Ever since 2010, the Editorial Board of Kongres Magazine has been presenting fresh and interesting meeting destinations to international meeting planners.
Till this day we have presented over 100 Meetologues from 25 destinations. Each destination is evaluated based on 75 different criteria that enable a fair comparison of the destinations. Meeting organizers appreciate the expertise, value and practicality of this guide through congress destinations.
The results of the 2020 evaluation are presented in detail below.
XL MEETING DESTINATIONS
1. VIENNA 4.75
2. COPENHAGEN 4.71
3. ZURICH 4.70
3. MUNICH 4.70
4. PRAGUE 4.66
5. AMSTERDAM 4.65
6. EDINBURGH 4.62
7. BERLIN 4.61
8. BARCELONA 4.60
9. PARIS 4.57
10. ATHENS 4.53
SMART MICE CITY
| 4* and 5* hotel rooms | 20,588 |
| 4* and 5* hotels | 187 |
| Destination population | 1,897,491 |
| Banquet hall maximum capacity | 2,320 |
| Largest hall in the city | 4218 m2 |
| Theatre style hall maximum capacity | 15,898 |
1. VIENNA, AUSTRIA 4.75/5
There are cities in the world which can prove quite stressful for congress participants, and then there is Vienna. From first-hand experience I can confirm that the city is easy to get around, pleasant and enjoyable and already belongs among the so-called ‘smart’ cities of today.
L MEETING DESTINATIONS
1. ZAGREB 4.49
2. TALLINN 4.47
3. LJUBLJANA 4.46
4. HAGUE 4.44
5. BRATISLAVA 4.41
6. SALZBURG 4.37
7. KRAKOW 4.33
8. THESSALONIKI 4.32
9. GRAZ 4.23
10. VENICE 4.22
WHITE ZAGREB TOWN
| 4* and 5* hotel rooms | 3,209 |
| 4* and 5* hotels | 30 |
| Destination population | 804,507 |
| Banquet hall maximum capacity | 1,600 |
| Largest hall in the city | 1851 m2 |
| Theatre style hall maximum capacity | 5,000 |
1. ZAGREB, CROATIA 4.49/5
A great congress future awaits Zagreb. It is well established in the international congress market and in addition to Ljubljana and Belgrade, it represents the future backbone of the continental meetings industry of the region. All three cities are progressing steadily on the charts of developed meetings destinations; the final breakthrough of the entire region is intertwined and dependent on the marketing of major regional congress cities in the international market.
M MEETING DESTINATIONS
1. DUBROVNIK 4.38
2. SAALFELDEN 4.14
3. OPATIJA 4.13
4. PORTOROSE 4.11
4. SCHLADMING 4.11
5. BLED 4.09
6. ŠIBENIK 4.08
7. ROVINJ 4.07
8. KLAGENFURT 4.06
8. SPLIT 4.06
9. VILLACH 4.05
10. TIVAT 4.01
PEARL OF THE ADRIATIC
| 4* and 5* hotel rooms | 4,272 |
| 4* and 5* hotels | 29 |
| Destination population | 42,615 |
| Banquet hall maximum capacity | 700 |
| Largest hall in the city | 900 m2 |
| Theatre style hall maximum capacity | 1,200 |
1. DUBROVNIK, CROATIA 4.38/5
Dubrovnik is the flagship of regional tourism and is commonly the first association of meetings organizers we meet daily. It is the closest in the region to renowned Mediterranean convention destinations Cannes and Monte Carlo, and it will be even closer after the completion of the convention centre. So far the centre is successfully replaced by modern and well-equipped centres at hotels such as Dubrovnik Palace, Excelsior, Bellevue, Grand Villa Argentina, Importanne Resort, Dubrovnik President, Valamar Lacroma and Radisson Blue. Well-developed is the entire conference infrastructure including destination management and creative agency scene. The city is safe and one of the tourist icons of the Adriatic and justifiably the most painted tourist skyline with unprecedented experiential diversity for conference guests.
S MEETING DESTINATIONS
1. BOHINJ 4.02
2. KRANJSKA GORA 3.99
3. PODČETRTEK 3.98
3. NASSFELD 3.98
4. GORIŠKA BRDA 3.97
4. HVAR 3.97
5. MALI LOŠINJ 3.96
6. ROGAŠKA SLATINA 3.95
7. BAD KLEINKIRCHHEIM 3.94
7. VIPAVA VALLEY 3.94
8. NOVA GORICA 3.93
8. SZOMBATHELY 3.93
9. PTUJ 3.92
9. SOČA VALLEY 3.92
10. VARAŽDIN 3.91
HIDDEN SUSTAINABLE MEETINGS GEM
| 4* and 5* hotel rooms | 150 |
| 4* and 5* hotels | 4 |
| Destination population | 5,277 |
| Banquet hall maximum capacity | 112 |
| Largest hall in the city | 220 m2 |
| Theatre style hall maximum capacity | 130 |
1. BOHINJ, SLOVENIA 4.02/5
The majority of congress guests will be sworn lovers of nature and its aesthetic value. Bohinj is a place that is created for sustainable conference programmes and for active incentive experiences. It is a place where without any hesitation you can drink water from the public water supply and from its clean streams. Even the basic network of thematic paths offers ideas for authentic congress programmes. In Slovenia, the beauty of Bohinj can only be matched by its neighbours across the peaks in the Soča Valley, or in Kranjska Gora.
HOW TO EVALUATE AND DEFINE ‘THE BEST’
FROM Meeting planners, FOR Meeting planners
Key to MTLG evaluation criteria 2020
Every year the editorial board of Kongres magazine aims to further refine the Meetologue methodology in order to assure the most authentic score reflecting the genuine situation of destinations.
Destination evaluations are based on thorough analyses of different criteria. They have developed from interviews and surveys with over 1,200 event organisers from across Europe, work that showed us that destinations are comparable and helped us to form a unique model of evaluation. A mixture of factors that we have been evaluating since 2010 can affect the entire meeting experience for both meeting planners and participants.
WHAT IS NEW EUROPE?
The answer to this question is something of an unsolved conundrum. A clear definition of New Europe doesn’t exist, the most general definition being that these are the countries of Eastern Europe that was once behind the Iron Curtain. Technically this means 24 countries of Eastern Europe, adding Greece and Turkey to them. In our Editorial, we include the fresh, energetic and lesser-known European destinations to New Europe.
