Prague hosted a record number of conferences and congresses in 2018. Over 4,500 events took place in its collective accommodation establishments last year – that is more than a third of all events held in the Czech Republic.

The Czech metropolis welcomed almost  540,000 delegates from all over the world. At the same time, Prague occupied the ninth position in the international ranking of the most popular meeting destinations this year.

According to the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO), that keeps only the records of meetings held in the collective accommodation establishments and with the attendance over 50 persons, 4,534 conferences and congresses took place in Prague in 2018. That is by 2.2 % more than in the record year of 2016 and by 3.3% more than in 2017. At the same time, it is also 36% of all events held in the Czech Republic.

The number of delegates has remained around 540,000 since 2013, while the average number of participants per meeting has been on decline. These facts only confirm the long-term trend when the organizers prefer to hold more events for a smaller number of participants. The total number of meeting participants who arrived in Prague in 2018 was 536,232 – by 1.4% more than in the previous year.

Prague meeting industry was very successful last year not only on the local level, but also in the international comparison. In the ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) global ranking, which rates the destinations based on the number of association congresses and conferences held, Prague has ranked ninth. It has maintained its position in the world’s top ten most popular meeting destinations, whereas it ranked eighth in the previous year. As for the national ranking, the Czech Republic has occupied the 26th position.

The most common source markets in 2018 were the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France and Switzerland. The delegates arrived to the Czech capital city to address the topics of medical sciences, education, social sciences or industry. The congress hotels maintained to be the most popular meeting venues (78 % of all events held in Prague).

Author: red