04 Jul 2007 BEIJING - International meetings business attracts delegations in the usual range of 500 to 2,000 who spend four to three time more than the leisure tourists. The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) said that it is a US$ 9-billion industry. Furthermore, the impact on the host cities has far-reaching contributions.
With the current role China plays in global economy ICCA CEO, Martin Sirk, said that number of international meetings being held in China will not go low even if the stakeholders do not do anything at all. But he stressed that being proactive will make it grow much more.
Sirk was a speaker at CIBTM 2007’s open seminar yesterday where he discussed points that could help China win international meeting bids.
Based on ICCA 2006 study on international meetings, China was 14th in terms of country ranking with 153 events, and Beijing and Shanghai, 13th (65) and 31st (39), respectively, in terms of city ranking.
There are 6,000 events held annually and Sirk said China has the potential to draw a very hefty 60 percent of these to its shores. But, of course, challenges concerning policies, procedure and attitude and even basic understanding of the business have to be addressed.
