London, Barcelona and Paris are Europe’s top three destinations for meetings, according to Cvent Inc.’s first-ever list of the top 25 cities for meetings and events. While these three destinations are leading the pack, Cvent Inc. reported that competition between cities to attract meetings and events is aggressive in Europe, especially in countries where smaller markets are investing to get business from major cities.
Cvent Inc. announced its inaugural list in October, based on meeting and event booking activity through the Cvent Supplier Network. Featuring more than 234,000 hotels, resorts and special event venues, the network is the world’s largest database of detailed venue information, and more than $8 billion in meetings and events were sourced through the system in 2014. Cvent evaluated more than 2,500 cities in Europe features on the network and tracked activity from July 2014 to June 2015.
The ranking was then determined by qualifying criteria such as unique request for proposals (RFPs) received, total room nights requested in RFPs, awarded RFPs, awarded room nights, percentage of qualified meeting venues and number of profile views.
“Destinations and venues are working in tandem to be more attractive to event organizers to retain and grow group business, which is an important economic driver and often generates more profitable revenue for venues,” says David Chalmers, European marketing director at Cvent. “The strength of cities like Istanbul on the periphery of the EU and Athens in economically-challenged Greece highlight the rivalry between countries. Manchester and Birmingham are excellent examples of up-and-coming cities challenging their major domestic market.”
The Top 25 European cities for 2015 are:
- London, England
- Barcelona, Spain
- Paris, France
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Berlin, Germany
- Frankfurt, Germany
- Madrid, Spain
- Rome, Italy
- Brussels, Belgium
- Dublin, Ireland
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Istanbul, Turkey
- Vienna, Austria
- Munich, Germany
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Manchester, England
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Athens, Greece
- Budapest, Hungary
- Milan, Italy
- Hannover, Germany
- Birmingham, England
- Zurich, Switzerland
- Edinburgh, Scotland
To celebrate the top three destinations chosen, Cvent is publishing a series of infographics for London, Barcelona and Paris, highlighting key stats that planners consider when sourcing locations for their upcoming meetings and events. For instance, meeting planners always place importance on a destination’s proximity to a major airport. London has five: London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London Luton, London Stansted and London City. It also features 784 hotels and three major attractions such as Big Ben, the London Eye and National Gallery.
