For a small country and city Singapore punches above its weight in hosting international meetings, eclipsing all Australian cities in the latest International Congress and Convention Association Rankings Report.
In city rankings, Singapore was second on the world stage, hosting 152 meetings in 2023. First on the list was Paris, with 156.
In Australia, Sydney was the best ranked city, hosting 64 meetings, followed by Melbourne ranked 35th (50 meetings) and Brisbane ranked 76th (30 meetings). Across the ditch, Auckland was New Zealand’s best placed city, ranked 84th and hosting 27 meetings in the year.
Country rankings featured the United States in first place (690 meetings), followed by Italy (553 meetings), Spain (504 meetings), France (472 meetings) and Germany (463 meetings).
Japan was a standout in the Asia Pacific, hosting 363 meetings. Not too far behind was South Korea, with 252 international meetings hosted for the year.
Launching the report at last week’s IMEX event in Frankfurt, ICCA CEO, Senthil Gopinath, said the addition of Asian destinations into the year’s top five rankings was a testament to the region’s ability to adapt to such a competitive global environment.
Also attending IMEX Frankfurt, BESydney CEO, Lyn Lewis Smith welcomed Sydney’s ranking in the ICCA Ranking Report and took the opportunity to highlight the city’s strong forward bookings.
“This week our forward pipeline ticked over to 103 business events choosing Sydney that will generate more than $507 million in direct expenditure for the local economy between now and 2030,” she said.
“As well as attracting some 128,000 delegates to boost the local visitor economy, the conference programming at these events will give more Australians access to the world’s best practice and thinking on AI, biodiversity, education, engineering, defence and aerospace, critical minerals and all aspects of human and animal health as well as significant social issues of concern to us all including gender-based violence and aging.”
A significant driver in Australia’s ability to attract international meetings is Tourism Australia’s Business Events Bid Fund that organisations can use to generate compelling reasons why a major meeting should be held in Australia.
Tourism Australia Managing Director, Phillipa Harrison, said since its inception the Business Events Bid Fund has been helping to support a thriving visitor economy by building a strong pipeline of future international business events across Australia.