands and Austria appeared at Nos. 9 and 10, respectively, taking the place of Switzerland, which dropped from No. 10 to No. 12. Japan, which experienced many cancellations because of the earthquake and tsunami, dropped from No. 7 to No. 13.
Vienna remained at No. 1, while Paris exchanged Barcelona places in the Nos. 2 and 3 spots. London jumped the most, into the top 10 at No. 7 from No. 14 in 2010, due to the upcoming Olympics. Beijing led the growing BRIC destinations - Brazil, Russia, India and China - by climbing from No. 12 to No. 10.
"International association meetings continue to be in tremendously good health when compared with the overall situation in the global meetings industry," ICCA CEO Martin Sirk said. "We've seen consistent annual growth in the number of international association meetings throughout the last few years of global economic instability, something no other sector can claim." Details: www.iccaworld.com.
