WORLD – Over a thousand delegates arrived in Leipzig, Germany, for the 50th ICCA Congress, a record for the association.
The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) booked 250 first time attendees for its five-day programme.
ICCA CEO Martin Sirk said: “Germany has one of our largest and most active national groups of member companies and organisations, and the surrounding northern European region also has strong ICCA membership: these are just some of the reasons we have achieved a record attendance in Leipzig.
“It’s also a great location for bringing in delegates from the emerging economies of Eastern Europe.”
Russia kicked off the Monday 24 October sessions with a presentation of its key congress venues and overview of its fast developing MICE industry.
Head of the Russian Union of Exhibitions and Trade Fairs and CEO of St Petersburg’s Lenexpo, Sergei Alexeev, told CMW that the new ownership structure, with Gazprom now holding 85 per cent of his company, would provide “fantastic opportunities” both for the new US$1bn ExpoForum site at Pulkovo airport and for Russia in general.
ICCA also recognised its loyal members with the General Assembly handing out awards to Turismo de Portugal for reaching 40 years of membership and to six members for cracking the 30-year anniversary. A further 13 company members were recognised for reaching the 20-year membership mark.
Sirk added that the past year had seen another 800 association events added to the 16,000 already on the ICCA database.
“It’s important we grow the data faster than the membership growth,” said Sirk. “There are 2,500 ‘new’ meetings in their fourth year cycle. It’s not just resilient, it is also dynamic and it is driven by scientific and medical research.”
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