Italian conference tourism is growing and the locations most used by MICE are hotels. The trend comes from the Italian Observatory of Congresses and Events, the annual report of Federcongressi&eventi created by Aseri
In line with the favorable trend of leisure, Italian conference tourism is also experiencing a season of great positivity. In fact, conferences and business events held in Italy are increasing.
The picture emerges from the Italian Observatory of Congresses and Events-OICE. That is, the research promoted by the Italian meeting industry association Federcongressi&eventi and carried out by the High School of Economics and International Relations of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart – ASERI.
According to the research, in 2023 a total of 340,057 events were held in Italy, recording an increase of +12% compared to 2022. There were 27,152,890 participants (+28% compared to 2022) and attendance 41,835,932 (+31.9% compared to 2022).
All the main indices therefore have double-digit growth. In fact, after the stop due to Covid19, companies have returned to investing in events and associations, especially medical-scientific ones, in conferences.
Furthermore, the state of good health of Italian conference tourism is demonstrated by the rate of increase in conferences and events. In fact, in 2023 it was 12%, therefore equal to three times the annual average of 4.1% in the pre-Covid19 years.
The forecasts for the current year are also positive, in terms of growth in both the number of events and turnover. “Italian MICE is in good health and it is in this trend that a phase of profound change in the meetings industry is part of,” comments the President of Federcongressi&eventi Gabriella Gentile.
“Events and conferences today have an increasingly high quality and therefore require advanced venues in terms of services and technologies and trained and constantly updated staff. At the same time, the large tourist flows and the consequent increase in the hotel occupancy rate in historically MICE-oriented destinations is pushing organizers to choose locations outside the more consolidated circuits for events and conferences, thus encouraging not only deseasonalization but also the delocalization of tourism”.
Congresses and events in Italy: where they are held and who holds them
The majority of conferences and events, 59%, took place in the North, 24.7% in the Centre, 10.2% in the South and 6.1% in the Islands.
As regards event venues, conference hotels remain the most used type and, in fact, accounted for 77.8% of total events.
Congress centers and conference exhibition venues hosted 3.1% of events: they are the type of venue that grew the most compared to 2022 both in terms of number of days, +33.9%, and attendance, +54.7%.
Non-hotel historic homes (abbeys, castles, ancient inns and farmhouses, historic buildings, villas, etc.) were the venues for 2.5% of the events.
Regarding promoters, companies organized the majority of events, 66.3%, 13.5 points more than the previous survey. Instead, associations confirm themselves as the second promoter with 22.3% of events.
Finally, as regards the origin of the participants, once the restrictions due to the pandemic have ceased, international and national events will resume. Even if around half of the events and conferences remain local as in previous years.
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