Summer 2012 was a record breaking summer for the Association of Irish Professional Conference Organisers AIPCO.
Approximately 50’000 delegates attended AIPCO organised conferences between May and June worth an estimated £72.50 million to the economy. Over 32’000 visitors came for the ‘Eucharistic Congress’ alone; a joint venture between Keynote PCO and Conference Partners.
Conference Partners ran ‘The Euroscience Open Forum (ESOP) 2012’ along with three major conferences in the Convention Centre Dublin during the month of June. Dublin saw a significant increase in business tourism over the same time with MCI running two major conferences – the ‘International Conference on Emergency Medicine’ and the ‘Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution Annual Meeting’ – back-to-back.
At the ‘World congress on Water, Climate and Energy’, 77% of the 1150 delegates came from outside Ireland, reported Keynote PCO. Abbey Conference & Corporate reported similar figures for the ‘Northern European Conference on Travel Medicine’, with 90% coming from outside Ireland.
These Figures are a great indicator of where Ireland is at the moment in terms of business tourism. ‘Our investment in facilities is really paying off’ commented Jean Evans, Chair of AIPCO.