Spain’s capital city climbs to fourth position in the world convention city ranking, ahead of Singapore, Barcelona and London.
In 2012, IFEMA’s convention activity made a clear contribution to Madrid’s rise in the world convention city ranking. According the 2012 rankings recently released by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), the capital of Spain occupied 4th position, behind Vienna, Paris and Berlin. The city has jumped from 6th place in 2011 to outrank other cities such as Singapore, London and Barcelona; making it the leading business tourism destination in Spain and the 4th most popular in the world, hosting a record-breaking 164 international events; up 26% year-on-year.
The news is a huge boost for Madrid and an endorsement of its ability to organize conventions, in which IFEMA is actively involved as a major trade fair organizer specializing in international events and one of the main drivers of business tourism in the capital. Over the previous year, IFEMA organized 10 conventions (the most noteworthy being those related to medical care and technology) – which had an especially positive impact on Madrid’s economy – and a total of 378 events, attracting 260,457 participants from all around the world.
Feria de Madrid hosted international conventions such as CPhI Worldwide 2012, the major international trade fair for the pharmaceutical ingredients industry, which brought together 1,700 companies and 26,000 professionals from the four corners of the world. Furthermore, SAP TechEd Global Conference – a prestigious multinational event focusing on business management software – attracted 10,000 international visitors. Other major international conventions included the European Planetary Science Congress and the ESRI European User Conference on GIS and geolocation systems.
The performance and specialization of IFEMA’s Congress and Conventions Department has helped attract major international events in recent years, such as those that will be held in June: Microsoft TechEd Europe and the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). These two events will attract more than 20,000 participants from around the globe, having an important impact on Madrid’s economy with 75,000 hotel rooms already booked.
IFEMA is equipped with some of the most modern facilities in Europe, featuring 12 halls totalling 200,000sqm of indoor exhibition space, as well as 14,000 parking spaces, and cutting-edge technology, as well as being well-communicated by road and underground (Madrid Metro) and located close to Barajas International Airport offering a broad choice of international flight connections.
IFEMA Feria de Madrid
