Edinburgh is celebrating a new global position moving up eight places to 27 in the world’s city rankings for international association meetings according to the leading industry body, the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). In the highest ICCA ranking for Edinburgh in a decade, Scotland’s capital hosted 76 ICCA recognised meetings in 2016, equating to over £35M in economic impact for the city.
Hosting a rich variety of meetings from across the globe, high-profile conferences that took place in 2016 included, Autism-Europe Congress, International Society of Applied Ethology Congress, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes & Instrumentation and the Congress of the European Society of Agronomy.
Edinburgh’s Ambassador Programme, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, continues to play a significant role in the city’s ongoing success in winning competitive bids to host international meetings. Overseen by Convention Edinburgh, part of Marketing Edinburgh, the 500 plus members represent the best of Edinburgh’s business, scientific and academic elite. Each Ambassador is committed to promoting Edinburgh as a centre of excellence across the globe.
As the UK’s most popular meeting destination outside London, Scotland’s capital is keeping good company, with other high-movers in the top 30 including Tokyo (21), Buenos Aires (17) and Helsinki (22). Edinburgh has also moved up the ICCA European rankings from 20 last year to 18.
Earlier this month, Convention Edinburgh announced a particularly strong start to the year with five recent international bid wins for the city, expected to generate over £7M. These included European Group for Organisational Studies Colloquium (EGOS), International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) and Eurocities.
Edinburgh Ambassador, Prof. James Garden, The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, who helped bring the Meeting of the European Surgical Association Congress to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 2016, said:
“Over the years, I have had the privilege of bringing several conferences to Edinburgh and been spoiled for choice by the variety of excellent venues. Edinburgh’s rich medical heritage and historic architecture, combined with an ever-increasing number of direct flights linking to international hubs, make it the ideal destination for a medical meeting.”
