Italy grows congress tourism at IMEX

The performance of the countries

In terms of performance, those of Europe are excellent for the number of international meetings promoted by associations. In the Top 20 Destination Performance Index of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), 70% of countries and 80% of cities are European destinations. Asian countries (15%) and North American countries (10%) follow, while Oceania, represented by Australia, has a market share of 5%. Spain leaps 2 places compared to 2019 and becomes the second destination for meetings globally after the United States which remains firmly in first place for the number of conferences hosted. After Germany in 3rd place and France in 4th place, Italy in 2021 gets 5th place, overtaking the United Kingdom which drops one position compared to 2019.

The ranking of cities

In the ranking of cities, Rome enters the top 20 positions and is in 16th place. In 2021, 86,438 events in the presence or in hybrid format held in Italy with a growth of 23.7% compared to 2020, for 4,585,433 participants (+ 14.7% in 2020). The average duration of the events was 1.34 days, in line with 2020 (1.36).

52.5% of congress and event venues are in the North, 25.5% in the Center, 13.9% in the South, and 8.1% in the islands. The North hosted 65.2% of national events with an increase of around 29.0% over 2020.

The conference hotels, which represent 68.4% of all the venues analyzed, account for 72.8% of the total events (data from the Italian Observatory of Congresses and Events – Oice – Federcongressi).

Quality certifications

With reference to quality certifications based on international standards, 22% of the sites responding to the ENIT/Ptsclass survey, have at least one: 16.3% have only one certification, 3.1% have two, and 1 has 1% of three, while 1.5% obtained four or more different certifications.

Considering the different types of venues, 26.7% of congress centers and congress exhibition venues have at least one certification, followed by hotels with meeting rooms (25.7%), other venues (18.5%) and historic homes (8.9%).

International spending

In 2021, international spending on business trips to Italy in 2021, about 4.3 billion euros (+ 50.8% on 2020), grew more than that for holidays (+ 16.8%). There are 10.8 million international travelers to Italy for work-business reasons in 2021 (+ 18.2% on 2020) for a total of about 33 million nights (+ 16.7%) (Source: Studies Office on Banca data of Italy).

In the first 6 months of 2022, travelers from abroad to Italy for work reasons spent almost 3 billion euros (source: Research Department on provisional data from the Bank of Italy – 2022).

The force in 2026

The MICE sector will find the vigor of the past in 2026. “The success of face-to-face meetings will have to be based in the future on the quality of the contents and on the contribution that the destination can give to achieving the objectives of the event,” said Roberta Garibaldi of ENIT, adding:

“On the support of virtual elements, the offer of an effective networking experience, sustainability.”

“We need to focus on the intellectual value that the destination can offer to encounters with interactions between public and private. Effective networking experiences on the part of the organizer will be essential for the success and return on investment of the face-to-face meeting.”

The factors of choice of locations

If we analyze the available data, we realize “how much the determination of factors such as reputation, accessibility of places, environmental factors, climate, extra conference opportunities, the characteristics of the accommodation facilities for quality and standards has increased security,” Garibaldi affirmed, “and how to orient oneself also on structures with fewer rooms with a more familiar hospitality. Interest has grown in structures with outdoor areas with flexibility of space, attention to sustainability, and food and wine and with advanced technological equipment,” concluded Ms. Garibaldi.

The Italy stand will be open at IMEX America from October 11-13, 2022.

eTurboNews is a media partner for IMEX.