Poland went up three positions and was listed 20th in the latest UIA ranking – the International Meetings Statistics Report. In addition, three Polish cities are featured on the list: Krakow, Warsaw and, for the first time, Gdansk. The 64th edition of the report analyses nearly half a million meetings, organised in twelve thousand cities by more than twenty thousand international organisations.
World and European leaders
Over the past 20 years (2003-2022), Europe has been the undisputed global market leader. The Old Continent hosted 53% of meetings and events, followed by Asia – 22%, America – 17%, Africa – 4% and Australia/Oceania – 3%.
In 2022, the meetings and events were distributed as follows: Europe hosted 61% of meetings and events, followed by Asia – 20%, America – 13%, Africa – 3%, and Australia/Oceania – 2%. In the top 10 cities in the world in 2022, the most popular cities were: Brussels, Vienna, Singapore, Tokyo, Lisbon, Madrid, London, Barcelona, Seoul and Paris.
The summary for the years 2003-2022 shows that association meetings for 101 to 500 participants dominate globally with 48.9%. Smaller ones, below 100 participants, account for 27.9% of the market, while larger ones – 501 to 1000 participants – 11.8% and 1001 to 3000 – 7.8%.
Over a quarter of meetings and events lasted an average of 3 days (26.6%), followed by 4-day events (19.9%) and two-day events (18.2%), while one-day and five-day events accounted for ca. 13%.
Rules of the UIA Ranking
The meetings analysed by UIA must meet all four of the following conditions:
last for at least 3 days,
bring together a minimum of 300 participants,
participants come from a minimum of 5 countries,
at least 40% of participants come from abroad.
“For years, the ICCA and UIA rankings have been a reference to the state and place of individual congress destinations in the world. It is helpful for planners, telling them which directions are best for holding meetings and events, which is why the effort we put together with the industry in annual data reporting to the above-mentioned reports is extremely important. Thanks to the rankings, we can successfully compare our results with the results of the competition,” said Aneta Książek, head of Poland Convention Bureau.
Central Europe
In 2022, with 123 events, Poland improved its 2021 result by 3 places and, as the only country of the Visegrad Group (Hungary ranked 26th, Czechia – 28th and Slovakia – 64th), ranked 20th in the world ranking (which comprises 100 countries).
At the same time, it is worth noting that in the ranking summarising the last 20 years, among the 30 countries presented, Poland ranked 23rd, Hungary – 28th, while Czechia fell below the top thirty (in 2021, it ranked 29th). Poland’s high position is undoubtedly due to the entire Polish meetings industry, proving its significant transformation over the last twenty years.
Polish cities in the report
Among the first hundred cities from all over the world in 2022, the best position among Polish cities was held by Krakow. Its 32nd position with 43 meetings was an improvement by 11 places compared to 2021. The same number of events were held in Washington, DC, and one more was recorded in Rome.
Warsaw ranked 46th with 30 meetings (a drop in the ranking by 7 places). The same number of 30 events were also organised in Maastricht and Jeju, South Korea.
Gdansk debuted in the UIA ranking at the number 84 with 16 meetings (the same number was recorded in Zurich, San Diego and Las Vegas).
“Every year we look forward to the results, hoping for better numbers. This year, we jumped by 3 positions in the UIA ranking (data for 2022), and thus Poland got into the top twenty countries in the world where meetings of international associations take place. It is very pleasing that, apart from Kraków and Warsaw, Gdańsk has also improved its position, which in the rankings of both mentioned associations is the third most popular city in Poland for meetings and events. Without a doubt, the Covid-19 pandemic and the geopolitical situation in our region caused great concern among international planners, but I believe that our promotional activities, supported by specific data, will help us to minimise them, effectively convince the planners to organise conferences, congresses and incentive trips in our country,” added Aneta Książek.
The Polish Tourism Organisation - Poland Convention Bureau is the only Polish member of the Union of International Associations. UIA is a research institute based in Brussels. As a non-profit, apolitical, independent and non-governmental organisation, operating since 1907, UIA has been a pioneer in research, monitoring and providing information on international organisations, international associations and the global challenges they face.
More information about UIA activities on the association’s website: uia.org
source: UIA; #konkretyanety
