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Most competitive convention destination revealed by ICCA
Competitive Index 2019 for global cities hosting meetings and events ranks them by features such as infrastructure and costs.
Paris has retained the top spot in ICCA’s rankings of the most competitive destinations for international conventions.
Barcelona has moved up one place from its 2018 ranking to second place, while Singapore has jumped three places from sixth to third. Washington has gone the other direction, dropping from second to seventh place.
ICCA has worked with convention industry consulting firm GainingEdge on the second annual ‘Competitive Index’ of international convention destinations. This year’s edition extends the listing to the world’s top 103 cities – those which have hosted 82 or more international conventions over the past three years as reported by ICCA.
This year’s report also includes a ‘fair share’ analysis of a destination’s business levels.
“We think this analysis will help destinations to gain insights into where they are and whether they should be in market share building mode, or market share protection mode,” said GainingEdge CEO, Jon Sivertson.
“If you are below fair share there are probably reasons for that. For instance, if your competitors have better financed bureaus, it provides you with a business case for increased resources. If you are above fair share, the message should be that you need to avoid a downside risk. You are only there because you are taking some of your competitors’ share, and if they get it back, you lose.”
Most competitive global destinations for conventions
| City | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paris | 741.4 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 708.8 |
| 3 | Singapore | 706.8 |
| 4 | Tokyo | 694.1 |
| 5 | New York | 691.2 |
| 6 | Beijing | 672.2 |
| 7 | Washington DC | 668.2 |
| 8 | San Francisco | 664.6 |
| 9 | Boston | 661.3 |
| 10 | Chicago | 660.9 |
| 11 | Hong Kong | 653.4 |
| 12 | Kuala Lumpur | 647.7 |
| 13 | Berlin | 646.6 |
| 14 | Toronto | 642.8 |
| 15 | Amsterdam | 641.4 |
| 16 | London | 635.4 |
| 17 | Istanbul | 635 |
| 18 | Bangkok | 627.3 |
| 19 | Milan | 615.2 |
| 20 | Seoul | 604.3 |
| 21 | Madrid | 601.5 |
| 22 | Frankfurt | 600.4 |
| 23 | Shanghai | 600.2 |
| 24 | Vienna | 599.6 |
| 25 | Chinese Taipei | 596.1 |
(The full index covers 103 international cities)
The index compares the strength destinations by assessing features such as infrastructure (meeting venues, hotel stock and facility package, international accessibility and logistics), competitive factors (scientific community strengths, destination appeal and costs), as well as macro indicators (market size, economic strength, business environment, and social conditions).
You can download the full ICCA report here.
