By hosting 164 events, Madrid sets a new record in the ICCA ranking and becomes Spain’s top destination for business tourism. Madrid is now one of the world’s top 5 cities within the conference tourism sector, having been ranked 22nd in 2008. The Spanish capital has overtaken Singapore and Barcelona and remains above London, despite it having held the Olympic Games last year.
This ranking is an acknowledgement of Madrid’s organisational capacity and a direct result of all the hard work carried out by Madrid City Council in collaboration with the city’s tourism industry. The capital city has increased the number of ICCA-approved conferences in 2012 by 26%, making it one of just seven cities around the world to have hosted over 150 events
Stockholm Overall Winner fDi European Region of the Future
fDi Magazine’s ranking list European Cities and Regions of the Future 2012/13 awards Greater Stockholm Region as Overall Winner in Europe for FDI.Stockholm is also Overall Winner for Quality of Life. The region is second in Business Friendliness and third in Economic Potential.
The City of Stockholm is second in the category Quality of Life after Paris ahead of Copenhagen and London.
– This is great news and proves that the Stockholm region is seen as strong and competitive, says Mayor of Stockholm Sten Nordin.
“In a more competitive climate than ever, with total foreign direct investment in Europe falling by more than 7% in 2011, London has maintained its title as fDi Magazine’s European City of the Future 2012/13, while the Greater Stockholm Region has overtaken the South-East UK to become the European Region of the Future 2012/13”.
The price will be received by Mayor Sten Nordin in an award ceremony during MIPIM in Cannes in early March.
fDi Cities and Regions of the Future were created from an independent collection of data by fDi Benchmark across 253 European Cities and 110 European regions. This information was set under seven categories: economic potential, human resources, cost effectiveness, quality of life, infrastructure, business friendliness and FDI promotion strategy.
Trinity Event Solutions has published it’s 400th blog in support of the Destination Champion programme, helping to extend destination knowledge, international expertise and direct relationships with overseas venues.
The scheme covers Europe and a little beyond, stretching from Portugal to Greece, Sweden to Malta, and many places in between. Duties include meeting with representatives from hotels and meeting venues here in the UK, attending networking and education events, researching the meetings industry, and visiting the destination itself. Lucky Trinity agents have been able to visit the following locales in order to become a Destination Champion:
Berlin, Barcelona, Budapest, Cannes, Dubai, Florence, Frankfurt, The Hague, Lisbon, Madrid, Malta, Milan, Monaco, Nice, Paris, Prague, Rotterdam, South Africa, Stockholm, Vienna
After the ICCA (international Congress and Convention Association), whose 2012 ranking rated Vienna No. 1 amongst the most popular destinations for international congresses for the eighth time in succession, the UIA (Union of International Associations) has now published its statistics for the year too. These statistics rank Vienna in third place after Singapore and Brussels, one place up compared to the 2011 ranking.
In 2012 no fewer than 326 of Vienna’s international congresses met the UIA ranking criteria, which meant third place in the listing headed by Singapore (952). Brussels ranked in second place (547), and Vienna relegated Paris (276) to fourth place. These cities were followed by Seoul (253), Tokyo (225), Barcelona and Copenhagen (150 each), Madrid (149) and London (119). In the country rankings, Austria retained seventh place – the same as in 2011 – with 458 events. Singapore (see above) also headed this ranking, followed by Japan (731), the USA (658), Belgium (597), South Korea (563) and France (494). Spain (449), Germany (373) and Australia (287) were ranked behind Austria.
If you’re still not convinced that Budapest would make a wonderful destination for your next conference, then take a look at the following testimonials from people that have recently held events in Budapest.
Roger Simons, CSR & Sustainable Events, Meeting Professionals International
I’m pleased to announce that we had our most highly rated European Meeting and Events Conference ever with 99.2 per cent overall satisfaction. Budapest clearly wanted to make a statement about the suitability of the destination for international events, your fabulous hospitality and spirit of innovation and prove a point to our audience that you are a first class destination.
Leonetta Baldini, Publi Creations
I organised the IFMAD conference at the Hilton Budapest with great success. With its fabulous location and flexible meeting space, the hotel was an ideal host for the 500 pax event. The service was very smooth and the staff did an excellent job so the organising team has decided to place the congress here again within only four years.
Ms Berivan Kockaya, ICSC Europe LLC
We held the ICSC European Marketing Conference at the InterContinental in Budapest last June. Budapest was considered a ‘hot’ destination because its latest shopping centre developments, central location and cultural sights made it attractive for many of the pan-European delegates. ICSC was really pleased with the service provided by the InterContinental and Budapest also offered very good value for both our delegates and our organisation.
Martin Rottiné, CCD Global Events
We chose Budapest for its good air links from many European destinations and easy transfers into the centre; it’s an attractive city with good hotels and venues and ample off-site options and also it is a tried and tested destination.
Many delegates explored Budapest in their free time and their feedback was extremely positive
Hanna Timonen, Spinverse
During the event everything was flawless and executed with precision and professionalism.
Thank you very much for all your assistance with planning and hosting Euro Nano Forum 2011 conference and exhibition at the Novotel Congress Centre. Your expertise in handling the logistics, the meeting arrangements, the AV, co-ordinating accommodation, food (breakfast & lunches) and in general organising the event were greatly appreciated.
