The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) announced its 2019 Report results, where the Top 20 ranking for the cities and countries with more international conferences was presented.
As the current pandemic is hitting the events industry, this report comes as good news to Lisbon as it reinforces the continuous growth of the city and helps strengthening the Portuguese capital’s international visibility.
With the highest increase in number of events (+38), Lisbon held a total of 190 international congresses and meetings. The portuguese capital surpasses rose from 6th place in 2018 to 2nd place in 2019, surpassing Vienna, Madrid, Barcelona and Berlin. Despite having a lower increase than Lisbon, with 25 more meetings, the 1st place went back to Paris.
As for the countries, Portugal occupies the 10th position, with 342 meetings, which allowed it to rise one place from last year’s ranking. The United States has led the ranking for two decades and held its position despite a 13-meeting drop from 2018.
The ICCA report only considers conferences that meet ICCA’s stringent assessment criteria: rotating between at least three countries, have a proven attendance of at least 50 participants, and are held on a regular basis.