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The International Congress and Convention
Association (ICCA) has once again ranked Vancouver as North
America's top destination for international meetings.
In
their annual International Association Meeting Market statistics
report, Amsterdam-based ICCA ranks cities based on the number of
international meetings hosted in the previous year. Vancouver
hosted 54 meetings in 2008, placing it in the top spot in North
America, (ranking ahead of renowned meetings cities such as
Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Washington, DC and Chicago) and 31st
internationally. In 2007, Vancouver was ranked slightly higher in
26th position, but with a lower number of meetings (49 in 2007).
"This ranking demonstrates the high-profile that Vancouver
has earned among North American meetings destinations," said Bill
Bennett, British Columbia's Minister of Tourism, Culture and the
Arts. "The opening of the Vancouver Convention Centre's expanded
facilities will allow us to attract more of these important
international conferences, bringing significant economic benefits
to Vancouver and the entire province as we strive to reach our
goal of doubling tourism revenues by 2015."
Tourism
Vancouver chair, Geoffrey Howes echoed this sentiment, adding that
the designation benefits all areas of the tourism industry.
"Being ranked the top North
American destination for North American meetings is
result of the tourism industry's collective efforts to
sell Vancouver as an international meetings
destination," Howes said. "Tourism Vancouver has committed additional resources to
building business from key European markets - where many of these
international associations are based. Along with the strong
relationships that we have with the Vancouver Convention Centre,
professional conference organizers and the hotel community, this
is really producing results."
Tourism Vancouver has
been actively soliciting international association business in
recent years through its own Be a Host program. The organization
researches, identifies and supports local community members in
bringing their association's international conference to
Vancouver.
In 2007, the meetings and conventions industry
contributed $585 million in direct visitor spending to the
Vancouver economy.
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