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Conference City Graz

Conferences, seminars and trade fairs rose slightly again in 2018, constituting a stable and important component for Graz Tourismus. Last year, Graz welcomed more than 56,000 conference participants from all over the world to 174 registered meetings and conferences. Compared with 2017, this indicates an increase in both conferences and participants. The duration of events also rose slightly to an average of 2.65 days per conference.

Mar 4, 2019

murinsel_graz — Photo credit: Herry Schiffer

Given that the total number of overnight stays in Graz did not increase last year, as it had for many years before, meetings and conferences therefore constitute an all the more important and stable segment for Graz Tourismus. Analysis shows that the entire MICE area, i.e. conferences and seminars along with trade fairs, events and incentives, account for at least 14% of all overnight stays.

The highly international mix of guests in Graz is also largely attributable to the conference and meeting segment. On average, guests from 13 countries took part in meetings. Of all conference participants, 56% come from Austria, 36% from other European countries and 8% from outside Europe.

Due to the high average expenditure by conference guests, revenue created by tourism is yet more significant and, combined with business guests, represents a solid basis for the Graz hotel industry and its continued expansion and improvement in recent years.

Although there is no precise record of this revenue creation, guest surveys and calculations make it possible to estimate that international conference guests spend between 360 an 400 euros per day and overnight stay.

National and international organisations still plan and book their meetings a very long time in advance and are mostly not directly influenced by economic fluctuations. In contrast, company meetings, seminars, incentives and various other events react very quickly to changes in economic conditions. So it is that, as a result of the positive economic development in Graz over recent years, there has been a significant increase in company meetings and seminars with a commercial background or economic topics. These currently occupy first place in terms of numbers of events and participants.

More than ever, in the budgeting and financing of meetings, increasingly strict compliance rules play an important role. As a consequence, content and tight time management are the top priorities, whilst touristic aspects like programmes for accompanying persons and pre/post-conference trips are scarcely important in planning anymore.

It is therefore particularly important to communicate as well as possible the identity and advantages of the destination for social programmes. Mostly these involve a celebratory gala evening or a reception by the Mayor of Graz or Governor of Styria.

As well as financial support for conferences from the organization for tourism, Graz Convention Bureau is also keen to offer help with guided tours of the historic city center, in order to allow participants to experience a little of the city’s attractions and points of interest despite their limited time off.

With these aspects in mind, it is particularly encouraging that Graz continues to be such a popular and successful conference city with an internationally distinguished reputation. There are many reasons for this, though thanks go primarily to the excellent international connections of academic institutions, the universities and technical colleges in Graz along with industrial and commercial businesses, for the fact that so many events are staged in Graz (q.v. Graz Congress Awards).

kongres_tourismus_graz — Photo credit: Werner Krug

Some of the particularly large or exceptional meetings in 2018 were, for example:

14-16 February 2018, EnInnov2018, 15^thSymposium Energy Innovation, 750 participants,
Graz University of Technology (tugraz.at/events/eninnov2018/home/)
08-10 March 2018, 19^thEbM conference 2018, building bridges – from evidence to patient wellbeing, 530 participants, Meduni Campus Graz (ebm-kongress.de/)
05-07April 2018, 9^thCongress of the Association for Emergency Medicine, 1400 participants, Messecongress Graz (agn.at/kongress)
07-08 June 2018, Fifteen Seconds Festival 2018, interdisciplinary business festival,
4100 participants, Stadthalle Graz (http://fifteenseconds.co)
09-12 Septembre 2018, EUROSENSORS 2018, sensors, actuators, micro, and nanosystems,
560 participants, University of Graz (https://eurosensors2018.eu/)
22-24 Novembre 2018, 49^thCongress for general medicine, 3000 participants, Stadthalle Graz (stafam.at/48-kongress-fuer-allgemeinmedizin/)

Conference and trade fair statistics

		Number of events	Total event days	Average duration/days	Total participants	Average participants
Conferences	Medicine	30	94	3,13	11.990	399,7
	Business	59	98	1,66	21.119	357,9
	Sciences, various	26	90	3,46	5.271	202,7
	Technology	41	125	3,05	7.982	194,7
	Other	18	54	3,00	9.921	551,2
Total		*174*	*461*	*2,65*	*56.283*	*323,5*

Conferences	Congress Graz	18	44	2,44	5.630	312,8
	MCG/Stadthalle	31	56	1,81	24.679	796,1
	Universities/hospital/ colleges	55	202	3,67	11.783	214,2
	Seminar hotels	46	102	2,22	7.514	163,3
	Event Centres	24	57	2,38	6.677	278,2
Total		*174*	*461*	*2,65*	*56.283*	*323,5*

Change relative to previous year		3,57%	8,98%	5,23%	5,31%	1,68%

ICCA-relevant conferences in Austria (according to www.iccaworld.com )

According to statistics from the ICCA (International Congress & Convention Association), which registers and counts meetings of international organizations worldwide, with 31 ICCA-relevant meetings Graz is in an unchallenged second place in Austria (after Vienna).

In the pan-European ranking, Graz occupies 49th place and, in worldwide terms, Graz is in an outstanding 86th place!

City	Rank 2017		No. of meetings 2017
City	Europe	worldwide	No. of meetings 2017
Vienna	2^nd	2^nd	190
Graz	49^th	86^th	31
Salzburg	86^th	156^th	17
Innsbruck	103^rd	206^th	13
Linz	159^th	325^th	7

Outlook on conference year 2019

In February (10–22/02), Graz is looking forward to the biennial IMPULS Festival and International Ensemble and Composers Academy for Contemporary Music(www.impuls.cc), with around 360 participants from all over the world.
In March (19-24 March) the spotlight is on forests during the international World Wood Day conference and workshop(www.worldwoodday.at) taking place at the Austrian Open Air Museum Stübing and in Graz, at which 400 participants, primarily from Asia, are expected.
At the beginning of April (04-06) and certainly worth a mention is the Primary Healthcare Congress 2019 and 4th OEFOP annual conference with 400 participants expected at the new Meduni Campus Graz (https://allgemeinmedizin.medunigraz.at/pv-kongress-2019).
In mid-April (14-17 April) the renowned “Modern Railway Vehicles” meetings in the programme for what is now the 45th(!!) time in Graz (www.schienenfahrzeugtagung.at), drawing around 500 railway experts from throughout Europe to Graz every year.
Ma (01-04 May) begins traditionally with the 23rd Advanced MRI 2019 “From Head to Toe” conference(www.advancedmri.eu/), with 200 radiologists, physicians, and technicians from throughout Europe.
Taking place in Graz and Spielberg from 09–10 May is the EAWD’19 Electrification and All-Wheel Drive Congress of Magna Powertrain GmbH (www.eawdcongress.com), now also spotlighting electromobility alongside four-wheel-drive.
Chef days 2019(27-28/05 www.chefdays.at) add up to Austria’s biggest food symposium, with around 3000 expert visitors, bringing no end of knowledge and fun for participants from the catering and hotel industries.
June – always a strong month for conferences – brings, among other events, the European paper industry to the Paper&Biorefinery Conference and Trade Show(https://paper-biorefinery.com) from 05-06 June at Congress Graz.
Immediately following that in Stadthalle Graz from 06-07June up to 6000 people interested in marketing and business will attend top-class presentations and swap experiences at the Fifteen Seconds Festival 2019, Europe’s leading festival for business, innovation, and creativity (https://fifteenseconds.co/europe/).
Every year at the end of June at the Austrian Municipality Day 2019, up to 2000 representatives of municipalities meet up – this time at Stadthalle Graz from 26-28/06 (https://gemeindebund.at/gemeindetag/)

Following the summer break, in the autumn the conference season begins typically in mid-September, and, lined up this year for Graz is, once again, a massive, absolutely international, global conference:

From 15-19 September, INTERSPEECH 2019, Crossroads of Speech and Language (www.interspeech2019.org/) will bring over 2000 experts from all over the world to Graz. The conference will be organized by the International Speech Communication Association in collaboration with the Graz University of Technology.
There are many more national and European meetings, for example, the 34th Austrian Librarians’ Day(10-13/09) with 800 participants expected (https://bibliothekartag2019.univie.ac.at) and the ICCVE 2019, The 8th International Conference on Connected Vehicles and Expo(www.iccve2019.com) from 04-08 November with around 500 participants expected, all ensuring once again busy conference months from September till November.
Then, from 28-30 November, it is again time for the 50th Conference on General Medicine(www.stafam.at/50-kongress-fuer-allgemeinmedizin) with up to 3000 participants, rounding off the conference year.

You can check out up-to-date details and links to the conference websites on our online conference calendar:

graztourismus.at/kongress/en/congress-calendar

This confirms that conferences and seminars constitute an exceedingly important and stable segment of Graz tourism, whilst also significantly reinforcing the city’s good reputation as an academic and commercial center.

In order to offer conference participants a taste of Austria’s Capital of Delight when they take a break from presentations and conference programmes, the Convention Bureau offers not only classic guided tours of the attractive UNESCO World Cultural Heritage “historic center of Graz” but also culinary tours with delicious stop-offs and wine tastings. Excursions to “culinary” Styria to taste pumpkin seed oil, chocolate, vinegar, schnapps, ham, and wine, along with traditional “Buschenschank” wine taverns to delight the palates of conference participants.