About 27 percent of attendees at U.S.-based medical meetings come from outside North America, according to a recent research report conducted by the Healthcare Convention and Exhibitors Association.

The special report, “Healthcare Meeting and Exhibit Marketing Globalization,” finds that, on average, 14 percent of international attendees come from Europe, 6 percent from Asia, 4 percent from South America, 2 percent from Australia, and 1 percent from Africa. Five years ago, about 20 percent of attendees came from outside North America.

The study also revealed that international medical meetings, those with U.S. and international attendees, have seen attendance increase 23 percent over the past five years. By comparison, U.S.-only healthcare meetings jumped 13.7 percent; Canadian medical meetings grew 13.4 percent; and pan-European medical meetings climbed 19 percent over that same period.

Additionally, the report outlined the top 20 European destinations for medical meetings over the past 10 years. The top 10, based on the number of meetings with over 2,000 attendees held there, are Paris; Birmingham, England; Vienna, Austria; Barcelona, Spain; Brussels, Belgium; Munich, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; Stockholm, Sweden; Berlin; and Glasgow, Scotland. London is 11th.

The report surveyed 52 leading medical conventions, representing a cross section of medical specialties, which are included in the HCEA 100 Index of the top healthcare meetings. For a copy of the executive summary version, visit www.hcea.org. The full report will be available for purchase when it is released later this month.