The latest ICCA report is now available!

On May 13, the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) published the international ranking ICCA Statistics Report 2018, in which Warsaw was ranked 29th in the world and 18th in Europe, documenting 76 events meeting ICCA criteria. In the international ranking of countries, Poland was ranked 19th in the world and 11th in Europe. For comparison, in last year’s ranking, Warsaw with 89 events was ranked 23rd in the world and 16th in Europe, so this year’s report shows a drop of 6 positions (13 events less) compared to 2017.

Annual statistics ICCA for countries and cities are one of the key and most anticipated reports in the global meetings industry. Naturally, the data illustrates the attractiveness of congress destinations on the association market. However, it should be remembered that they should be analyzed in a broader context and in relation to global and regional trends.

What criteria does ICCA use?

ICCA prepares its ranking based on data on association meetings collected from convention bureaus, conference facilities, hotels and the associations themselves. Analyzed meetings must meet three conditions: be held cyclically, have at least 50 participants and migrate between at least three countries. This means that conferences that have already been held in Warsaw will not be acquired again soon, and the pool of associations that decide to go to Warsaw changes every year.

The statistics show a certain current state, but it is the result of sales activities that took place 3-4 years ago, because that is usually the time between the announcement of the competition for the event destination and the implementation of the congress. And the results of these competitions are usually a consequence of the internal policy of associations, the activity of local ambassadors, the frequency of meetings organized or the selection of regions in which the congress is held - events often migrate not only between cities, but also regions (e.g. Europe/America).

What's going on in the CEE region?

A reliable data analysis should not be limited to presenting results from previous years. The broader context is important. The ICCA report is a tool that allows for comparing results with other cities and examining general trends.

When we compare the results of the capitals in the Central and Central-Eastern European region (Warsaw, Budapest, Prague, Berlin and Vienna), it turns out that the downward trend applies to all key congress destinations for this part of Europe.

Is this actually a decline?

Comparing the statistics from 2018 and 2017, it is indeed clear that Warsaw documented fewer events last year and dropped in the ranking by 6 positions. However, when we compare the results from the last 5 years, such a significant increase in the number of congresses in the capital of Poland in 2017 is visible.

It is difficult to point out objective factors that caused Warsaw to drop in the ICCA ranking, but it can be assumed that it could have been caused by the geopolitical situation, insufficient infrastructure resources for organizing large international congresses, including the increasingly acute lack of a suitable congress center for events with 5,000 to 10,000 participants. The situation is not helped by the prolonged reconstruction of the Congress Hall of the Palace of Culture and Science, or finally, the smaller number of facilities that provided data for the report (e.g. due to concerns about sharing confidential information).

In summary, this year's ICCA statistics show a slight correction of the upward trend (since 2014), which followed a period of increased interest in the Central and Central Eastern European region in 2017. Both the data Warsaw Convention Bureau, as well as Demand Outlook system statistics show that more events took place and were confirmed in the first quarter of 2019 than in the same period of 2018.

Although these data are optimistic, it should be emphasized that the most effective way to acquire congresses is to encourage and support local ambassadors – people who promote and disseminate knowledge about the advantages of our country in their international scientific and industry environments, contributing to the decision to choose Poland as the location of the next international event. And such actions are taken Warsaw Convention Bureau, as part of the Warsaw Congress Ambassador Club, which locally implements the tasks of the Polish Congress Ambassador Program, run by Polish Tourist Organisation – Poland Convention Bureau and the Association "Conferences and Congresses in Poland”. We will soon announce the next activities of the Warsaw Ambassador Club, carried out jointly by WOT, POT and SKKP.