Barcelona confirms its leadership as a global conference destination. The latest ranking of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), which analyzes the data corresponding to the year 2023, indicates that the Catalan capital is ranked fifth in the world in terms of number of congresses, behind Vienna, Lisbon, Singapore and Paris, which once again leads the classification. Specifically, Barcelona held a total of 139 conferences last year compared to 156 in the Parisian capital or 109 in Madrid, which ranked eighth. The world top ten is completed with Prague, Rome, Dublin and Seoul.
If the evolution of the last decade is analyzed, the ranking places Barcelona as the first world destination in attendance of congressmen, with more than a million participants during these ten years, above Vienna, Paris, Berlin and Copenhagen. Seen in perspective, another fact that emerges from the study is that the Catalan capital is the third city that has hosted the most conferences in the world since 2014 – with a total of 1,479 -, only surpassed by Vienna (1,528) and Paris (1,752). .
The report counts international congresses that rotate between three countries and have a minimum of fifty delegates. Therefore, conferences as important as the MWC, which in its last edition surpassed the barrier of 100,000 attendees, or fairs such as the ISE, the largest in the world in its specialty and which had the presence of this year’s edition, are left out. of 73,000 professionals from more than 160 countries.
The study also allows you to see the countries that organize the most conferences in the world. In the case of Spain, it enters the podium by reaching third place (with 505) while Italy is positioned in second place (553) and the United States leads the ranking by quite a distance, with 690 annual events. In the top 10 and after Spain, are France (472), Germany (463), the United Kingdom (425), Japan (363), the Netherlands (304), Portugal (303) and Canada (259).
On the other hand, the report highlights the presence and greater prominence of holding conferences in the Asia and Pacific region. In this area, Singapore is the clear dominant in the sector (with 152 annually), followed closely by Seoul and, further away, Tokyo (91), Bangkok (88) and the capital of Taiwan, Taipei (68).
To prepare the study, the ICCA team reviewed all the meetings sent by its associates, resulting in a report that includes more than ten thousand meetings held during the last year.
This ranking is published annually and its latest edition was presented at the Imex fair, specialized in business tourism, which is being held these days in Frankfurt.