The City of Lights has reclaimed first place in the International Congress and Convention Association’s (ICCA) annual list of cities hosting association meetings.

The just-released rankings also show that 2018 was a strong year for rotating international association meetings. A total of 12,937 meetings took place in 2018, 379 more than 2017 and the highest annual figure ICCA has ever recorded.

Paris, which held the top spot in 2016, hosted 40 more international conventions than the number two city, Vienna. Last year’s first-place city, Barcelona, dropped to the number four spot on the rankings.

Newcomers to the list are Brussels and Taipei in 17^th and 20^th places respectively. Montreal and Rome dropped out of the top 20.

The top 20 cities ranked by the number of meetings organized in 2018 are:

1. Paris (212 meetings)
2. Vienna (172)
3. Madrid (165)
4. Barcelona (163)
5. Berlin (162)
6. Lisbon (152)
7. London (150)
8. Singapore (145)
9. Prague (136)
10. Bangkok (135)
11. Buenos Aires (133)
12. Hong Kong (129)
13. (Tie) Amsterdam, Tokyo (123)
14. Seoul (122)
15. Copenhagen (120)
16. Brussels (112)
17. Dublin (104)
18. Stockholm (103)
19. (Tie) Budapest, Taipei (100)

ICCA also released its list of the top 20 countries hosting rotating meetings. It reports that the United States held on to the top spot, a position it has held for more than two decades.

The top 20 countries are:

1. United States (947 meetings)
2. Germany (642)
3. Spain (595)
4. France (579)
5. United Kingdom (574)
6. Italy (522)
7. Japan (492)
8. China-P.R. (449)
9. Netherlands (355)
10. Canada (315)
11. Portugal (306)
12. Republic of Korea (273)
13. Australia (265)
14. Sweden (257)
15. Belgium (252)
16. Austria (240)
17. Brazil (233)
18. Argentina  (232)
19. Poland (211)
20. Switzerland (208)

ICCA emphasizes that these lists are snapshots of one segment of the MICE industry. Only meetings that meet its assessment criteria—rotating between at least three countries, have a proven attendance of at least 50 participants and are held on a regular basis—are recorded within its annual statistics.

“Although the most comprehensive global benchmark of the international association meetings sector, the ICCA rankings should not be mistaken as providing an overview of the entire meetings industry,” said ICCA CEO Senthil Gopinath. “We always seek to encourage and advice ICCA members to consult other rankings and collect their own meeting statistics to help them provide a full picture of their performance.”