Dublin ranked in top twenty for conferences, conventions

Dublin has been ranked among the world’s top twenty destinations for conferences and conventions, according to a new report.

The capital moved up six places in the global rankings to 18th place after a jump in the number of events happening in the city last year to 97. Dublin also rose three places in the European rankings to 14th spot overall.

The overall winner was Berlin, which jumped three places with 195 meetings held in the city during 2015. It was followed by Paris; Barcelona; and Vienna. London and Madrid shared fifth spot.

Regional venues in Galway, Cork and Limerick all featured in the latest International Congresses and Conventions Association (ICCA) rankings, with the latter appearing for the first time.

In terms of country rankings, Ireland moved up five places to 32nd overall with a total of 125 conferences held last year. It was ranked 19th in Europe, as against 20th a year earlier.

The US continued to dominate the country rankings with 925 conferences last year. It was followed by Germany; the UK; Spain; and France.

According to Fáilte Ireland, business tourism is one of the highest yielding sectors, contributing over €580 million a year to the local economy. The organisation said it secured conferences worth €45million in the first quarter of 2016 and had identified over 190 new leads to follow.

"These solid results reflect the hard work on the ground from everybody involved in Ireland's conference sector. We are certainly punching above our weight with Dublin and Ireland ranking ahead of larger and more established destinations," said Miriam Kennedy, Fáilte Ireland's head of business tourism.

“We are still hungry for more business and have ambitious growth plans for Dublin and regional centres such as Cork, Limerick, Kerry and Galway. Throughout this year we will be chasing every lead and pitching for every potential win to ensure we continue to rise up the rankings,” she added.