Despite hosting more events that fall within the ICCA criteria, Australia fell from 13th place to 17th.
New Zealand falling from 43rd place to 47th.
The United States remains the top-ranked country, followed by Italy, Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom. For 2024 the UK moved ahead of France.
A clear big winner in 2024 was China which moved from 18th place to 11th after hosting 79 more international meetings in 2024 compared to 2023.
Top cities for 2024 were Vienna claiming the number one position (moving up from 4th) and Lisbon 2nd followed by Singapore, Barcelona and Prague.
In terms of best placed Australian cities, Sydney was ranked highest at 30th on the list (down from 25 in 2023). Other notable results were Melbourne (31st position from 35th) and Perth (105th position from 228th). All other Australian cities went backwards including Brisbane (dropping from 76th to 94th) and Cairns (falling from 212th to 432nd).
The Top 5 countries in the Asia Pacific were Japan, China, Korea, Australia and Thailand, while the Top 5 cities were Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
On the results for 2024, and despite dropping five places, Business Events Sydney CEO Lyn Lewis-Smith said Sydney’s ranking was an endorsement for the city’s impact-driven strategy to target global conferences that attract delegates that contribute both economically and socially to the destination and country’s growth.
“In this year’s ranking report ICCA spoke of the importance for destinations to ‘think more holistically about strategic meeting selection, and how to measure economic returns on internationalisation and city development’, beyond the traditional tourism short-term sugar hit of ‘heads in beds’,” she said.
“Our Beyond Tourism Benefits research, now into its 14th year, proves how events that align global association and local destination economic goals catalyse global research collaborations and tradeflows, link investors with new growth opportunities and mobilise talent flows.”
ICCA categorises meetings that are held regularly, have a proven attendance of at least 50 participants, and rotate between at least three countries as suitable to be included in the annual ICCA GlobeWatch: Business Analytics – Country & City Rankings Report.