Source: Cvent Europe Ltd

London -- Cvent, Inc., a market leader in meetings, events, and hospitality technology, today released its list of the top cities for meetings and events in Europe. European cities were previously included in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. This year's standalone list highlights Europe's strength and growing popularity in the MICE industry. The list was compiled based on sourcing activity through the Cvent Supplier Network. In 2017, more than 40 million room nights worldwide and $14.7 billion of business were sourced through the Cvent Supplier Network - helping to support more than 715,000 events around the globe. For the fourth consecutive year, London tops Cvent's European list, with Barcelona ranked as the second most popular destination for the MICE community.

Tracy Halliwell, Director of Conventions and Events at London Convention Bureau said: "London is a world class destination for meetings and events. With fantastic infrastructure, global connections and a variety of hotel rooms and state of the art venues, it's no surprise to see we have retained the top spot in Europe. We continue to attract leading global events and conferences to the city, and we look forward to showing the MICE community the very best of London's offerings."

The top 10 cities in Europe for 2018 are:

  1. London, England
  2. Barcelona, Spain
  3. Berlin, Germany
  4. Amsterdam, Netherlands
  5. Madrid, Spain
  6. Paris, France
  7. Frankfurt, Germany
  8. Rome, Italy
  9. Munich, Germany
  10. Lisbon, Portugal

To see the full list of Europe's top cities, please visit here.

Notable trends from this year's Europe Top Destinations list include:

  • Germany boasts the largest number of ranked cities - with six appearing on this year's list. These cities include: Berlin (#3), Frankfurt (#7), Munich (#9), Hamburg (#23), Hanover (#24), and Düsseldorf (#25).
  • The Hague made its first appearance, adding a second Netherlands city to the list for the first time. Amsterdam has traditionally been the only city in the Netherlands to be featured.
  • Lisbon continues to be a popular MICE destination having climbed six places over the past four years to make it into the top 10 this year.
  • While not included in the Top 25, other cities have gathered significant momentum highlighting strength across the entire European region. Dubrovnik, Croatia grew in popularity year over year, and other large regional UK cities continued to cement their position as desirable meeting hubs including Birmingham, Edinburgh and Bristol.

"The cities featured in this year's Top Destinations lists have invested significant time, energy, and resources into building premier locations that entice organisations, large and small, to plan meetings and events in their areas," said Chris McAndrews, Vice President of Marketing for the Cvent Hospitality Cloud. "Meetings have become a major economic driver for cities worldwide and because of this positive impact, destinations are pulling out all the stops to attract group business, and we expect to see this healthy competition continue."

Methodology

Destinations around the world compete on a variety of factors including the accessibility of the destination and facilities for events, price and price flexibility, quality of facilities, quality of services, personal safety for attendees, and having a point of differentiation.

Cvent evaluated more than 11,000 cities worldwide featured on the Cvent Supplier Network to compile the seventh annual global list. Activity was tracked from January 2017 through December 2017 and the ranking was then determined by a set of qualifying criteria consisting of:

  • Unique Request For Proposals Received
  • Total Room Nights
  • Awarded Request For Proposals
  • Awarded Room Nights
  • Percentage of Qualified Meeting Venues
  • Number of Profile Views

To see the full lists of the top cities for each global region, please visit: United States, Canada, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and Caribbean and Latin America.

About Cvent

Cvent is a leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider with 4,800+ employees and ~22,000 customers worldwide as of December 31, 2023. Founded in 1999, the company delivers a comprehensive event marketing and management platform and offers a global marketplace where event professionals collaborate with venues to create engaging, impactful experiences. Cvent is headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, just outside of Washington D.C., and has additional offices around the world to support its growing global customer base. The comprehensive Cvent event marketing and management platform offers software solutions to event organisers and marketers for online event registration, venue selection, event marketing and management, virtual and onsite solutions, and attendee engagement. Cvent's suite of products automates and simplifies the event management lifecycle and maximises the impact of in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. Hotels and venues use Cvent's supplier and venue solutions to win more group and corporate travel business through Cvent's sourcing platforms. Cvent solutions optimise the event management value chain and have enabled clients around the world to manage millions of meetings and events. For more information, please visit cvent.com/uk.