Barcelona, Spain’s Mediterranean gem and its second largest city, has taken the top spot in the International Congress and Convention Association’s annual ranking of association meeting cities.
ICCA tracked the destination choices for a record number of rotating international association meetings in 2017 to arrive at its Top City and Top Country rankings. In all, ICCA captured the location of 12,558 meetings (346 more than in 2016) that rotate between at least three countries, have a proven attendance of at least 50 participants, and are held on a regular basis.
The top-five cities have remained the same since 2015—Barcelona, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and London—but Barcelona’s new spot at No. 1 reflects a change from 181 international association meetings in 2016 to 195 in 2017. A couple of notable moves on the list include Amsterdam’s drop from No. 7 in 2016 with 144 meetings to No. 16 this year with 112, and the jump for Buenos Aires from No. 17 to No. 11.
While no U.S. city made the top 20, as a whole the U.S. dominated the Top Country rankings, hosting 259 more meetings than the next closest country, Germany.
Top 20 cities for international association meetings in 2017 (number of meetings)
1. Barcelona (195)
2. Paris and Vienna (190)
4. Berlin (185)
5. London (177)
6. Singapore (160)
7. Madrid (153)
8. Prague (151)
9. Lisbon (149)
10. Seoul (142)
11. Buenos Aires (131)
12. Budapest (128)
13. Hong Kong (119)
14. Dublin (117)
15. Copenhagen (115)
16. Amsterdam (112)
17. Bangkok (110)
18. Tokyo (101)
19. Stockholm (97)
20. Montreal and Rome (96)
Top 20 countries for international association meetings in 2017 (number of meetings)
1. U.S.A. (941)
2. Germany (682)
3. United Kingdom (592)
4. Spain (564)
5. Italy (515)
6. France (506)
7. Japan (414)
8. China-P.R. (376)
9. Canada (360)
10. Netherlands (307)
11. Portugal (298)
12. Austria (281)
13. Republic of Korea (279)
14. Australia (258)
15. Sweden (255)
16. Brazil (237)
17. Switzerland (230)
18. Poland (216)
19. Belgium (208)
20. Denmark (203)
