Member Article

Manchester builds international conference reputation

Manchester has strengthened its reputation as an international conference destination, in the International Congress and Convention Association’s (ICCA) annual report.

The city has ranked seven places above its 2010 position, and ICCA tables are used as an industry benchmark by destinations, associations and events planners across the world.

Positioning is based on how many international and European meetings and conferences they held in the previous year.

Among the hundreds of conferences held in Manchester, 26 were ICCA approved, an increase of five meetings on 2010.

These include The International Chromosome Conference at University of Manchester, the 14th European Microwave Conference at Manchester Central and the International Symposium on Dynamics of Vehicles on Roads and Tracks, at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Cities must comply with specific conditions, which state that meetings must be held on a regular basis, regularly rotate between at least three countries and that each meeting must attract a minimum of 50 delegates.

Paul Simpson, managing director of Visit Manchester said: “To be ranked within the top 100 cities is a huge honour and an excellent achievement for the city proving that we are a serious player in the area of conference and business tourism.

“Whilst a jump from 86th to 79th position may not look like much on paper, given the criteria that must be met in order to submit entries, a 24% increase in qualifying meetings is fantastic for the city and testament to the incredible conference facilities we have on offer.

“There have been major developments in Greater Manchester’s conference product over recent years, in terms of developing the infrastructure and support services that organisers expect of a first-rate conference destination and we’re confident that we can continue to improve in the ICCA rankings over the coming years.”

Visit Manchester estimate that business tourism currently generates over £570m a year for the city-region economy, and attracts some 4.2m delegates to the city.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .