Number of congresses in Amsterdam has increased by 9 percent

In 2008, Amsterdam rose from ninth to seventh place in the world ranking list of international congress cities. The number of conventions which took place in the capital city increased by 9 percent. These are results from the annual list produced by the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA). Conditions to be included on the ICCA list are: the congress must have at least 50 participants, is organised on a regular basis and must rotate between a minimum of three countries. Together with the UIA, the ICCA ranking list is considered an authority within the congress sector.  
With 89 international congresses, Amsterdam surpasses cities like Stockholm (87), Seoul (84) and Lisbon (83). The Amsterdam Tourism & Convention Board is very pleased with these results. Thanks in part to investments by the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the City of Amsterdam, the business unit of the Amsterdam Convention Board developed extra activities to promote Amsterdam as a congress city on an international scale, and these efforts are now rewarded.     

The 2008 list of candidates for international congress city and number of international congresses:

   City                     Number of meetings
1 Paris                   139
2 Vienna                139
3 Barcelona            136
4 Singapore            118
5 Berlin                  100
6 Budapest              95
7 Amsterdam           89
8 Stockholm             87
9 Seoul                   84
10 Lisbon                83
_{Source: ICCA, April 2009}