Barcelona, world leader in International Congress organization

Barcelona occupied in 2017 the first place in the world ranking of cities organizing international rotating congresses, with a total of 195 events, according to the list recently published by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).

Barcelona stood as the leader of this ranking for the first time in 2004. In 2017 it surpassed the cities of Paris (France) and Vienna (Austria), which were until then ahead of the Catalan capital. Both Paris and Viena hosted 190 international congresses, five fewer than Barcelona.

This ranking takes into account the events that are held on a regular basis (for example, every year or every two years) and that rotate between at least three countries. In addition, only those events that bring together a minimum of 50 participants are considered.

The fourth place in the ICCA ranking was for Berlin (Germany), with 185 events, while the fifth place was occupied by London (United Kingdom), with 177 events.

Madrid also appears among the ten first cities, occupying the seventh place with 153 congresses celebrated in 2017. It is the same position that it obtained in the ranking of 2016.

Among the cities that have improved their position in the last year are Buenos Aires (which has gone from position 17 to 11), Budapest (from 16 to 12) and Hong Kong (from 19 to 13).

The ICCA said that last year a record number of 12,558 international meetings was reached, 346 more than in 2016.

By countries, the United States occupied the first position with a total of 941 international meetings, 7 more than in 2016. Germany is still the second country in the ranking, with 682 events, and the United Kingdom the third with 592 meetings.

Spain moves from fifth place to fourth, with a total of 564 international meetings organized in 2017. It overtakes Italy and France in the ranking.