Helsinki continues to rank among the world’s top 20 most popular congress cities

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Photo: Matias Löyttyniemi

The Union of International Associations (UIA) published its annual congress city statistics last Friday. Helsinki will be hosting the leading digital healthcare congresses in Europe in 2019.

The latest statistics published by the Union of International Associations (UIA) on Friday 15 June cover congress events held in 2017. According to the latest ranking, Helsinki is ranked in 20th position, which is ahead of many major congress cities such as Amsterdam, Prague, New York and Sydney.

In previous statistics from 2016, Helsinki was ranked in 15th position. Despite the slight drop in the rankings, Helsinki enjoyed a record year for congresses in 2017. According to statistics compiled by Helsinki Marketing, almost 72,000 congress visitors visited the Finnish capital during the year, while the number of international association meetings increased by almost a third compared to 2016. Congress visitors generated almost a hundred million euros* in tourism income for Helsinki.

“Last year we broke all our previous records in terms of the number of both congresses and congress visitors. It is very satisfying that, despite our small size, Helsinki outperformed even some of the biggest congress cities,” says Ines Antti-Poika, Convention Director at Helsinki Marketing.

Leading digital healthcare congresses coming to Helsinki

The leading digital healthcare congresses HIMSS Europe and Health 2.0 will be held in Helsinki from 11 to 13 June 2019. These events will bring to Helsinki the latest innovations in the healthcare industry along with leading experts, from hospital executives to decision-makers and companies.

“Our unique R&D ecosystem and world-class startups make Helsinki an internationally appealing destination for such high-tech events. Attracting these kinds of international association meetings to Helsinki also significantly enhances global recognition of top Finnish expertise,” Antti-Poika continues.

Helsinki expects to host almost 300 international conferences this year. For example, the International Vascular Biology Meeting 2018 (IVBM) at the beginning of June and the European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS) at the end of July and start of August will each bring around a thousand experts to the Finnish capital.

* Congress visitors spend an average of 300 euros per day in Helsinki and stay on average 4.6 nights (source: FCB/Taloustutkimus 2016).

 

Helsinki’s ranking in the UIA’s congress statistics in recent years:

 

Contact information:

Ines Antti-Poika
Convention Director, Helsinki Marketing
ines.antti-poika@hel.fi
+358 50 386 3472

 

Helsinki Marketing is a company owned by the City of Helsinki. It is responsible for operative city marketing and business partnerships for Helsinki. Helsinki Marketing interacts with local residents, visitors, decision-makers and experts. 

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