May 20, 2020 - According to the annual statistics of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), in 2019, Croatia recorded an increase in the number of international meetings of associations.

Namely, HRTurizam reports that after 114 congresses were held in Croatia in 2018, 123 were held in 2019, which put Croatia 34th in the ICCA rankings in the total number of congresses held in the world.

Croatia has thus progressed four places on the prestigious scale, which is the highest position occupied by Croatia so far, which also confirms the status of our country as the leading congress destination in the region.

"This is great news for Croatian congress tourism, which is recording excellent results from year to year. After being named the best business tourism destination in Europe by the British magazine Business Destinations in 2018, according to the new ICCA ranking in 2019, we have become the leading congress country in the region. We are also pleased with the fact that our capital Zagreb achieved a record 48th place in the ranking of congress cities, jumping by as much as 20 places compared to the year before," said Kristjan Staničić, director of the Croatian National Tourist Board.

Split recorded a jump for 81st place, so with 15 meetings held, it shares 191st place with Sarajevo. Dubrovnik, with 33 meetings held, is in 88th place, and Opatija is in 424th place with five meetings. As for the neighboring countries, Slovenia recorded a drop from 41st to 44th place in this year's statistics, while Serbia climbed the rankings by three places and took 50th place with 58 rallies.

In the ranking of congress countries, the United States has been in first place for more than two decades, including in 2019, during which 934 meetings were held. Germany is in second place, followed by France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Of the cities in 2019, Paris leads, followed by Lisbon and Berlin. It is interesting to note that a total of 13,254 gatherings of associations were held worldwide last year. Of that, 53 percent was held in Europe, making it by far the most popular region for international gatherings, while Asia is increasingly increasing its market share.

Every May, the international association ICCA publishes its annual statistics on the international market of association gatherings for the last year. The figures are based on their database, which covers a specific segment of the congress industry, i.e., only gatherings organized by international associations, provided that they are held regularly, rotate between at least three countries/regions and have at least 50 participants.

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