The news is rare enough to merit a mention: while Paris and Vienna have been sharing the global MICE leadershipThis time, it's an unprecedented destination that comes out on top. Berlin topped the 2015 rankings of the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA), the benchmark annual barometer for the MICE sector. With 195 events, the German capital dethroned Paris, the "winner" of the previous edition, with Barcelona in third place. London and Madrid share fifth place, just behind Vienna. The British capital thus continues its rise to the top of the world MICE rankings, having been 14th in 2011 and only entering the top 10 in 2012. Lisbon and Copenhagen are also newcomers to the ICCA top 10. Overall, however, the leading roles remain attributed to the same MICE players since, as the ICCA points out, the top 7 destinations were the same last year, albeit in a different order.
The rise of Bangkok, which moved up thirteen places to sixteenth position, was not enough to mask the stranglehold of European MICE destinations on the ICCA rankings... Only one of the top ten places went to a city outside the Old Continent: Singapore. Conversely, Beijing's decline is confirmed year on year. The Chinese capital, which came tenth in 2012, has been relegated to 19th place this year.
The rankings by country are dominated by the United States, ahead of Germany and the United Kingdom. France finished 2015 in fifth place, behind Spain. Finally, at national level, Lyon (38th) and Nice (39th) share the "French podium" with Paris.
Finally, the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) reports that 2015 was a record year, with no fewer than 12,076 international association events registered last year, 571 more than in the previous edition of the rankings.
