No surprises at the top of the International Congress & Convention Association’s annual rankings of the most popular destinations for international association meetings. Among countries, the United States and Germany are in the number-one and number-two positions, as they have been since 2004. Among cities, Vienna tops the list for the fifth consecutive year.

This year’s rankings are based on 9,120 international association meetings held in 2010. That’s 826 more events than were identified last year and an all-time record for the survey. ICCA credits a strong association meetings market as well as a record number of ICCA members sending in their calendar information to help identify new events.

Perhaps the biggest story from this year’s survey is Madrid, which hadn’t even cracked the top 20 two years ago. Last year, though, it cruised up to number 13, and this year it took another big leap, to number six.

New to the top 10 cities this year is Istanbul, coming in at number seven, and Sydney, which rose from number 27 to number 10. The other big city mover was Taipei, up from the 25th spot to number 11. China, which entered the top 10 countries for the first time last year, moved up another spot this year, to number eight.

Top Countries for International Association Meetings

1. U.S.A.
2. Germany
3. Spain
4. U.K.
5. France
6. Italy
7. Japan
8. China
9. Brazil
10. Switzerland

Top Cities for International Association Meetings

1. Vienna
2. Barcelona
3. Paris
4. Berlin
5. Singapore
6. Madrid
7. Istanbul
8. Lisbon
10. Sydney

The ICCA rankings include meetings that take place on a regular basis and that rotate between a minimum of three countries. Of the increase in events reported for 2010, ICCA CEO Martin Sirk commented, “It seems clear to me that we’re in the midst of an extended period of astonishing dynamism: 2009 and 2008 were similarly buoyant in terms of new association event creation. This surely has to be driven by the acceleration of new scientific and technological developments, and the need to discuss these complex changes face to face. Anyone who wants to understand what the Information Revolution really looks like just needs to consider how the association meetings sector is evolving.”

For more, visit the ICCA Web site.