Montréal tops the ICCA’s rankings for the sixth year in a row

Montréal, May 31, 2022 – It is with great pleasure that the Tourisme Montréal and Palais des congrès de Montréal teams greeted the city’s appearance at the top of the newly-released 2021 International Congress and Convention Association’s (ICCA) rankings. The ICCA’s 2022 report, published in May of this year, once again declares our city to be the top host city in the Americas for international conferences and events. That puts us at the top of the rankings for the sixth year in a row. Our city also took top honours in the ranking of estimated number of participants in the Americas, a first!

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no ICCA rankings for the year of 2020. Exceptionally for the 2021 rankings, ICCA took into account all meetings — in-person, hybrid, and virtual. 

The report makes it official: Montréal is doing extremely well as a host city, despite a last year marked by uncertainty and pandemic-related constraints, which hit our industry hard both locally and internationally. This showing is even more impressive at a time when the entire industry is having to grapple with new realities. What is the key to being successful year in and year out? Solid and close collaboration between the Tourisme Montréal and Palais des congrès teams, and from the whole business tourism ecosystem. We are extremely proud of our city’s repeated triumphs: Montréal now stands out on an international level as a major host city.

Having developed creative, innovative and dynamic solutions to serve all our visitors and our clients, we are pleased to say that we have been able to keep our activities going, both in-person, virtually and hybrid. Our success is yet more evidence of Montréal’s excellence, and above all of the distinctive signature it has established on the world market when it comes to association events.

Quotes

“This is great news for our city and for Quebec! I am proud of the work of the Palais and Tourisme Montréal teams, which have once again shown how skilled they are at using their know-how, their expertise and their creativity to serve our clientele. Montréal, with its richly colourful personality, fully deserves this first place ranking, which confirms it as a city that stands out even when measured against the top destinations in the world.” – Emmanuelle Legault, President and CEO of the Palais des congrès de Montréal

“Although the past two years have been challenging, Montréal is a city that works as a team, and this ranking shows that the tireless teamwork of our employees and our partners has really paid off. Montréal continues to shine as a world-class destination for international association meetings and the future looks bright indeed for our city. We will keep on building on this momentum of excellence.” – Yves Lalumière, President and CEO of Tourisme Montréal

About the Palais des congrès de Montréal

Hosting more than 350 events each year, the Palais generates significant economic, social and cultural benefits for the tourism, business and research industries. A genuine trailblazer, the Palais created the Events Lab, which is reinventing the way events are conceived hand in hand with up-and-coming businesses that are among the most innovative in the field. A leader in sustainable development and social impact, the Palais was one of the first convention centres in the world to operate a carbon-neutral building. The Palais is widely known as a proud supporter of emerging talent, the arts and community-based initiatives and is a dynamic, innovative and forward-looking entity. Visit https://congresmtl.com/en/

About Business Events Montréal

Business Events Montréal (BEM) is a specialized team within Tourisme Montréal that works to attract, facilitate and promote a wide range of events to the city of Montréal. Working closely with Team Montréal, a coalition of the city’s meeting and convention industry leaders, BEM highlights event venues, hotel choices, subsidy options, local thought leaders, and cultural opportunities for event professionals planning corporate, association, and incentive meetings. With its client-focused and collaborative approach, the BEM team accompanies their clients each step of the way to ensure that every Montréal meeting is successful, enriching and memorable.  

Tourisme Montréal is a 100-year-old private, non-profit organization that works to position Montréal as an international-calibre leisure and business travel destination. Visit https://meetings.mtl.org/en

Photo credits : © Alexandre Choquette – Tourisme Montréal