The USA still holds more international meetings than any other country while London topped the league as most popular city in 2000, according to ICCA DATA’s latest statistics. Europe continues to have by far the greatest number of meetings per continent, despite a one per cent drop in market share, while Australia/Pacific’s share rose last year by two per cent.

The ICCA DATA report, "The International Meetings Market 1993-2002", launched in June during the "Meetings & Incentive Travel Show" in London, presents a comprehensive analysis of past, present and future trends in international meetings.

The ICCA DATA department at Head Office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has compiled information on international association meetings since 1972. To be included in the database, meetings must be attended by at least 50 participants, organised on a regular basis and move between at least three different countries.

Every year the new ICCA figures are anxiously awaited by destinations around the world, all competing for a larger share of this lucrative market. The report includes worldwide statistics, not only giving the number of meetings per city and country but also the number of participants attending them.

It shows other trends, such as planners’ preferred choice of venue type, rotation patterns, size of meetings, most popular months, subject matter, average registration fees and average income from fees. The data is further divided into geographical regions, breaking down the figures for each continent in more detail.

Last year London led Madrid, Paris, Vienna and Sydney at the top of the table recording the number of international meetings each city hosted. Per country, the USA was ahead of the UK, Germany, Australia and Spain. But Australia is expected to make further rapid progress up the ladder from this year onwards, in the wake of the success of the Sydney Olympic Games.

Full-colour graphs and charts form the basis of the report, which also includes data on the corporate meetings market. The book is published in association with CAT Publications Ltd, UK. Copies are available from ICCA Head Office, price EUR 50, excluding VAT, bank charges and postage. For more information contact: Peter Kool, Manager Sales & Marketing, ICCA Head Office, Entrada 121, 1096 EB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Phone: +31 20 398 1908; fax +31 20 699 0781; email peter@icca.nl