Despite pandemic-related restrictions, the conference industry was able to record the first signs of recovery in 2021. The analysis of international association congresses held globally, which has just been published by the UIA, is one of the most important benchmarks for the industry, along with the ICCA ranking. In the current UIA ranking, Vienna ranks fourth worldwide with a total of 195 conventions, improving by one place compared to the last published rankings for 2019 and 2020 (fifth place in each case). The list of cities is headed by Brussels (319 meetings held), followed by Seoul (263) and Tokyo (256). Following Vienna in the top ten are Paris (149), Singapore (115), London (101), Lisbon (94), Geneva (87) and Montreal together with Barcelona (65). Due to the pandemic, the ranking includes not only those meetings where the participants were on site, but also new hybrid or purely virtual forms.

Austria in 7th place worldwide

In addition to the city statistics, the UIA congress ranking also provides information on performance at country level. With 226 congresses, Austria ranks 7th worldwide in the statistics. The USA (499) is at the top, followed by South Korea (463), Japan (402), Belgium (384), France (266) and the United Kingdom (230). Germany (220), Spain and Italy (172 each) round out the top 10 countries.

More information on the Union of International Associations (UIA): https://uia.org