Izmir, an inspiring coastal metropolis in Turkey, jumped more than 100 steps in the international convention cities ranking.
The chairman of both Izmir Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Izmir Convention and Visitors Bureau (Izmir CVB), Ekrem Demirtas cited International Congress and Convention Association’s (ICCA) 2013 statistics. The number of international meetings in Izmir went from 22 to 11. The city’s ranking of 207 in 2013 moved to106 in the world.
“Even the number of international association meetings has been increased by 11; that makes this much bounce. If the great M.I.C.E. potential of Izmir is thoroughly assessed and the convention tourism in the city is much more supported, Izmir would rank higher,” said Demirtas.
ICCA’s 2013 statistics show Turkey was ranked 18th in the world and 10th in Europe, with 221 international association meetings. Demirtas indicated that in Turkey, 146 of ICCA-approved international association meetings were held in Istanbul.
“In Turkey, Istanbul’s association meetings market is taking the lion’s share. Istanbul ranked 8th in the world and ranked 7th in Europe,” Demirtas explained that the top five cities in which international meetings took place, were respectively Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Barcelona and Berlin.
Demirtas signified that according to statistics, Izmir had hosted the 11 approved international meetings in 2012, doubled this number in 2013 and increased this to 22, and he further explained “Even this increase whisked us 101 steps in the world ranking.”
See related article: “ICCA ranks top 2013 countries and cities.”
