29-05-2025
Top Destinations for Association Meetings
Vienna returns to top of ICCA's city rankings, while the U.S. once again tops the country rankings. But that's only one side to ICCA's newly released report and data on international association meetings in 2024.
Association meetings, with their extended planning cycles are crucial targets for destination marketing organizations worldwide. They are also a key way convention bureaus track their success. Last week at IMEX Frankfurt, ICCA released its ranking of the countries and cities holding the most international meetings in 2024.
According to ICCA's latest report based on 2024 data, the U.S. continues to top the country ranking, a position it has held since at least 1995. Several Western European countries, along with Japan and Canada, also make up the top 10. A notable shift saw France drop from fourth to sixth, likely due to capacity issues as Paris hosted the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Vienna returned to the top of the ICCA city rankings, a position it also held two years prior, with Lisbon a close second, separated by just one meeting. Singapore dropped to third from second. Paris experienced the largest decline, falling from first to sixth, likely due to hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics. Prague dropped one spot, while Seoul rose three places and Rome two. Bangkok and Athens entered the top 10, replacing Madrid (11th) and Dublin (20th).
2024 ICCA Rankings for Countries
1. U.S. (709)
2. Italy (635)
3. Spain (536)
4. Germany (491) +1
5. United Kingdom (481) +1
6. France (432) -2
7. Japan (428)
8. Netherlands (295)
9. Portugal (290)
10. Canada (252) 2024 ICCA Rankings 2024 for Cities
1. Vienna, Austria (154) +3
2. Lisbon, Portugal (153) +2
3. Singapore (144) -1
4. Barcelona, Spain (142) +1
5. Prague, Czech Republic (131) +1
6. Paris, France (124) -5
7. Seoul, Republic of Korea (124) +3
8. Bangkok, Thailand (115) +8
9. Rome, Italy (114) -2
10. Athens, Greece (111) +5
A Bumpy Post-Pandemic Recovery Continues
The International Congress and Convention Association's (ICCA) latest report sees the number of international association meetings reaching 11,099 in 2024, an increase of 9% from 2023. A positive step, but still significantly below 2019's peak of 13,269 meetings, suggesting over 2,000 meetings have been lost. The 2024 figures are similar to the total number of meetings counted in 2012, which stood at 11,150. The 17.8% shortfall is significant. Even taking an average of meetings between 2016 and 2019 of 12,752.5, the shortfall stands at 13.9%.
The economic impact of these meetings is substantial, generating $11.6 billion in immediate economic impact according to ICCA's estimates. Attendee spending has risen 24% since 2015, going from $2,518 to $3,127, although it actually decreased from $3,832 in 2022 and $3,146 in 2023. While this is clearly positive, this increase is slightly lower than global inflation, which rose 25% during the same period.
Looking at where the economic impact comes from, large meetings (1,000+ attendees) represent just 8% of total meetings but account for $6.9 billion (59.4%) of the impact. Mid-sized meetings (150-999 attendees) make up 53% of all meetings and contribute $5.5 billion (47.4%), while smaller meetings (50-149 attendees) represent 39% of meetings but only $884 million (7.6%) of the total impact.
Limited Focus of Data
Understanding ICCA's methodology is crucial for interpreting these rankings. The data only includes meetings organized by associations with over 50 participants that rotate between at least three countries. This methodology, while consistent since ICCA's founding, excludes significant meeting segments. For instance, many U.S. associations rotate between East Coast, Midwest and West Coast destinations without crossing international borders, and so these often large meetings are not taken into account. Similarly, non-rotating association meetings are also not included, meaning massive events like CES, are also omitted.
Top performing city, Vienna, exemplifies this limited view that the rankings offer. While ICCA attributes 154 rotating international association meetings with 101,886 participants to Vienna in 2024, Vienna's own statistics count 781 international congresses with 260,000 participants.
The Union of International Associations (UIA) offers an alternative perspective. It counts meetings of any size, with or without a regular cadence and regardless of whether they rotate at all. It also takes into consideration meetings driven by intergovernmental organizations as well as associations. Their most recent ranking based on 2023 data, — the 2024 rankings will be released shortly — ranked Belgium first with 708 meetings, followed by the U.S. (633) and Japan (488). Brussels led cities with 620 meetings, followed by Vienna (298) and Tokyo (226).
Alternative Rankings
ICCA itself shares alternative rankings in its report. One ranking considers the immediate economic impact of the meetings held in a city over 2024. ICCA calculates this impact based on an average registration rate for the city, which is then used as a multiplier to calculate the total direct spend. It estimates registration rate represents on average 22% of the immediate economic impact per attendee.
Looking at the big earners, Barcelona is clearly the winner, attracting around $360 million in direct spend, significantly more than London ($289 million) in second place and Singapore ($290 million) in third.
City Ranking by Immediate Economic Impact
Barcelona, Spain ($360 million) London, UK ($298 million) Singapore, Singapore ($290 million) Madrid, Spain ($288 million) Vienna, Austria ($247 million) Milan, Italy ($237 million) Amsterdam, Netherlands ($230 million) Bangkok, Thailand ($221 million) Copenhagen, Denmark ($209 million) Rome, Italy ($200 million)
Destinations Ranked by Size of Meeting
A different view of the ICCA rankings emerges when focusing on the size of meetings. For gatherings exceeding 1,000 delegates, Korea rises to fourth (from 12th overall), and Australia climbs to ninth (from 17th). Conversely, Germany drops to seventh (from fourth overall). In this large-meeting category, Lisbon leads among cities, followed by Barcelona and Singapore. Vienna, the top-ranked city overall, falls to fourth, tied with Seoul and Milan (which ranks 14th overall). Notably, Cape Town (seventh) and Melbourne (joint eighth) perform significantly better in this ranking of large meetings compared to their overall positions (35th and 31st respectively). Analyzing only mid-sized or small meetings does not produce substantial shifts from the complete ranking. However, Athens, Madrid, and Tokyo see an improvement in the mid-sized category, while Brussels and Stockholm rank higher when considering only smaller meetings.
Country Ranking for large meetings (1000+)
1. U.S. (71)
2. Italy (57)
3. Spain (57)
4. Republic of Korea (37)
5. United Kingdom (34)
6. France (34)
7. Germany (32)
8. Portugal (31)
9. Australia (27)
10. Netherlands (24)
City Ranking for large meetings (1000+)
1. Lisbon (22)
2. Barcelona (21)
3. Singapore (19)
4. Vienna (18)
4. Seoul (18)
4. Milan (18) - 14th overall
7. Cape Town (15) - 35th overall
8. Paris (14)
8. Bangkok (14)
8. Rome (14)
8. Melbourne (14) - 31st overall
Country Ranking for Mid-Sized Meetings (150–999 attendees)
1. U.S. (397)
2. Italy (298)
3. Spain (287)
4. United Kingdom (239)
5. Germany (222)
6. France (220)
7. Japan (220)
8. Portugal (156)
9. Netherlands (150)
10. China-P.R. (141)
City Ranking for Mid-Sized Meetings (150–999 attendees)
1. Lisbon (79)
2. Singapore (79)
3. Barcelona (76)
4. Athens (73) - 10th overall
5. Seoul (68)
5. Bangkok (68)
7. Vienna (67)
8. Paris (60)
8. Rome (60)
10. Madrid (58) - 11th overall
10. Tokyo (58) - 16th overall
